Bernard Hopkins at middleweight and prime vs Super Six fighters??

good points :good

the thing is...and i am a big bhop fan...is that his prime (in years) and his prime (in weight) arent necessarily the same thing.

he certainly was a dominate mw and you could certainly argue that the years he was at mw were his prime years. however, i have watched and read numerous interviews w/ members from his team including mackie shilstone. shilstone was lamenting at how much road work bhop was doing to stay at 160 by the time the taylor fights came around. now to hear mackie tell it...160 may not have been his ideal weight (at least at that point in his career). who knows, maybe they were just trying to hype the bhop/tarver fight, but that was mackie's take on it.

so its hard to tell...he fought better and better opposition as he got later into his mw reign when mackie said he shouldnt have been there and up to his current time at lhw.

either way, regardless of what his prime weight was, you rightly point out what he possessed in his prime years and i think that what he brought to the table would trump any of these guys in their current state.

 

I presume all the fights at 168lbs correct??

we have yet to see Ward, Dirrell and to some extent Froch in there prime. They can all improve. I think Ward and Dirrells speed would cause him allot of problems. Froch is a tough fight for anybody in any era because he is tough, has a strong chin, power in both hands and Hopkins is not the "textbook" style to beat a fighter like Froch. It would be an ugly fight, and Froch has the stanima to fight at quick pace for 12 rounds, could Bernard keep up?

Abraham would also be an ugly fight but if anyone could beat him it would be a Prime Hopkins. I wonder how B-Hop would deal with Abrahams style.

The Kessler that faced Calzaghe is a tough fight for anyone. I do think that Kessler would always struggle agaisnt a fighter that doesn't stand infront of him like Ward. Kessler is like Pavlik in a lot of ways, i think this would have been the easiest fight for him of the 6.

I honestly think the Hopkins when he faced Taylor was as good as the one that beat Trinidad, De La Hoya. You cant really pinpoint a time fro "Prime Hopkins" he is as good now as he was before. the truth is he always has and always will have difficulty agaisnt fighters that are faster than he is with decent boxing skills.

Roy Jones Jnr, Calzaghe and Taylor are his most notable losses and they were all quicker than him. Thats the reason he wants nothing to do with Dawson, never accepted a Jones Jnr rematch when Jones was in his prime, and why I think he would always struggle against Taylor and a fighter like Andre Ward, maybe even Dirrell

 

Prime Hopkins doesn't lose a round in the whole tournament

 

Thats just nut hugging

 

Froch is too slow and one dimensional to beat Hopkins. I see Bernard using his superior skills and defense to win a UD.

Abraham has a very strange but effective style. His guard is high and very tough to get through but if Hopkins past his best was good enough to get through Winky's defence he'd crack Abrahams as well. Abraham seems to be very patient and likes to finish strongly but Hopkins was also strong later on an would win another comfortable UD.

Kessler seems to have trouble with boxers like Calzaghe and Ward so I see Hopkins once again winning another points decision.

Taylor barely beat at old and fading Hopkins so prime Hopkins grinds him down him about the 9th or 10th.

Dirrel has the speed and mobility to give Hopkins problems early on but based upon his workrate and aggression levels against Froch I see Hopkins coming from behind to stop him in about 7-8 rounds.

Ward looked fantastic against Kessler but he would have much more trouble out boxing a prime Hopkins. Ward is still an unknown quantity and looks like he is a well rounded fighter. He could possibly give Bernard a tough fight but I'd still favour Hopkins to win a close decision.

 

So many people have stated prime for prime Hopkins would beat calzaghe yet people think Hopkins might lose to Ward or Dirrel?

 

You guys are ****ing ******ed if you dont think that Hopkins would walk through the Super 6 tournament.

He would win it now ffs.....

 

I dont even know where to start with that, thats one of the most ******ed statements I've ever seen on ESB. Ward literally has ONE good win and you guys think he's the second comming LOL atschatschatsch:rofl:rofl:rofl

 

He's beatable yeah, but not by these european ***gots. Hopkins Dominates these queers .. Long Live the Executioner!:hat

 

When did he say any of the Euro's would beat him?

 

I was dead serious. Prime Hopkins (1997-2001) barely lost a round, and pitched a shutout against prime Trinidad and Prime Glen Johnson, who are at least as good as anyone out there. you are probably young and missed his prime, no shame. I agree that on a bad day, guys like Ward and Kessler can maybe take 2-3 rounds against him. You are talking about one of the best fighters of all time.

 

Prime Trinidad maybe, but the notion of 'Prime Glen Johnson' is fairly laughable.

Your claiming that the period when Johnson lost to basically everyone he faced with a winning record was his prime, yes?

 

Even SRR lost rounds now & again.

 

Hopkins is a hall of fame fighter, & I think hed do well in the super six, scoring some good wins but also losing some. Alot of the big name wins in Hopkins career (not all) have been against smaller fighters coming up. None of the guys in the super six are probably yet to be hall of famers, but when you look at the bigger name fighters Hopkins has fought who were his own size his record isnt as good. He lost to Jones, Calzaghe, & Taylor twice, only the win over Tarver stands out and hed already lost to Harding, Jones & Johnson (but did win rematches with all). Also Hopkins struggles more with faster fighters and Dirrell & Ward fit that mould. But he wouldnt shame himself by any means.

 

check yourself dude. Johnson was 33-0 when he faced Hopkins. And him getting robbed 5 times later doesn't change the fact that only B-Hop ever dominated him.