B-Hop vs Dwight Muhammad Qawi @175

I already told you Spinks hits way harder than Hopkins, that's why Qawi wasn't eager to come in as much against Spinks. Spinks was a massive puncher at Light Heavyweight, Hopkins had 0 stoppages at Light Heavyweight and wasn't a big puncher. So Qawi would obviously take more risks vs Hopkins, because he knows Hopkins had nothing to bother him with regarding power.

And no he doesn't have to stop Qawi, but he has to have something to get his respect. You honestly think Hopkins would be able to clinch the stronger Qawi on the inside ? and stop him coming forward ? i don't see it personally. Hopkins hasn't got the power or workrate, and his clinching wouldn't work vs the more physically stronger Qawi.

Lastly Spinks beat Qawi in the region of 9-6 it wasn't like it was a wipeout. And your talking about one of the hardest hitting Light Heavyweights of all time, aswell as arguably top 5 Light Heavyweight of all time. And it took arguably Spink's best performance to beat Qawi. There's no comparison to how Hopkins vs Qawi would play out at all.

He also destroyed tough contender Jerry Martin, destroyed former world champion Mike Rossman, stopped another tough contender Eddie Davis who arguably beat Michael Spinks, aswell as handily beating the Light Heavyweight boogeyman James Scott.

Your making out Qawi was some one hit wonder who only beat Saad Muhammad and that's not true is it, Qawi for a 2 or 3 year period was an absolute beast. And is H2H nightmare for many of the best Light Heavyweights of the past and present.

And lastly whilst the wars may have caught up with Saad Muhammad, lets be honest Saad Muhammad would never beat Qawi. I love Saad Muhammad but Qawi is all wrong for him.

 

Prime Saad can never be counted out ever and he was not close to prime when he fought Braxton.
Martin had already been knocked out by both Saad and Eddie before he even fought Dwight so I fail to see your point on that one.
Mike Rossman was at the tail end of his career when he was stopped by Dwight. AS a matter of fact Rossman fought for only two more years and retired.
Eddie Davis was a soild fighter and nothing else.
You act like he took out Marvin Johnson,Eddie Gregory and then finished off Victor.
Spinks beat Braxton EASILY hence why nobody ever called for a rematch. You act like Spinks was in danger of losing a decision when he was in command the entire fight from the opening bell till the end.
Dwight never mounted anything at all other then getting credit for a bogus knockdown. The fight in itself was a huge disappointment.
You act like Spinks constantly staggered Dwight and he didn't. He just Outboxed him and Dwight had no answer at all.
All these people on here howling how he gave Holyfield hell how many fights had Holy had at that point in his career? Freaking TWELVE.
And the very next year when rematched Holy stopped Dwight easily in four rounds.
I highly doubt Braxton would beat a Tarver due to size and style. But Hopkins did.
Styles make fights. And Hopkins could adjust to many different styles and lets not forget Hopkins was a natural Light Heavy in the first place.

 

Look try and pick a part his opposition all you want, just because you seem to dislike or think Qawi's overrated. The fact is Martin, Davis, were top contenders. Martin pushed Saad Muhammad all the way and Davis pushed Spinks all the way, they were highly respected tough contenders and Qawi was impressive in beating them both. Qawi was a beast and very impressive for a 2 or 3 year period, and i don't see why your trying to diminish that.

Again you keep missing the point, i've already told you Spinks hit incredibly hard and had one punch KO power, Spinks "gained" Qawi's respect early and made him fight more passive due to his power. It's not really hard to fathom plenty of fighters have got hit hard early, that made them fight more passive throughout the rest of the fight.

I also never claimed Spinks was in danger of losing, i said it wasn't a wipeout. Spinks won in the region of 9-6 it's not like Qawi was dominated although he did clearly lose. And just for your information when Spinks fought Davis, there was talks of Qawi vs Spinks 2 happening it's just Spinks moved up to Heavyweight shortly after.

I also don't understand using the Spinks fight, as a barometer on how a Hopkins/Qawi would play out. Spinks is 6'3 and is a tremendous puncher and one of the best Light Heavyweight's of all time. It took one of Spinks's best performances to win that fight, and yet somehow you think Hopkins who never stopped anyone at Light Heavyweight. Would somehow would be able to keep Qawi off him, and would just clinch and nullify the stronger Qawi on the inside.

Cruiserweight wasn't Qawi's best weight class, and he was also a bit past his prime. Whilst in the rematch Holyfield improved and Qawi had slowed down even more. You won't give Qawi any credit for beating Saad Muhammad, who himself had only 17 fights at that time and no amateur experience. Yet Qawi is not allowed the same excuse for losing to Holyfield, above his best weightclass and being past his prime, whilst fighting arguably the greatest Cruiserweight of all time.

And whilst Holyfield was indeed a novice regarding the professional game, he had a ton of amateur experience. And we've often seen great performances from fighters who were novices Azumah Nelson vs Salvador Sanchez, Tim Witherspoon vs Larry Holmes, Vasyl Lomachenko vs Rocky Martinez, etc.

Qawi often beat guys over 6'0 and Glen Johnson beat Tarver, so i don't see why you dismiss Qawi's chances so easily.

Yes style makes fights and i don't see how you can come to an conclusion, that Hopkins has any style advantage vs Qawi. Qawi would walk Hopkins down and beat him up on the inside, Hopkins doesn't have the power to get Qawi's respect, nor the physicality to beat the stronger Qawi on the inside. I give Hopkins props for moving up to Light Heavyweight and having success, but there's no way he keeps a prime Qawi off him.

Sorry i disagree Qawi is all wrong for him style wise, and whilst i agree the wars had caught up with Saad Muhammad. The 1st fight did show us somewhat that Muhammad couldn't deal with Qawi's style.

 

You came on here acting like Dwight was some one punch KO artist and hes not. Hes 5'7 which is very short for a lightheavy and he cannot deal with movement period.
Michael Spinks beat him because he MOVED on Dwight and guess what? Brnard has much better lateral movement then Spinks does.
What fierce sexchanges happened in the Spinks vs Braxton fight that led Dwight to all the sudden shell up? NONE.
You act like Spinks took his head off and Dwight shelled up when Dwight just basically followed him around and even tried to claim he was sick during the fight.He got outclassed its as simple as that.Nobody likes that fight because its boring and you know that.
Martin got knocked out a couple of times before even facing Dwight so no thats not that impressive. And when he met Saad it was like 3 months before Saad faced Dwight which you already know Saad was done by that point.
Davis lived off of giving Spinks a good fight and then what did he do after that?
And Saad beat the better comp at lightheavy then Braxton did. Johnson x2,Lopez x2, he faced everyone.
Bernard is not going to stand in front of Dwight and since he was always in great shape he isnt going to tire either.
Watch Bernards footwork and then watch Spinks footwork and tell me who moves better.

 

So here you tell me how Saad would do in your opinion vs

Bob Foster- you think Braxton wins ?

Harold Johnson- would Braxton win?


I would be even curious to see how Braxton would do with Virgil Hill.

 

You seem to be putting words in my mouth, when have i ever claimed Qawi was a one punch KO artist ? i'd say he had respectable power but i've never claimed he was a KO artist, but he was fairly heavy handed. Just like when he almost stopped Davis in the 1st round with a right uppercut.

Yes he was very short but he used that to his advantage, and beat plenty of fighters over 6'0 as you well know.

Hopkins also doesn't like when fighters force him to fight at a pace he doesn't like, and whilst Hopkins does have good movement. He doesn't have the power to make Qawi respect him, nor can he overpower the more physically stronger Qawi in the clinches.

No disrespect but again your putting words in my mouth, i've never claimed Qawi was sick vs Spinks or made excuses for him. All i've stated is that Spinks got his respect early, as i said before fighters have often felt the opponents power early. And fought more passively from then on, and that's what happened in this fight. Qawi probably came in with the gameplan to overwhelm Spinks, he felt his power early on realized if he tried to attack Spinks aggressively he could be KO, and decided to fight a more tactical fight and Spinks outboxed him behind the jab, Hopkins also doesn't possess a jab like Spinks nor does he carry his 1 punch KO power.

Qawi utterly dismantled Martin it was a very impressive performance, Martin had floored James Scott twice and gave him his first loss. Aswell as giving Saad Muhammad all he can handle, i'm not saying Martin was some ATG LHW. But he was a highly rated top contender and Qawi dismantled him so he deserves some credit.

As for Eddie Davis the fact he was the only man who really came close to beating Spinks, aswell as standing toe to toe with Qawi in a brutal war to me shows his class. Yeah Eddie Davis may not have gone on to fulfil what he showed in those fights, but he was ranked 4 going into Qawi fight so again i think Qawi deserves come credit.

Your get no argument from me of course Saad Muhammad had a better resume than Qawi, but style wise Qawi is all wrong him. And i don't think any version of Saad Muhammad beats him and i'm a big fan of Saad Muhammad.

But Hopkins did show signs of fading in his fights when he wasn't allowed to fight at his pace, most notably in the Calzaghe fight. And he would often fake injuries to get a rest, a smart move on his part i might add. But he could be made to feel uncomfortable when he wasn't allowed to fight at his pace.

Finally i don't want to keep going back and forth with you, you seem to pretty well set on your prediction of Hopkins. And that's all well and good and your entitled to your opinion, i just don't think using the Spinks fight as a barometer has any barring on a fight between Qawi/Hopkins.

 

I'm not going to lie to you i don't know much about Harold Johnson, so i'm not going to make a prediction on that. As for Bob Foster didn't he claim he didn't like getting pressured ? so Qawi has a chance of getting under his punches and making him uncomfortable. However Foster arguably hits harder than Spinks and has an even better jab, so i'd probably go with Foster by stoppage in all honesty.

And finally as for Virgil Hill i think Qawi is all wrong for him, and would get under his jab and punish him. Hill fights too passively and is mostly a one armed fighter even though his jab is good, he doesn't have the power to get Qawi's respect. So i favour Qawi in this one in all honestly.

 

Foster would have knocked Dwight out.
Hill easily out points Dwight over 12 because he knows what he is: A mobile boxer with a good left-hand. And Hill could MOVE all fight long.
Hill actually has the absolute worst style for Dwight.
Willie Pastrano who couldn't crack an egg became the Lightheavy weight champion of the world.
You have this fixation where people have to hurt Dwight in order to win and that's simply not the case.
Spinks got Dwights attention ONCE in the first round with a right-hand and that was it. He never tried or came close to hurting him after.
But he OUTBOXED him.