Bernard Hopkins: A Legend enters the Classic Discussion

An interesting comparison would of course be with Moore. Both great craftsmen more so than ATG talents.

Had Hopkins beat Jones in a rematch in 2001-2002, he'd really rank with the absolute immortals. The Jones loss is the one that hurts him the most imo. But he still had a fantastic career, of course. I have him more or less on par with Monzon and Hagler at MW, but his work at LHW puts him above them p4p.

 

Praise indeed but as he fought bigger men who were considerably younger then, on reflection, probably merited. Never really thought about it like that before but can't argue with what he achieved over a long period.

 

I didn't warm to him,I found him cynical and underwhelming entertainment wise. Not a fighter I will miss.

 

Yeah, not really aesthetically pleasing, but very effective. A winner in every inch. A bit uglier and dirtier version of Ward.

I think his technical prowess was overrated, but he was very smart and crafty.

 

If the worst we can say about him is that his style did him no favours then he's going to be rated pretty highly. I mean, if you don't rate his style, you probably don't rate him as much of a puncher either.

 

personally I couldn't judge the quality of his overall career as I never saw a fight of his when he was a Middleweight.Only when he fought at Light heavyweight and I thought his fights there were boring and repetitive so going by those only, I would find it hard to call him a atg.

 

Good post.

 

Hopkins is not going to rated very often, despite his success.

Quite frankly he was workmanlike, boring and technically talented but not naturally. His attitude put off many fans.

That said I cant deny his longevity and greatness. but, H2H against fellow great MW and LHW he will likely come off as the loser. He is the classic spoiler and had the tools to upset the others if they had an off night.

 

I rate Hopkins at 6 ATG h2h....he probably had the best style in ATG matchups
1 Greb
2 Steele
3 Monzon
4 Hagler
5 SRR
6 Hopkins
I know SRR is the best ATG P4P but he was not top 160 he was top 147.

 

A true legend. Just imagine if his power had carried over into the lightheavyweight division, unfortunately it didn't, but still with his boxing skills he became a champion.

 

His career stats compare very favorably to those of other great middleweights, and to darn near anybody in terms of the longevity game.

 

Where he stands with the greatest depends on the criterion that we are using for "great". If we are speaking solely of technical boxing skills, then we have to admit that he was impressive. However, if we are to include the whole person, then he definitely isn't on par with such greats as Joe Louis, Evander Holyfield, Manny Pac, Alexis Arguello or Rocky Marciano who always maintained a certain dignified, respectful decorum which ingratiated them with the fans. IMH you just don't qualify as great in the full sense of the word if you blatantly employ your opportunities as a famous boxer to express racism or crass disrespect for other people's nationalities.