Arthur Abraham vs. Bernard Hopkins at 170

Hopkins would definitely find the solution to Abraham. Hopkins on points.

 

He fought at 168lbs on Saturday. He'd be fine.

 

Yea but this is at 170...and then hes going to rehydrate..so therefore he will be way heavier on fightnight

 

The key word here is footwork. Hopkins uses his feet about as well as anyone to set up his offense and defense. He will control the distance.

Also, AA is not an in-fighter. Hopkins would score well on the inside also. Hopkins is too slick to let AA win a decision.

 

Hopkins by wide UD

Bad matchup for AA. He's dealing w/ somebody who can counter his attack, fight in close, limit his already low workrate, avoid most of his shots, and take some bombs if need be.

 

Williams called out Calazaghe and Bhop. Safe to do though since he knew it wan't going to happen.

 

The conventional wisdom would have to be with Bernard and a UD.

(Hopkins is DEFINITELY NOT KOing Abraham).

A couple of points to ponder here.

a)

Hopkins is getting old, and SOME night he has to show it. And soon. If he keeps going, it could happen suddenly. So IF it's that night, AA might be there to cash in.

b)

Hops would have to be the guy coming forward. AA would present many of the problems to Hopkins that Winky did. And while Winky had a somewhat similar defence, AA's is at this point, better. Hopkins the counterpuncher would be open to the counter punch.

And while Bernard has a good chin, all it takes is one of those bombs.

c)

As he fight goes into the late rounds, Hopkins loses some steam, but AA is as fit or fitter than he was at the beginning. This is true of movement.

More importantly, it's true of power. Later in the fight, Bernard's shots will lose pop.

Arthur's won't.

And as he gets to 11 or 12, especially if he feels he's trailing on the cards, AA will move forward. I doubt Bernard has the tools to keep him off (unless he resorts to fighting dirty or faking lowblows.)

And he only needs one decent connect, to head OR body. Bernard would probably not collapse like Miranda or Taylor, but he'd be damaged. And the end could come very quickly.

d)

Finally, AA showed much better boxing skill in the Taylor fight than I expected.

This was especially true in the first half where stamina and form were not an issue with Taylor. I had him splitting the first six with Taylor, who outboxed Hopkins over the first six.

So it's not inconceivable that the 'boxing match' could be closer than expected.


For all these reasons, a,b, c and d, I feel that this is a 50-50 fight.

It's there for whoever has the most hunger.

 

AA has very underrated hand speed and overall boxing skills but Hopkins is just way too smart, slick and cagey to lose to AA.

Let's not forget WHY Hopkins was tired against Calzaghe. It was his relentless pace and workate that eventually got to Hopkins. AA presents no such challenge. He will let Hopkins fight the fight he wants. And when AA comes forward with one of his unexpected attacks, he has the slick defense to avoid getting hit flush. This is NOT Jermain Taylor or Edison Miranda we are talking about here.

 

Do you have any idea what you're talking about? The difference between 168lbs and 170lbs would be negligible for Abraham. It's not like he's cutting DOWN to 168lbs and it will drain him. He can train and weigh in for the 170lbs fight the same he did for his fight against Taylor. Sigh.

 

Abraham doesn't apply enough pressure early to expect the aging Hopkins to fade late. This factor alone would allow Hopkins to fight his fight all the way through.

 

That about sums it up. Even with Calzaghe's intense pace, I and many others still scored the fight for Bernard. Abraham would apply no such pressure.

 

Abraham is getting into his prime and best years of boxing right now while Hopkins is probably over with his best years. Hopkins is now fighting at LHW while Abraham is fighting at 168. Those are just some basic advantages Abraham has at this moment. I think Abraham could win a close decision over Hopkins now.

 

The logical choice would be Hop by UD, but who is to say he won't turn old overnight before fighting Abraham.

 

at this point, I have to favor Abraham.

 

Abraham, no doubt about it.