99' Hopkins vs 99' Calzaghe who wins and why?

are you reallly doing this i take jc ud 8 rounds to 4 and i actually think jc gets knock down. his hands problems werent as bad back then as they are now

 

Hopkins, 7-5

 

Hopkins would take it imo. Both great fighters but imo prime Hopkins is slightly better and has the style advantage to boot.

 

based on saturdays fight, Hopkins wide UD or late stoppage. if 43 year old hopkins is to much for 36 year old joe, then 34 year old Bhop takes out 27 year old Joe Slappy.

 

it should be noted that hop was a middleweight and joe a supermiddle at this point, which weight would they fight at?

 

27 year old joe didn't slap

 

then for sure hopkins UD or late stoppage IMO.

 

Hopkins was on fire in those days.

His back to back victories over Johnson & Council in 97 in were near perfect.
And in 99 he destroyed 3 very good contenders in Echols, Vanderpol and Allen (I think).
Dont forget his domination over Keith Holmes, Keith was a bit of a forgotten man back in the day. He was a tricky fighter and a lot better than Sloppy Joppy.

If you had asked me at the time I would have said Hopkins no problems because Calzaghe looked like a young, brash brawler in 1999. He stuggled a bit against Reid and Ricky Thornberry is a very average name to have on your resume.

Knowing that Calzaghe was capable of so much more makes it a little hard to pick now but I still gotta go with Nard, in 99, almost a decade ago, no white boy would beat him.

 

so could have JC.

it's all speculation in the end but it is fun to think about it

 

Joe would always be younger with the better reflexes. Wouldn't be surprised if he got it.