Bennie Briscoe vs Bernard Hopkins?

Hopkins would be too smart and hard to hit for Briscoe.

 

Good one.

I want to favour a peak Briscoe. He had great defensive skills and a good wallop. This would be more a thinking man's bout actually, as both did not have voluminous work rates. I can see Hopkins getting consistently pressured, though also turning Bennie and getting his licks in.

Bad Bennie is a very, VERY underrated technician, and would be Hopkins best Middle opponent by far.

Interested to see other responses.

 

Bennie close decision..pressure pressure pressure. Bennies relentless pressure spoiles the spoiler

 

Hopkins and not really a close fight which pains me as a Bennie fan. Hopkins would likely duplicate the 2nd Briscoe encounter with Monzon.

Hopkins angles, movement, length etc. are a level or two above Bennie. Bennie would have moments and exchanges but Hopkins is too smart to fall into those for prolonged stretches. Hopkins utilizes the jab, and movement to establish and dictate pace and space. Bennie never gets into this losing a 9-3 type of decision.

 

I generally don’t pick 12 round fighters for a 15 round duration. 15 rounds is only 9 minutes, but it is 9 minutes that I don’t know how you will respond until you have to. History is littered with guys who were winning after 12 only to fold in 13-15...those 9 minutes are special and you don’t know how deep a gut can dig till they prove it...

But because I like you, I think B Hop and Floyd are 2 guys who are smart and well conditioned enough that they could figure it out.

I will take 9-3 and make it 10-5 giving Briscoe the extra rd for experience

 

Well this was my thought 7 years ago, and it has not really changed...

Likewise I feel privileged that you aimed in my direction...cheers

 

Id go with Hopkins but Im trying to think of who he beat that was as aggressive as Brisco. . Perhaps Brisco could overwhelm him wit cleaner work in a messy ugly fight.

 

Not sure I see one outside of perhaps Tito. And Briscoe was certainly more powerful at 160 than Tito. But in this contrast Briscoe is consistent in being a come forward stalker boxer/Puncher....but not a master at bringing pressure or cutting off the ring. He would need to dial up the intensity, bring more intense intelligent pressure trying to work the corners and ropes....but escaping or not getting into those situations is where Hopkins excels. So unless Bennie can dial it up a little more I don’t see much of a case for him unfortunately

 

I think Hopkins would put on a clinic.

 

What makes you say that, Philly?

 

I think Bennie has tremendous power at 160, and perhaps as a philly guy and the nostalgia of my childhood blurs that memory.

Tito much like Hearns I find to be huge punchers at 147 and still solid at 154...but I don’t really think of either one as a huge power puncher at 160 (although I know many love Hearns so much they disagree).

I just don’t think Tito was as strong, durable or as big of a power puncher at 160 as Bennie.

Just my $0.02 but I am open to changing my mind if you or someone else has a solid counter thought.

 

I just never thought of Briscoe as having upper echelon power. Strong guy with above average power, but I never saw him as a truly special puncher. Tito and Hearns might not have had ATG power at 160 like they did at lower weights, but I still rank them above Briscoe in that respect.

(I think Hearns' wipeout of Philly's own James Shuler (RIP) speaks to his power at the weight).