Calzaghe going for the KO

Better to stick with outworking Hopkins IMO. Sitting on your punches takes speed aways and also some body movement. Those are his advantages going in.

 

Good strategy...against Hopkins, it's stupid to swarm with ineffective "slaps".

 

I think he needs to do a bit of both, but fighting him the way he fought Lacy or Manfredo just won't do. He has to make his fewer punches count much more.

 

I disagree. I think throwing 1000 punches is bad against Hopkins, but I think sitting on your punches and committing may get him timed.

 

Aww....got ya. We are actually thinking the same thing then.

 

Fighters always come out with this before fights. Anyone remember Ibragimov saying he was going all attack against Wlad? Look how that turned out. It was probably his most defensive display ever.

I don't believe for a second Calzaghe will go for a KO. He knows he can outbox and outwork Hopkins to an easy UD. There's no need to risk it, especially with his hands. If he goes for KO and breaks his hands, he has a very good chance of throwing the fight away. I bet Hopkins has already or will say the same, even though he hasn't gone for a KO in about 9 years.

Pernell Whitaker probably said the same before every one of his fights, yet turned up with his Nike Air's under one arm.

 

Yeah...if he just wades in "slapping", trying to swarm Hopkins, Hopkins will time him and counterpunch the daylight out of him. He knows this, of course, so he is going to alter his style to suit the opponent.

 

Except that none of us believed Iggy, or thought that he could do it, if he tried...big difference with Calzaghe.

 

If Calzaghe is on top, there will be a committed effort to stop this fight. I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

 

I believe that about as much as I believed Mayweather's KO predictions.

And it would be a BAD idea for Joe to try and change strategys at this point in his career. He's moving up against a very crafty and smart fighter. Joe's best bet is to fight his fight.

 

This tactic worries me, he is going against his style he has used throughout his career. Calzaghe WILL beat Hopkins via a UD if he outworks Hopkins like we all expected him to, but if he goes for this style he is saying he will, he will struggle. Calzaghe will NOT KO Hopkins.
Although I expect him to win, if he goes in with the right tactics.

 

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JC is flexible enough to not have to fight in one certain way to do well - as he showed against Kessler, for example.

 

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