Bernard Hopkins is badly overrated

More people than care what you think I reckon. :yep

 

Serious question to the Hop Huggers. Do you know what bill the first defeat was on? I possibly have a fight report somewhere and there might be some info on the fight.*




* Because this is bound to end up as a robbery somewhere along the line (if it hasn't already).

 

This post lost any credibility when you said that Johnson isn't a good fighter. He lost close, and in many cases, disputed decisions at a higher weight class, defeated Tarver, Jones, Woods (and he should really be 2-1 in that series), and is stilla legitimate Top 10 contender at 175lbs.

Bad fighters don't do that. :deal

Really, the only fighter to have dominated Johnson was Hopkins. It's one of his better performances, and rigtfully so.

 

Reading some of the comments calling Hopkins "boring" makes me wonder if some of you guys just started watching him in the Taylor fights. And I don't know what to say about the comments calling him "mediocre" and just "decent". I don't even know where to start arguing with those remarks, so I'll just let them pass without comment.

 

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"Once you fight Hopkins twice, Your damaged goods"

 

Now you are sounding like what you are accusing me of..

So since Hopkins lost to Taylor, he was not prime, right? When he lost to Jones, I suppose you will insist that he was green also?atsch

If I remember correctly, Hopkins was concensus #1 P4P just before the Taylor fight. I have not seen any sign of decline on Hopkins before and even after the Taylor fights (against Tarver). Or if there is anything, he was not far from prime at all.

So no, I am not fully convinced that Hopkins of 2001 or whatever was his prime years were would have beaten Taylor.

 

Doesn't matter if he lost a close decision, he did not win against them. And guys like Reggie Johnson or Gonzales aren't exactly great fighters either.

Who said Johnson is a bad fighter? Just becuase he is not good doesn't mean he is bad. For me he is simply a gatekeeper in the divisions he is in. And the only reason he is in top contention is that the 175 division's top guys suck. I mean Clinton Woods?

And Tarver beat Johnson 2X, only a blind mice like the judges could have scored that for Johnson.

 

I used to think he was overrated untill I saw what he did to Tarver.
Then when he took Winky to school there was no doubt in my mind. He is an ATG.

 

Hopkins will go down as one of the greatest middleweights of all time. I think its thoroughly deserved too. He may not be the most exciting fighter to watch but he is still a great one.

 

Tarver? Wow he had a lucky punch on Roy and drew with Rocky..who gives a ****?? Glen Johnson is the only credible Lt heavy he's fought. How much did they weigh when Bslop beat Glen??

 

Hopkins resume at middleweight is without a doubt rather sparse on real good/great fighters. I personally rank him highly and think head to head he would do well against Monzon and Hagler but he simply never fought good enough opposition to be ranked as a greater middleweight than those 2 ATG's. While the length of his reign and number of defences is impressive it cannot change the fact that during his prime he didn't fight the level of opposition necessary to rank as highly as some have him.

Many have stated that during Hopkins reign there was a lot of talent at 160-168lbs but this is only partly true. Hopkins reigned as middleweight champion from 95 to 05 and many great names are thrown up as potential opponents he could have fought. But the reality is quite different from the truth, Toney had already been beaten by Jones Jr and had moved up to light heavy before Hopkins became a title holder, McClellan had been beaten by Benn and Michael Nunn had lost to Liles at 168lbs and moved up to light heavy in 95 as well. The fighters at 168lbs struggled to even fight each other let alone fight some unknown american middleweight champion. We had Collins, Benn, Eubank, Jones jr at super middle but none of these fighters apart from Jones even knew who Hopkins was so these fights were never going to happen.

Hopkins during most ofhis career was an unknown, underrated champion who simply didn't have the opportunities to fight the best around at that time. Though once again this doesn't mean he should be ranked higher than he is simply because he wasn't around at the right time with the right management and promoters to get him the level of opposition his ability deserved.

 

Well he could have still fought top guys even if he wasn't a beltholder. He debuted as a pro in 88, by 1993 he is already fighting for the IBF title.

 

When you say that Johnson isn't good, you imply that he's bad.

However, it takes a good fighter to defeat Tarver (which, despite your assertions, was a legitmate decision to make in a close, close fight.) And, even though Jones wasn't near his best, it takes a good fighter to dominate him in the fashion that Johnson did.

Twenty years from now, people are going to look back at the Light Heavyweight division that currently exists, and will say "y'know something...it really wasn't as bad as we thought it was." It features a number of legitimate, solid contenders that may not have been as good as the 40's, or even the early 90's, but compare quite favorably to other eras in that division's history. Gonazles...Clinton Woods...Montell Griffin...Glen Johnson...Antonio Tarver et al were all legitimately good fighters. Not necessarily great...but certainly better than average.

The division doesn't suck, and neither does Johnson. In fact, Johnson's proved to be a legitimately good fighter. Simple as that. :deal

 

No, Glen Johnson wasn't a bad fighter. He is a tough and rugged fighter with decent skills. He goes to a division, fights the best fighters there, put on a good fight sometimes win, but loses almost always.

Maybe someday he will be remembered as a good fighter especially when talking about level of opposition in the 2000 era and I have no problem with that.

But in the context of the discussion, if you read the post I replied to, beating Glen Johnson in your resume doesn't really make one a great fighter.