bernard hopkins vs jake lamotta....

You have to remember Hopkins was 6'2" 170lbs, LaMotta was 4'11" 155lbs and pudgy.

 

Who did Lamotta beat of Hopkins calibre? 143lb Robinson? 34yo Shot Holman Williams who possibly deserved the decision? 149lb Zivic who he went 3-1 against with all fights being close? Ex-WW Cerdan who injured his shoulder?

Llloyd Marshall after beating Lamotta said Jake wouldn't beat any of the Black Murderer's Row

Lamotta was a very good fighter, Hopkins is a great 1 and thats the difference

 

I would go for Hopkins in this one. He would make Bernard uncomfortable, but Hops would also severely limit Lamotta's workrate. Hops is also crafty with balance, nudging and placement of bodyweight, and I'd be careful about overestimating how much Jake would be able to push him around. Close UD.

 

i would go for la motta to make hopkins fight every second of every round and take a ud, anything other than a motivated la motta and hopkins could easily take a decision

 

Of course Ray Robinson, Holman Williams, Fritzie Zivic and Marcel Cerdan are nowhere near Hopkins's calibre.

William Joppy, Antwun Echols and Robert Allen on the other hand...

 

Do you have reading comprehension problems. Williams was near shot and arguably won. Robinson was a 140lber when Lamotta edged 1 fight. Zivic weighed in as a WW when he beat Lamotta. What sort of MW greats routinely lose to WWs? Not ex-WWs but current WWs!!!

Hopkins dominated those 3 and they were decent contenders

 

I haven't heard anything about Holman Williams deserving a win over LaMotta. You're probably thinking of Marcel Cerdan whom Williams had fought before taking on LaMotta, ringside viewers thought it was a draw.

Robinson was not a 140 lber, he was the top ranked welterweight whom a young LaMotta took on. Sugar Ray weighed 150 pounds in their 5th fight, a disputed split decision. This is Sugar Ray Robinson we're talking about, possibly the greatest of all time.

Zivic weighed in as a WW when he took Billy Conn to a SD. He was a crafty opponent for young Jake and stylistically a tough match-up as seen when Zivic took apart Armstrong two times but LaMotta went 3 out of 4.

All the excuses that you made about LaMotta beating 4 great fighters could be made about Hopkins's best wins. Aside from that, his only wins are over "decent contenders" as you said. LaMotta too beat quite a few "decent contenders", probably a better bunch than Hopkins did.

 

This would be a difficult matchup for B Hop who is very crafty. Lamotta would get very low and force Hopkins to fight a somewhat uncomfortable fight.

Lamotta's style would make it difficult for B Hop to land the straight right hand effectively, and he would have to rely very heavily on the jab.

Hopkins however is very tough, has an excellent boxing brain and has every punch in the book, including uppercuts which he would be forced to utilize in the situation given Lamotta's aggressiveness and stance.

Lamotta managed to beat Ray, so it's definitely not out of the question that he could beat Hopkins.

This was a different era of boxing. A lot of people knew how to box back then, and while Hopkins is technically brilliant, I'm not sure that he has the speed and power of Robinson who is also very technically sound.

50/50

 

Robinson might have been faster than B-Hop, but Hopkins had what Robinson didn't have, which was true natural middleweight strength. Robinson was essentially a blown up welter. Hopkins had very good defense and ring generalship, and enough power, speed, and timing that he would box his way to a decision in this one. LaMotta might land the harder punches, but B-Hop would land them cleaner and more often, and get hit less. He could both move and smother effectively. Only thing that might hurt Bernard is his tendency to be minimalist with his offense, so that might make a number of rounds close, particularly since back then, the judges rewarded power and agression and penalized for moving and grabbing.

 

This is not the Hopkins of today. Watch the Hopkins from the Johnson to the Trinidad fight. He was no offensive minimalist back then, he was quite an offensive fighter. And LaMotta wasn´t a KO puncher actually. I think they are more or less even in power.

 

Hopkins a little too smart for Jake but the Raging Bull makes it close with his all out attack. Hopkins by a very close decision.

 

I like Jake. He laughs at Hopkins punch and is stronger ...