i'm from philly and hate haye, but that's a "bridge too far" for hopkins if he actually wants that fight. haye's too big and young for hops. putting on muscle and handling tarver and pavlik is way different than moving up to 210 or so and dealing with a prime HW with heavy and quick hands even if hopkins has a big skill/defense advantage. how's hops's punch gonna get his respect
Haye would Ko him by round 2, wtf, this is a complete mismatch, Hopkins has never been hit by someone like Haye, Haye would seriously pulverise him and may end up seriously hurting Hopkins, this would be bad for boxing.
Haye is anything but a weak HW titlist. Yeah, his chin isn't great, but Hopkins ain't got the kinda punch to keep a guy like Haye down. However, Haye's speed power, and skill are enough to seriously put a hurt on a 45 year old Hopkins.
To me its quite funny everybody thinks this is easy for Hopkins. Facing a guy smaller than him David Haye is hardly likely to follow the blueprint for Valuev, its a completely different proposition. Haye can bring a lot more to the table offensively, and has done for most of his fights.
Compared to either Klitschko, Haye is a credible chore for Bernard. That's what is meant by "weak titlist". Weakest beltholder. Weak as in potentially beatable by Bernard (which is not even 1% true of either Klitshcko).
Impressive if Hops takes this fight. It's very dangerous and I don't think he'll win and will be knocked out. But I'll be impressed just by him taking the fight.
Dude, Valuev wasn't everybody's first glimpse of Haye. :yep His CW reign didn't happen in a vacuum, his aggressive style and fast, heavy hands are known commodities. Bernard's stared down and spoiled busy punchers before, however - and he's really giving up very little in the way of height and reach. Barely more than he did to Kelly.
Well, we obviously differ in opinion. I think Haye would knock Wlad out. I do agree that it is very unlikely that Bernard would beat the Klitschko's though...
Come on, one of Hayes punches lands on Hopkins, what do you think will happen? Jones Vs Ruiz was one thing, Ruiz was slow, Jones was fast,... Haye vs Hopkins, well Hayes faster and 10 times more powerful, Hopkins punches won't even register on Hayeatsch and you know Haye will connect.
It's completely different giving up height and reach and size overall when the speed is also a factor. David Haye's speed and any speed Hopkins would be liable to lose depending on how much he bulked up. That's a tough prospect, a guy bigger, taller, longer, punches way harder, and is not a stupid or one dimensional fighter, but actually quite versatile. That is where I question how much Hopkins would be in his element. We all know his most comfortable plan in his old age is to circle the ring, make his opponent commit to errors and punish. Occasionally he'll jump in to keep them guessing. That's not an easy strategy if Haye is not willing to indulge in an error prone fight but to box with discipline, but also more freedom than he did against Valuev due to the smaller opponent. I'd be interested to see it thats for sure. I can't really picture what Hopkins has in mind if he's genuine about this, but I suppose you can never underestimate him at this point.
When's the last time you saw Bernard hurt? When's the last time you saw somebody land consistently on Bernard? Other than Joe's lovetaps?
No chance. Hopkins is talking a good fight here but in all honesty I doubt very much he'd go for Haye. I dont want to see this. It's a meaningless fight for Haye, its a dangerous fight for Hopkins and its another circus act for the sport ! Boxing's took 2 steps forward recently, and this would be going back 3 steps :-(
Sorry, aside from the blown up WW's and Calzaghe (brittle handed calzaghe) who has Hopkins ever faced thats close to Hayes power? even with his guard, Hayes punches would wobble him, this is HW, not ww's fighting up at MW
Infact when was the last time you saw Valuev hurt prior to Haye? Prior to Mosley, when was Margarito last Ko'ed?
I really dont see him winning this fight.... but i would love to see it and would be rooting for him for sure.