Bernhard Hopkins vs. James Toney

Toney in as 8-4 UD, James is a complete other dimension in terms of skillset, defense, technique, punch, movement, timing. Hopkins best chance is to pressure and outwork Toney but thats playing into the hands of 1 of the best counter punchers I've ever seen

 

Movement? Hopkins has shown throughout his career that he has fantastic movement even into his older days. Excellent ring general.

Toney on the other hand has never looked good when he had to press the fight, completely out of his comfort zone. His footwork was nowhere near as good as Hopkins, which would be one of Hop's major advantages here. Technically he's not better than Hopkins in any area either. He has the slight edge in power, that's it.

 

Toney's punch resistance increased as he moved up. He wasn't invulnerable at the lower weights.

 

Not a chance. Hopkins doesn't have enough power to stop Toney. And the chances of that happening are extremely slim considering how Hopkins would approach the fight regarding strategy. He doesn't have the power to take Toney out with a single shot, and he's not going to be there round after round giving Toney heavy artillery. It just isn't in Hopkins' rulebook to fight with an aggressive head on his shoulders.

Your looking at one fight, one night, when putting a case forward for Hopkins' stopping Toney. You have to average things out. And when weighing up the percentage game for Hopkins strategy he'd more than likely fight cautiously.

 

Simply put Hopkins isnt near to Toney skill wise, if you can't see that your a blind donkey

 

Simply put Toney isnt near to Hopkins skill wise, if you can't see that your a blind donkey

wow, it works both ways. :nut

 

No, it really just means you don't have any analytical skills if you're fooled by a cute shoulder roll against the likes of Iran Barkley.

 

You should watch the Johnson fight one day Robbi. It's good viewing.

 

Toney has the better jab, faster hands, better chin, better defence and more power. Plus Hopkins rough tactic on the inside won't work against Toney. Toney by UD.

 

Hopkins has the better right hand, equal chin at MW, at least equal defence if not better, better movement, and much better dedication. And Toney's jab was never very impressive to me.

 

Yeah, it sure is good viewing. :good

I'm not for one minute saying Hopkins fought cautiously for every single professional fight, as he was aggressive against Johnson. That would be like me saying that Whitaker might well knockout Mosley or De La Hoya based on his single punch one round knockout of Juan Nazario.

 

Toney had a very good jab and 160lbs and a lot quicker hands and more power, I still feel his chin is better. Sure Hopkins has more dedication but this is a fantasy fight between them at there best at 160. I don't see Hopkins beating Toney on the outside or the inside at this weight.

 

Hopkins is far better on the outside. Toney's outside work(particularly against a mover) is not that impressive. His style is made for swarmers and open brawlers who are open to counters. He has shown that he can make certain adjustments at times, but an equally technical fighter will give him problems even when in range, as McCallum showed(not to mention McCallum was dominating in the jab department). Hopkins has better movement than McCallum, and is just as good technically and better defensively, to go along with being the bigger fighter.

Toney doesn't have much of a shot here IMO if Hopkins fights an outside fight. And even at Toney's game Hopkins would hold his own. I don't know where you get off thinking Toney had a particularly good outside game though, most of his style was built around counter-punching in close quarters.

 

Hopkins by decision. I agree with the theory that Hopkins would have been too cagey to rush in and fall into Toney's traps on the inside. This isn't Hagler-Hearns, but more of a tactical fight.

 

Hopkins for me, he will show his real greatness in this one for me, he has a way of stopping opponents from what they like to do, and considering Toney wont have much to counter on as he'd like, this wont be anywhere near easy for him. B-Hop never leaves his chin vulnerable, even when he smells a stoppage, and i am so impressed with his ring generalship that i think it is one of the very finest displayed by any fighter in the sport's history!