I take Zale to outwork Bernard for a clear (but, by no means easy) decision. Bernard may have height and reach, but he would not be the stronger man, or the bigger puncher. Bernard would have some moments, but, unlike a lot of Bernard's opponents, Zale wouldn't take the bait to fight a slower pace. Zale would keep turning up the heat to a place where Bernard is not comfortable and win on points.
Tony Zale height 5'7.5" reach 69" Bernard Hopkins height 6'1" reach 75" Hopkins would be a light heavyweight if he fought in Zale's time. He's bigger than Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Jimmy Bivins, Harold Johnson, or Jersey Joe Walcott.
I'm a Zale fan but Bernard wins this. He's as durable as Tony but much more cagey and a more intelligent fighter.
Exactly, and well everybody knows it! he would have been a L-HW cum HW just like all the other L-HWs of the period... and his colours would have been seriously lowered among them. as to Zale, the Middleweight, well he could have certainly made a fight of it and muscle and punch his way in, the MUCH Bigger L-HW cum HW(of the time), Bhop, might be able to keep away in Height and Reach, but he'd feel the grind, a Zale win is certainly doable too in this match. I also believe Hopkins wouldn't have been among the Top L-HWs then either, think RJJ and his eventual chin checking. Well for these guys that would have been revealed a lot sooner in the past.
Zale brought pressure and body work and a different level of it than B-Hop is used to, I like B-Hop as a light heavy as a middleweight I dont think he would be strong enough to hold Zale off and remember Zale was past it for Graziano
When we fantasize about fights as a Zale/ Hopkins bout we must not think of the Tony Zale of the Graziano/Cerdan era. We must remember this was a rusty 35 year old edition of Zale who didn't fight for FOUR years after serving in the Navy. He was not near the fighter he was in his prime before he served in WW2. Lest we forget....Tony Zale before he went into the Navy was part of a contingent of great middleweights as Freddie Steele, Fred Apostoli, Al Hostak [how he could hit] Solly Krieger, Ken Overlin, Jock MacAvoy, Billy Conn, Billy Soose, Charley Burley, Georgie Abrams etc, as great a group of middleweights as any era .
