Bernard Hopkins vs Segundo Mercado I

I would say those two have fought more big names than Hopkins...

De La Hoya - Whitaker, Chavez, Hopkins, Trinidad, Mosley, Mayweather, Quartey, Vargas, Gatti, Hernandez, Camacho, Castillejo, Molina, Ruelas, Leija, Gonzalez, Rivera, Carr (1 Current Hall of Famer, 6 Potential Future Hall of Famers)

Holyfield - Holmes, Foreman, Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, Qawi, De Leon, Moorer, Ruiz, Rahman, Byrd, Toney, Thomas, Douglas, Czyz, Cooper, Dokes, Mercer, Ibragimov, Donald, Tillis, Ocasio (2 Current Hall of Famers, 6 Potential Future Hall of Famers)

Whereas B-Hop has fought...

De La Hoya, Jones, Trinidad, Wright, Tarver, Taylor, Johnson, Brown, Joppy, Eastman, Jackson, Lipsey, Holmes, Echols, Allen, Mercado, Vanderpool, Daniels (4 Future Hall of Famers)

 

''excuses'' ''high altitude is overrated''



Scientists proved 3 decades ago that your lung capacity decreases in altitude. ''Overrated''

Damn your stupid and dumb:!:

Just like the one on your avater. Of course, that says it all.:rofl

 

Hard Nard was hurt bad in that fight and was fortunate to escape with a draw.:smoke :smoke :smoke :rofl :rofl :rofl

 

he fought everybody apart from Toney, McLellan, Benn, Eubank, Calzaghe, McCallum and many more...infact the only top end guy in that range he fought was Roy Jones and he got soundly outboxed. Apart from that he padded his record with a load of bums and smaller guys.
As I said though, his **** showing in Quito was in a large part down to altitude.

 

Right! Hopkins, carefully cultivated his career and did avoid certain fighters early in his reign. After Brian Barbosa dismantled tough Robert Allen, Hopkins wouldn't go near him. Then

This content is protected

Barbosa slips up against Antwun Echols and Carl Daniels, respectively and Hopkins ends up fighting both later on. The Barbosa that beat Allen in 1996 deserved a shot and Hopkins smartly avoided him. That kind of maneuvering is Nard in a nutshell. :rofl:rofl:rofl:smoke:smoke:smoke

 

Not sure he fought better competition than James Toney.

Jones, McCallum, Nunn, Johnson, Littles, Barkley, Jirov, etc.

 

Not a bad scorecard at all, but...there were two very obvious knockdowns of Mercado (3rd and 6th rounds) that the official didn't call for some reason...if one of them counted, then B-Hops would have won the fight.

Mercado was a good fighter, who pretty much was ruined by the rematch to Hopkins. But, make no mistake...he was a legit, hard-punching contender to that point.

 

Yeah...but he did fight Echols twice...the same Echols who knocked Barbosa out of the ring in 1998), so it's not like he ducked hard-punching contenders.

 

True, but Barbosa was truly dangerous in 1996 after he easily stopped Robert Allen and Nard deftly avoided him at that time. But after Allen was stopped by Barbosa, and did NOTHING to warrant a title shot, he got a fight with Nard in 1998 and then 2 subsequent fights. Why? :rofl:rofl

Barbosa happened to be a vicious headcase ( when he lost his window of opportunity (in 1996-7 ) he was never the same) and he was basically shelved until he lost to Echols in 1998. He was winning that fight easily but was punched/pushed out of the ring. All I know is Nard wasn't going near him in 1996 early 1997 when he really deserved a title shot. Instead Nard fought faded former champ John David Jackson after a loss to a 9-6 fighter, then green Glen Johnson, Jr Middleweight Andrew Council and washed up welterweight champ Simon Brown. Nard was very cagey and knew exactly what he was doing. :smoke:smoke

 

Very interesting stuff tuavale......Food for thought.......