If he fights Calzaghe, you can pretty much guarentee he will lose. At this stage, and perhaps any stage, Calzaghe has too much for Hopkins. The styles are in Calzaghe's favour and I don't expect Hopkins to be able to live with the pace in 2008. So if Calzaghe does win, isn't it clear that Hopkins fougth and lost to the best three fighters he fought? Jones, Calzaghe and Taylor? I don't think that is a great resume at all. However, he has his string of wins against nobodies and he is at the top despite being over 40. I'm sure that will always take precadence over the fact that he lost to more elite fighters than he beat. He'll be regarded as a true ATG and legend of the sport in a few years. I don't think that is deserved.
Yep, it's more of a legacy win to be fair than De La Hoya being at his absolute peak. Good call on Johnson. That was a fine win. :good
The Tarver win is a must IMO. Hopkins moved up two weight divisions against someone who was a "pound for pound" top 10 fighter, maybe top 5. Nobody gave Hopkins a chance, as almost everyone picked Tarver by knockout. The win was also significant as he was coming off the two Taylor losses. Massive fight regarding his legacy. In hindsight, you could say Tarver was weight drained and performed poorly, but Hopkins dominated him for 12 rounds.
Tarver looked crap and Hopkins losses aginst Taylor look worse with the hind sight of Taylors laboured wins over the smaller Spinks and Ouma,imo.