Bernard Hopkins

right in front of Calzaghe

 

Neither man has officially retired yet; both had dominant reigns in their respective divisions at times when their divisions were particularly weak. I think Calzaghe edges out Hopkins due to being undefeated and having a win over him. If it were just the one, maybe you'd have an argument for putting Hops ahead of Calzaghe, but with both factors I think it's a more difficult argument to make. There is no question in my mind that Hopkins could beat every man on Calzaghe's resume but I also find it difficult that Joe would beat everyone on Hopkins' as well.

 

Meant to say, "difficult to deny that Joe would beat everyone on Hopkins' resume as well"

 

I am no Roy Jones lover, but he is ahead of these two in my book. I think James Toney would beat either man prime vs prime. Funny, but in hindsight James Toney is the gem in Jones' resume, followed by his victory over Hopkins, then this move up to HW to beat Ruiz.

 

40-50 for me

 

great respect for the guy

 

30-40. somewhere in there.

It's a shame he gets slagged off for adapting his style to be competitive with the elite operators at 42 years of age. Remarkable fighter.

 

He's top 35-40 all-time P4P. The best you can say is about 25, but that's probably too much. The only guy of this generation (post Whitaker-Chavez era) who could be above him is RJJ. B-Hop's in the same general range as RJJ.

Actually, no disrespect to Joe C., who himself is a legend, but B-Hop is considerably above him, at least on my list.

 

Great avatar :good

How anyone can deny this man his greatness is beyond me !

 

hopkins is above jones I think. Jones getting ko'ed by the two guys that hopkins destroyed is worth more than jones beating a very green hopkins by two rounds.

 

(a) Jones won like 8-4. both were in their first title fight and relatively inexperianced, but Jones superior ameteur background and natural talent won him the fight. (b) I think his one-sided wins over Tarver and Johnson do help a lot when comparing the two, as does the FACT that he was a more complete, skilled fighter. But I still have to put RJJ one, maybe two spots above B-Hop.

 

Hopkins was 43 and Joe near prime....it's started already...6 months ago even hardend Calzaghe fans were saying that Joe shoud fight a live opponent instead of a very old popkins...now he's simply "beat him".

What is the point in fighters shaping up with Elite prime ones when they can get as much credit for beating up an old man version.

Next..."Calzaghe beat RJJ"...

Calzaghe > Roy Jones.

"Lewis beat Tyson"... no he didn't...

 

25-30