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

2-3 yes. But look at his last 5 fights. Winky, despite being above his best weight, is a superb fighter, and Hopkins beat him. Tarver was the king at light-heavy, Hopkins stepped up and schooled him.

Calzaghe is a world-class fighter, and only edged a split. Many had Hopkins winning, although I thought it was a close but clear win for Calzaghe. The reason being as BB said, Calzaghe is superb at adapting to the other fighters style, and came though strong in the later rounds.

Pavlik is not so adaptable.

And Taylor, both fights were close, and at a weight where he was probably not comfortable making, hence the step up not 1 but 2 divisions. I thought Hopkins won the second fight, the first was extremely close aswell.

Prior to the Trinidad fight, his competition wasn't the greatest, he hadn't had what could be considered a big fight for a long, long time. He merely gained a foothold as the top contender in the MW division by defending his IBF strap against mandatories and contenders such as Robert Allen, Syd Vanderpool and the big-hitting Antwun Echols.

He then took on Felix Trinidad, unbeaten at 40-0, p4p #1 I believe, who had just unified the light-middle divison stopping the unbeaten Fernando Vargas, and had then stepped up to stop William Joppy and become a 3 weight world champion. Hopkins preceded to outbox him and then stop him in the last round.

You don't seem to understand that age is not as important a factor when it comes to Bernard as it is for other fights. Most other fights would be well finished by 43, Jones Jr for example will be, his reflexes will be completely gone and his speed completely diminished.

Hopkins however, his style is based around his defensive technique, something is not going to diminish with age, and his smarts and adaptibility, again which is not going to diminish with age. He doesn't rely on great speed, or great reflexes, so as these diminish, it makes little difference.

Of course his punch output will have decreased, and this makes it more difficult, but he is capable of upping his punch output when it matters. It was in the 400's both the Taver and Calzaghe fights, 417 and 468 respectively, but he upped it to 640 for the fight with Winky, therefore averaging around 50 a round, most power punches.

 

Pavlik is faster than he gets credit for. Even after sparring with Joe Calzaghe, who people here seem to think is greased lightning, Gary Lockett commented that he just couldn't see Pavlik's punches coming. Pavlik will make Bernard gas whether he hits him clean or not. Defense is not effortless when you are trying not to get hurt. Pavlik has the tools to keep Bernard on the outside much more than Joe did. Rewatch that fight, Joe would jump in and Bernard would step up to meet him and clinch. Being on the outside is going to be more exhausting, but Pavlik does have an inside game also. BERNARD WILL GAS. And the reflexes will slow down. Not a good thing when you are in the ring against Pavlik.

 

Well done post!:deal

 

Taylor nearly starched him.

 

well that's like sayin john ruiz is a great fighter for huggin and spoilin common ,since eastman b-hop is a one punch at the tim fighter ,the only thing that works is the mouth but u all will see he will have to losses against 2 white boys,then they say the judges favored calzaghe know the favored b hop giving him a split just like they gave a split to oscar vs money may it's funny how everybody accuses floyd of runnin and they call b hop a defense wizard ,this will be another display of a fighter fighting to long i hope pavlik knocks this joker out!!!!!

 

Very true, quite a few referees would have stopped the fight then.

 

Will hopkins be doing alot of holding again this time round!?:-(

 

English please.

Hopkins will school your boy Pavlik.

 

Abit like Calzaghe then!?:bbb

 

Only in Wales. :deal In spite of the number of free punches Taylor got, Pavlik was back up WELL before the count and was throwing back by the end of the round. No COMPETENT ref would have stopped it. People can't let this go in spite of the fact Smoger was PROVEN to have made the correct call.

 

You asked some legimate questions. I tried to give some objective answers:

- I am not so sure Hopkins will be much more stongly physically, that remains to be seen. Both are natural middleweights.

- I doubt that Hopkins will stand in front of Pavlik, he will elect to circle as his conditioning does not holdup anymore these days.

- Hopkins may take away the jab but will this be enough to beat him. I think that this might confuse Pavlik for a few rounds but Pavlik is just so active, he will throw any shots he can.

- Pavlik has had weight problems in the past so he will be comfortable at the new limit.

-those sneaky shot could indeed knock Pavlik out. In fact i do not see Bernard winning a decision. If he wins, it will be via knockout.

 

I don't think (based on what I've seen to this point) that KP could have handled an earlier version of Hops. For example:the one that beat Tito.

But Pavlik will just throw a whole pile of straight, hard shots and whether he lands them or not, poor ol' 43yo BHop will gas. Probably around the 6th or 7th round (maybe earlier) and then all of his legendary craftiness, jab-slipping, 'look-like 190+', blah blah blabedy-blah

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Unless Bernard gets Kelly in big trouble early and finishes him ( I do regard this as a possibility. Say 2 or 3 chances in 10), I think it likely that he suffers his first stoppage.

 

I think that's Hopkins best chance of winning.

 

Pavlik reminds me a bit of Danny Lopez in that respect. Danny had a very good chin, but he also had balance issues.

 

I think Pavlik will go to the body early.