Are people on here now ready to give B-Hop the respect he deserves?? A - T - G.

I've always had Hopkins as an All-Timer. The question now is just how high you want to put him. The way he dominates people and shuts down their best weapons suggests he should be very high. This win over the undefeated Pavlik at the age of 43 is one of the best in history. I repeat, one of the best in history.

 

I think Vasquez-Marquez III could have went either way, so I wouldn't rank it amongst the best wins of the century so far (well... decade). Hatton-Tszyu gets down-played because Tszyu is now seen as old and past his best in that fight and Ricky hasn't turned into much of a 'great' fighter. Even though we know in retrospect that Tszyu was faded, he was still among the best P4P and a clear favorite and Hatton made him quit, because he had a great style to beat Tszyu by getting in close and staying there, keeping Kostya from getting the space he needs and forcing Tszyu, who for the most part liked to perform a patient approach and did not seem too fond of pressure, to constantly fight on the inside. Ricky hasn't been that good since, but on that night he was pretty impressive. I don't know if it's quite top 10 level stuff as it was close until those final rounds, but it's certainly up there.

 

Hopkins is an ATG and that was possibly the best win of his career. Pavlik however is no ATG or HOF'er and its questionable if he was even top 10 p4p. He beat Taylor twice, first he nearly got KO'd & 2nd he struggled on points. Same taylor who many rate as the most overrated fighter around in his reign.

This win is very good simply because of Hopkins age. Everyones age's differently and because of Hopkins training and determination, he aged well. This was a great win because Hopkins was fighting in handicap(age), not because Pavlik was great.

Having said that, I do believe Hopkins to be great. Though still not higher than Hagler and I think the "elite" fighters of the past around his weight would beat him. The Haglers, RJJ's, SRL's or Calzaghe.