A battle of the best Philly middleweights of the 80s/90s. I thought Thornton was robbed against DeWitt and Collins, leaving them bloody messes and hanging on in the end, he then beat Dave Tiberi (who employed Hopkins as a sparring partner) and looked better against Merqui Sosa than James Toney had; Sosa was extremely awkward and heavy hitting but Thornton used smoother footwork and shorter, more compact punching to edge Merqui out. Hopkins was definitely more of a rangey pressure fighter in the 90s, chin tucked and eyes focussed, quite upright, but with that masterful lead right hand already being honed - leaning in with it with his head off to the right slightly out of range, though not leaning until the moment his glove touched the opponent. Masterful. Thornton had a nice peek-a-boo guard and rolled with shots very well. His sneak right hand was dangerous! And did he well against a peak Toney for six rounds in a toe-to-toe chess match. Some feel he arguably beat a peak Eubank with his gap-closing, ring-cutting and pressure. Hopkins was soundly beaten by Jones, struggled with Baptist and punched out of the ring by Mercardo - but really came into his own in '96-'97. Say the fight occured some time between Eubank-Thornton and Jones-Hopkins...
The punching postman was fun to watch and a regular on such networks as ESPN and USA if I recall. A good seasoned fringe type who aimed to please. I suppose a prime Thornton might have been a good test for a green Hopkins, but once Bernard started peaking, Tony would be out of his league.
It really pissed me off when Thornton was derided by folks coming into his fight, and even during the broadcast, with RJJ. Thornton was a good fighter with skill and tricks. Of course, he was long in the tooth by the time of the Jones fight but he deserved more respect. I'll have to rewatch the Collins fight. I thought Steve won. But Thornton acquitted himself well against Toney, Sosa, Scully and Eubank from memory... Hopkins was really, really good at middle. It's difficult to appreciate when we have to watch him stall and potshot through fights today but he was a real force. I feel he just had too much class, and was too hard, for Thornton to trick or dent. I could actually see this one opening up into a firefight occasionally. Bernard by comfortable but hard fought decision.
I remember Collins nearly lost his ear against Thornton! Collins moved A LOT in that fight, such was the respect he paid Thornton because Collins was usually a brawler.
