I mostly disagree with this. While I feel ATG is thrown around a bit much, Hopkins certainly qualifies. Winky is right there as well. They are both first ballot Hall of Famers. When you beat guys like Tito, Mosley, Oscar, and Tarver, thats saying something. Those guys were the best of their generation. Thats what makes an All Time Great, beating the best guys in your era. Hopkins and Winky have done that.
Why? What more could both of them have done to earn that title in your mind? Wright dominated two Hall of Fame fighters, and if you don't speak technically, also WON the middleweight title from an undefeated prime champ and beat Vargas. Hopkins resume speaks for itself.
As far as the fight goes, if two ATG's are fighting, I'm watching. Simple as that. I'm thinking it will be good.
No, I think that is where we disagree. To be an all time Great you do need an excellent resume. But you need intangables like redemption and on top of this you need to be an icon of your era... Hopkins in the fullness of time as I have suggested may just sneak it and become a great. As for Ronald, even a first round KO win on Saturday does not get him there... yet.
Ya, SERIOUSLY. They are both top 10 pound for pound guys. You could make a strong case for both being in the top 5. Why wouldn't someone watch this? Because there's a chance it could be less exhilerating than Pac - Morales? ******ed if you ask me.
Being an icon has little to do with whether or not you are an all time great. The majority of all time greats were NOT icons. Thats really b.s. if you ask me.
Each to their own, but if boxing was purely about stats and whom beat whom, there would be no need for debate...
George Foreman said it best: Boxing is like jazz, the better it is... the less people will like it. Watching Bernard Hopkins fight, I don't care who he fights, is watching boxing at its best. By the way, my prediction is a B-Hop win, and an easy one on top of that. He will use is movement in order to keep Wright turning on his back foot. Wright does not punch with his opponent, he either blocks or punch... Bernard will circle Wright, staying out of reach and rush in occasionnally for a 1-3 punch flurry ... Wrights punch output will reach an all-time low. I think Bernard is able to win every round of this fight. I think after this fight Bernard will cement is place VERY high on the ATG list.
Hell no! Bore fest ahead. I can not beleive that i am still going stay up all nite to watch it. Blind optimism.
Boxing is not only about punching. It is about making the other guy miss, controlling the other guys behavior in the ring through feints, movement, defense and offense. There is a hell of a lot of activity going on when two fighters are supposedly "doing nothing"... true fans of the sport will be watching the foot movement of the two fighters, how they feint, how they impose their rythm on their opponent through movement. I will never get bored watching a master like Bernard Hopkins. I will miss him a lot when he retires.