Only one proved he was even 'half decent' at middlweight, but nothing more. It's not as if they were titlists in the era of one champ per division.
If he's in the class of Leonard then 'yes' I can. But, ok, i'll criticise Hagler too...which leaves Monzon as top dog I suppose. :good ps. Trinidad and De La Hoya will never be rated as high as Leonard or Duran were. Ever.
So, seeing as though late 30 is a distinct disadvantage, we'll talk about his late 20s...Two world title tries: ZERO wins. Can't have it both ways.
B-Hop ducking Calzaghe. Thats some funny **** you Brits seem to pull out your ass. :rofl I not going to be one of the people who try to dump on Calzaghes resume, but he should be on the last people you bring up when it relates to resumes
The 'ducking' is shite I'd say. I don't think 'ducking' really exists when people fight in separate divisions anyway.
Hopkins beat Top Dawgs in the 160 pound division such as S. Mercado, J. Lipsey, J.D. Jackson, Glen Johnson, Keith Holmes, W. Joppy, T. Trinidad, H. Eastman, A. Echols and top 154 pounders such as Simon Brown, Syd Vanderpool, Carl Daniels and ODLH, even Hakkar was EBU Champion and mandatory challenger at the time... The reason he fought Robert Allen three times was that the first was a no-contest ( Bernard was thrown off the ring by ref Mills Lane and twisted his ankle), stopped Allen the second time and would give him a third chance to settle it once and for all in the same night Hoya beat Sturm and their next big fight was to be announced. Bernard still gave an opportunity to the 25 year older, former undefeated WBC nº2 contender Jermain Taylor so I absolutely don't get your point?... Is that to say that Roy Jones did any better at 160 pounds or that Kelly Pavlik will ( in the future tense)?... Jones beat Hopkins, Malinga, 2 other guys and Thomas Tate from May 93 till May 94, whereas Kelly really just fought McKart and Zuniga before he came and produced the two magnificent displays and results against Miranda and still just one title fight against Taylor...
When looking at monzon one has got to say his resume is fantastic... At the world level he beat a great lt middle/middle in benvenuti (twice.) by stoppage,stopped the p4p no 1 and an atg moving up from welter in jose napoles,beat atg welter/middle emille griffith twice (once by stoppage.) beat a genuine middle in bennie briscoe,and beat a great genuine middle in rodrigo valdez twice...And none of those fights are contentious as far as i know... Hagler has some deficiencies in his resume (no victory over a great natural middle.) but he did have three fights against p4p greats and dominated his era... Hopkins never beat a great natural middle either,but did dominate the middleweights like hagler,he also beat two p4pers but i would venture that de la hoya is the worst of the lot at middle and tito towards the lower end as well..... Bear in mind also monzon NEVER lost at the world level nor drew,hoppo and hagler both lost and drew world title fights....
Echols was a wild B level fighter at best. Jones beat him soundly. Tarver - drained, distracted and crap. DLH - Hopkins fought the overrated and smaller man right after Felix Sturm had clearly outboxed him.:roll: That win counts for NOTHING in a stinker of a 'fight'. Tito - Nothing at 160. Joppy - B level at best and was past his best Winky - Looked shite at 168, again Hopkins took on a smaller man. Taylor - Taylor edged Hopkins out twice, and we've since seem Taylor's real level...which is far from great. Hopkins coiuldn't handle a young guy who was as big and strong as himself. ask yourselves why Hopkins never fought Toney, McCallum, Calzaghe, Benn, Eubank and more.
"Hoppo", B-Hop or Bernie never lost or drew any of his 20 successful title fights ( a NC against Allen is not a draw decision) for 10 years and 8 months, lost a decison by 116-112 scores ( 8 rounds to 4 in all judges scorecards) in a vacant IBF title fight and a pro debut at 175 pounds, drew another vacant title fight against Mercado in Equador but stopped him in the rematch in the States.
That's the clincher. Also, winning title at first attempt (not 2nd or 3rd like Hag and Hop). Oh, and being undefeated in his last 81 fights helps. :good
I think he is a little overrated. He has some huge names on his resume, but in perspective, Trinidad and DLH are Welters, he lost to RJJ, Glen Johnson was crap at the time he beat him, Joppy and Echols were good, no better. Winky was past his prime and way above his best weight, but still a good win. He deserved at least one win vs Taylor, which I give him credit for, and Tarver was a great win. He has a good resume, and I think he is overrated when talked about as good as Monzon, Hagler etc but a true ATG nonetheless. And he has to be given mad respect for the fact some of his best wins came when he was in his 40's