Best performances vs southpaws

What BHOP did to Tarver was absolutely brilliant. He completely abandoned the jad and lead with rights all night while keeping Tarver turning so he couldn't set his feet. At that time Tarver was seen as a huge favorite and most were thinking Bhop was finally winding down. He fought a masterpiece.

 

Eddie MM vs Marvin Johnson immediately came to mind.

 

Wladimir Klitschko against Byrd twice.
Wladimir Klitschko against Thompson twice.

Foreman KO Moorer.

 

Evander Holyfield vs Michael Moorer 2, Vitali Klitschkovs Corrie Sanders, Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao 4, Toney vs Nunn I will add more when they come to me

 

Erik Morales had three of his best performances vs southpaws IMO. Vs Zaragoza, Ayala and Pacqiuao.

 

Juan Herrera vs Luis Ibarra was a fantastic southpaw dismantling.

 

Roldan vs FLETCHER and Hagler

 

I watched that fight with one of my old coaches and he noticed how little Hopkins used the jab in that fight. At the end of the match when HBO showed the punch stats Hopkins landed 7 jabs. Bhop knew if he tried to jab with a southpaw with the amauter pedigree of Tarver that he would lose. Instead he used his left to block Tarvers 200 plus jabs and and counter hard with right hands.

Hopkins gets a bum wrap from folks on this forum because they don't find him exciting and his hard edge persona rubs folks the wrong way but the guy truly was a genius.

 

Excellent posts. Those two fights came straight to mind.

 

I feel Ike they only remember him from his late 30s and onward. Before that, his style was very exciting IMO. The first Mercado fight was brilliant, and when he was throwing 100 punches a round, almost anything in it was entertaining.

I also really enjoyed the first Jones fight, but I appear to be alone in that regard.

 

Hopkins was always a bit of a clutch and wrestle type of fighter, even in his prime.
But he always had some nice boxing too.

 

Absolutely! He was a grinding physical fighter in his younger days but once he hit his late 30's he knew he needed to fight smarter to stay in the game longer. The guy would be a handful for anyone in the history of the sport fron 160 to 175. If this Covid crap gets under control by the time he gets inducted to the hall of fame, I'm going to go. One of the most cerebral fighters ever.

 

Chavez/Camacho