Any version of Bernard Hopkins gets mangled by Beterbiev. I don't see this as a remotely winnable fight for B-Hop, due to the unpredictability of Beterbiev's plan of attack. Yes, he appears straight up and down initially, but it doesn't take much observing to realize that clearly he's far more nuanced than that and he'd repeatedly catch Bernard with shots that he couldn't see coming, break him down physically and mentally and Hopkins would be looking for a way out by the 6th or 7th round.
What's with the sudden rash of blown up middleweights vs Beterbiev threads lately? Beterbiev is bursting out of his skin at LHW. He could probably fight at cruiser. But now littler guys like Ward and Hopkins who rely on wrestling guys up close are gonna wear this beast down? 'tis to laugh. Those short, compact punches Beterbiev throws will be a nightmare for them to deal with. This guy generates a lot of power in a very small space.
I can see why people would look at the beast that is Beterbiev and just say he's too big, too powerful, too much for BHop. Much like how people picked countless other big powerful, hyped up punchers who looked invincible up against everyone they fought before facing Hopkins only for Hopkins to again surprise people. Fact is styles makes fights and when you look at Hopkins losses it's not to fighters in the mold of Beterbiev. You need fast hands and more importantly fast feet to beat Hopkins. Taylor, RJJ and Calzaghe had these attributes vs a prime or near prime Hopkins and that's why Hopkins lost, these guys could move in and out of range vs Hopkins and so were able to mount an effective offence vs Hopkins, while guys like Tito, Pavlik, Pascal, Tarver, etc all found Hopkins movement, defence and counter punching too much. Beterbiev like most punchers needs his feet to throw with power and the constant movement will leave him fewer opportunities to land his power shots. Even Gvozdyk had success out boxing Beterbiev for periods of their fight, making him miss and Gvozdyk was up on 2 judges scorecards before being stopped. Where Hopkins would do better than Govzdyk is that when Beterbiev does get in range and fire, Hopkins has the head and upper body movement that the upright Gvozdyk lacks to slip and roll with Beterbiev's shots, While Gvozdyk was a sitting duck once he stopped moving, Hopkins would still be difficult to hit. Also Hopkins would be more economical with his punches, would be less aggressive, clinch more, give Beterbiev fewer opportunities to work. Even if you think Beterbiev wins, I can't see how it wouldn't be a tough fight for Beterbiev, because he simply doesn't have the usual style that beats Hopkins, in fact he has the type of style Hopkins usually upsets and shocks people with by making the fight far easier than people expect.
Hopkins is no Gvodzik. I could see a stoppage if its the Hops from the Kovalev or Smith fight, or the Thyroid issue Hopkins that had no gas tank against Wright and Calzaghe. But if its Hopkins at his better functioning light heavyweight level, he puts a clinic on Beterbiev. He would do Beterbiev like he did Cloud and Shumenov. Beterbiev isn't the type of boxer that gives Hopkins problems, and outside of that fairy Gvodzyk he sent into retirement while breaking the hearts of a few on this forum, who exactly has Beterbiev beaten?
This. On American soil Hopkins wins by DQ due to feigning a low blow to the snowflake ref, on neutral territory the ref sees it for what it is and counts Hopkins out as he pulls that face that he should’ve stopped pulling at 5 yrs old.
Definitely, but as much as I love Pavlik (far more than I like Beterbiev) he was a Middleweight moving up, and Taylor was at Middleweight. The only one comparable was Pascal at Light Heavyweight, and he started out at Super Middle. Beterbiev is a big boy, coming down from Cruiser as an amateur, and the pressure, punch selection, size, volume and power would ultimately be too much for Hopkins. Would he see the final bell? Possibly, but I think he'd lose regardless. I say that as a B-Hop fan by the way.
I had deleted the post. I had mistakenly thought you quoted a different post, and realized I initially misread the context. And yeah, you could be right. Beterbiev may have been too much for the best Hopkins from 175. But I think @Brighton bomber made some excellent points on this entire point (that was the post I had mistakenly thought you quoted).
I tend to be Quick Draw McGraw, even when I'm half asleep.... that happens to me a lot. Whoops. Oh well, at least I made a few decent points.
Classic western fan - namecalling fan. We do know that these cherry pickers had avoided prime 30-35 y.o Beterbiev and also Gvozdyk until his fight vs Beterbiev. For famous western cherry pickers are suitable old, over the hill, shot fighters, bulked up in weight class big names etc like fighters. Not rare thing also coming out of retirement formerly well known names. In such way a lot of cool on paper wins are produced because fans buy surnames on resume.
Hopkins is known for beating rail thin stick figure Felix Trinidad and took him 11 rounds to beat a guy that small. Beterbiev would KO Tito in 2 rounds even if he had chopped off one of his arms. Look, Hopkins gets thrown around the ring like a schoolgirl.
I think soon here will be threads like : Hopkins and Ward vs Dorticos and like this. While the same Ward at 33 had option to fight vs Beterbiev but had retired. This is easy to understand: Ward almost all his career was SMW boxer and these dudes like Beterbiev and Gvozdyk are really large for LHW division boxers. While the same Kovalev produced huge power with his punches, he wasn't so athletic specimen like Gvozdyk and Beterbiev. I think they had been damn too much also for prime Kovalev who is LHW boxer.