BHop won't do this, BHop won't do that - but how will Pavlik deal with the old fox?

All I hear is this: Pavlik is a huge physical force, a force Hopkins has to deal with. But how? His reflexes are not the same anymore. Pavlik has good hand speed and an excellent jab setting up combos with strong shots not slaps. How will Hopkins spoil that? Pavlik has a huge advantage in stamina and energy level. How will Hopkins deal with it at 43, after barely making through the 12 vs. Calzaghe. etc. etc.

These are logical questions, dear ESB readers. But you are only looking at one half. Remember all the questions regarding the Calzaghe fight, how Nard will handle 1000+ punches, Joe’s speed advantage, the different angles etc.? Well, Nard did pretty well and made it very close. And one thing is sure: despite Joe was the winner (on my card comfortably), the fight went in Hopkins' way and despite losing, he's the one to be remembered for his performance at 43, not Calzaghe, because the Joe that beat Kessler wasn't there... guess why?



Do you want to make the same mistake again or are you ready to deal with other interesting questions, regarding Kelly this time?

-How will Pavlik deal with the new weight-class, a weight Hopkins already adjusted to and looked 190+ vs. Calzaghe?
-How will Pavlik deal with a physically stronger man who won't back up like ALL FIGHTERS inlc. Taylor and Miranda did vs. Kelly?
-What will Pavlik do if Hopkins takes away his jab - the punch sets everything up? Hopkins is a master slipping it and countering the follow-up and Kelly depends on the jab.
-How will Pavlik handle those sneaky inside and off-balance shots that put Tarver and Calzaghe down and won the fight vs. Winky in the later rounds? Remember: in the 2nd fight vs. Pavlik Taylor still landed half of his no-so-tricky power shots and the numbers were 60% in the first fight. That’s stunningly high. Hopkins has an iron chin and he is very hard to hit clean – do you think the workrate alone will be enough? Don’t you think Hopkins will cut the stats down badly? What will Pavlik do about that?
-How will Pavlik break through the defense gave the jab-master Winky, the huge Tarver and the slick brawler Calzaghe problems? On one hand you are getting hit with well-timed bombs and counters, and on the other hand it’s very hard to his your opponent – especially when you can't create an opening with your jab. What then?


IMO Hopkins beat Taylor in 2 very close fights (or a draw at most in the 1st) and lost to Calzaghe by a couple of points in another close one. IMO Calzaghe's victory wasn't just a stamina issue (Nard was always good in the championship rounds, even 40+, vs Tarver and Winky) - Joe ADAPTS perfectly to the opponent's style and he has the ability to take away the dangerous punches (Hopkins’ right hand, Kessler’s uppercut, everything Lacy threw). He just did that vs. Hopkins and IMO in the end, that (70%) and the stamina (30%) made the difference on the scorecards. I also think Joe's stamina is better than Pavlik’s and I doubt Kelly will able to take away those awkward shots Hopkins times perfectly. Again: Pavlik is wide open for counters, Taylor came close winning the 2nd fight and IMO he didn't lose because he wasn't busy enough but because he couldn't take the jab away, cut down the work rate of Kelly and be even better on the defense. Hopkins is much better in those areas than Jermain.




So. There are several other threads about the legitimate difficulties Hopkins will have to deal with. But here, please share your opinion on the difficulties Hopkins will offer and how do think Pavlik will answer to those.

 

Well, I just feel it. Remember Calzaghe was supposed to be the bigger man but all he did was to dehydrate less on Friday and came in pretty much at the same weight Saturday night as usual. And Hopkins looked huge compared to him, he looked like a CW. If I remember correctly Bernard refused to tell his weight for HBO, I guess he didn't want the public to know how heavy he was.

He just looked huge, even the clean punches that Calzaghe landed didn't seem to have an effect on his body (unlike on Lacy's) and he was seemingly the much stronger man physically... Mackie Shilstone's program was to create a huge physical force with as much speed and stamina as possible. And Hopkins definitely looked huge...