Bernard Hopkins v Tommy Hearns at 160

:yep:rofl:rofl:rofl:rofl

 

Good fight! Hearns was simply out-beasted by Hagler but Tommy was still a killer both before and after that fight. However, Hopkins was a tough and cute MW who I would have expected to have been able to weather Hearns' famous early onslaughts and maybe either force a late stoppage or a UD. Hopkins (and I'm not a fan btw!) would likely have nulified Hearns attacks and made the fight close-up and scrappy. He was also probably the naturally bigger man and may have been able to out-hustle Tommy. Howver, my dream outcome would have been for Hearns to land something big early and close the show in classic Hitman style!!!

 

Hearns the Shuler version was a full fledged middleweight...I just dont like this matchup for Hopkins all his little tricks wont work....I do like Hopkins against Hagler largely because its not the same fight and he can dictate the pace....but its so many different things Tommy could do offensively against B-Hop.....Hearns lefthook to body would be like seeing a alien to Hopkins he's never seen or felt that before. IT took a guy like Barkley that didnt care about getting put in a coma to get to post Hagler Hearns B-Hop would never take those risks you have to against Hearns or he will kill you that being cautious andt trying to be tricky will get Hopkins stopped...lol

 

Hearns' record against fully-fledged middlweights is shaky.

Marvin Hagler KO'd him.
James Shuler was a great KO win.
Doug DeWitt a decent points win.
Juan Roldan was a good KO win with some shaky moments.
Iran Barkley KO'd him.
James Kinchen was possibly robbed.

None of those guys, apart from Hagler, are as good as Hopkins.

I'd pick Hopkins to win.

 

I picture Hopkins with his craftiness slowly breaking down Hearns. I think the fight would be close but sometime around the 11th or 12th Hopkins would hurt Hearns out of no where and finish him off in dramatic fashion a lot like he did in some of his other big fights against De La Hoya and Trinidad.

 

Agreed. Hearns is the better ATG from a p4p standpoint, but there's no question as to who was superior at middleweight.

 

All those guys are much better than the Antoine Echols of the world who he fought and looked bad against 3 times.....and all those guys had serious power something that Hopkins was only average at....all of them would have fought well agaisnt Hopkins with Kinchen beating him and Shuler and Barkley would have given him all he could handle....

 

Common. Do you really think James Kinchen would beat Bernard Hopkins?

 

He boxed effectively against Hearns....which knowone had ever done at that point I thought it should have been atleast a draw and I am the biggest Hearns fan I was a fan at 5 yrs old im 40 now he made me love the sport of boxing, im being fair to and not putting my heart in it im always objective bar none even when it comes to Tommy....Do you actually think Hopkins could outbox Hearns? The same guy that got thoroughly outboxed by Taylor and Chalzagi......Hearns would have stopped both of them and he would have criminally murdered Echols...that would have been the only fight it wouldn't have taken 3 fights to beat some respect into that chump...lol

 

I didn't see any of the Echols fights so I won't comment on them. But using the Calzaghe and Taylor fights to make a case for why either Hearns OR Kinchen would out box Hopkins to me seems unfair given that B-Hop was 40 against Taylor and like 44 against Calzaghe. Hopkins wasn't a knockout artist. But when he was prime and at middleweight, he could certainly crack. His punches were well placed and his chin and defense were excellent. He actually has all the makings of the type of guy who could potentially give Hearns nightmares.

 

We all know Hopkins is a different beast when age is concerened, but you raised a very good question to me now, when was Hopkins prime and besides Tito who did he beat in it that was actually noteworthy?

 

For starters I think we have to put him back at middleweight and probably a few years before the Jermain Taylor defeats. As for who he beat in that class, his resume is thin, but then again Tommy's best wins weren't at middleweight so I don't think he has much of an edge there. I prefer to look at styles and the complete package of tools when comparing fighters rather than just looking at opponents with name recognition on their records. If all we do is ask ourselves " who did that guy beat?" and expect it to answer all questions, then by that logic Hearns should have positively killed Iran Barkley.

 

Well Hearns was killing him in the 1st fight and on his way to brutally stopping Barkley, but he got caught with a great punch, the 2nd fight Hearns didnt box....he was stubborn and wanted to prove he didnt have shaky chin. You're right both of their resumes are thin here....so we could go to 175 pounds which may be better, stylistically is what I see thats all wrong for B-Hop....but I would say Hearns could get stubborn and fight Hopkins fight but that would probably be Bernard only chance.....

 

Bhop wins on points. Love me some hitman but hopkins would prob still win