Bernard Hopkins vs. HWs - He almost moved up once, why not give it a try today?

Remember Hopkins' idea after he 'retired' that he would make a comeback to fight one of the Eastern European HWs? As he has nothing left to prove at LHW in 2008, there's no 'super' caliber fight at SMW and Haye has just left the CW division, why not consider the idea of the HW trip once again?

I usually hate the 'jump up in weight' threads because people don't realize that dominating ONE division getting all titles means much more than jumping up in weight and getting just one alphabet trophy. I don't care how many titles you've got in different divisions if you've never became THE MAN in one. But for Hopkins, a guy who looked very strong and big at LHW and was legitimate linear champ in MW and The Ring champ at LHW, jumping up to HW might be the next and only logical 'big' thing.

The 'Execution Squad' and Shilstone did a great job building a big and strong LHW body and as Hopkins refused to tell his FIGHT NIGHT WEIGHT to HBO and looked much bigger than Joe, he had to be around 190... which is the old limit of the HW division.

Bernard's whole idea was to fight a smaller HW champ like Maskaev. He knows he doesn't stand a chance against Wlad, and Valuev, who's the favorite to get his title back vs. Chagaev, looks just too big. But if Ruslan does it again and Vitali's comeback will be postponed due to his political career, GBP could either contact the handlers of Chagaev or the handlers of Sam Peter, a fighter who fought and defeated a former MW champ in Toney.

The historical significance of winning a HW title is huge (however it's not the same as winning THE HW championship). Hopkins might surpass Jones' career by defeating a more dangerous fighter at HW than Ruiz, a young, powerful champion, and he's got the style, the speed and the defense to give it a try. Since it was his idea in the first place and if Calzaghe fighs Jones, there's no supertfight left at 175, so why no make an offer they can't refuse?

If there's one crazy old man out there who could do it, it's Bernard Hopkins.



Your thoughts please!

 

An old news on his 2006 plans:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/6193692.stm

 

Well... his defense is just great and Peter is terribly slow and easy to counter-punch. Of course I'm talking about the impossible, but hey, why not?

The USA still doesn't have a HW champ.

 

If you compare Hopkins to Toney, Hopkins is the taller one. Also at this age he's still very quick and I think stronger than Toney was a few years ago who could've but failed to win a title at HW because of the steroid use. It was also a disgrace to the US boxing so Hopkins could erase some bad memories.