Calzaghe vs Hopkins

Well at least he was undisputed and held all the belts. I believe Daniels was a mandatory. Meanwhile Joe was was coming off a career defining win over Kevin "ceasefire" Mcyntyre! That bout was so woeful that even Joe didnt want to hit the poor guy and kept looking at the ref for a stoppage. Ah those were the days aye.

 

Hopkins ducked Calzaghe, but I can see it from his perspective.

Who would want to fight an awkward grossly underrated, quick champion from the divison above you when you would likely get more credit for beating up a blown up welterweight or two from the press?

Hopkins loses that fight and his marketability likely goes down the tubes.

Calzaghe at least tried to make that fight and Hopkins accepeted intially. Before having a couple of nightmares and waking up the next morning to demand twice the amount he origninally accepted.

Besides mock Calzaghes resume all you want. Hopkins has never beaten anyone the calibre of Kessler. And that will be proven with time, trust me on that one.

 

We`ve heard tons of excuses of all the mooted clashes with Joe and his socalled names and im not buying any of it.I watched far too much of his WBO drivel over the years to take him seriously.Theres only so many times you can cry wolf.

 

Im going to make a thread later tonight once I get back from Uni on this subject.

I respect your views and knowledge of boxing so ill be keen for your input.

I haven't got time to debate this in depth at the moment but it should be an interesting topic I feel.

 

Will Hopkins be able to hurt Calzaghe with his counters? Obviously they won't feel like whiskers on kittens but will they have enough pop to keep Joe off him?

Bearing in mind Calzaghe took some massive shots from Kessler and walked through them I doubt it.

I'm not sure how Bernard will deal with Calzaghe's lightning fast jab either. When he boxes behind it Joe is extremely hard to hit cleanly.

 

How many top class pure middle weights did Hopkins fight and beat?

 

Wait for tonight.

Trust me the haters are going to be running for cover.

 

Mine was a serious question. I'll wait to see what you have to offer and will enjoy the debate. It will be great to see a proper critiqe of the guys opposition.

 

TBH Hopkins' middlweight defences are a poor bunch, most of his defences are against welters/ jr middles moving up or pointless rematches....

 

i have the same feeling. i can smell it

 

are you a british boxing fan or what. hatton calzaghe?

 

This much is true.And he received a tremendous amount of flak because of it after not building on his win over Tito. Merchant used to give him hell in the ring and there verbals were very spiteful. But Hop did things his way and credit to him he won ALL the titles. His tenure as the best man was undisputable.

 

Yes i am. Im also a realist. I call it how i see it. Have you seen Joes fight with Kevin Mcyntyre? What were your thoughts on this epic bout?

 

Joe has had some horrendous opponents... Carlos Christie gave a career worst against him.... Tyler Hughes.... Nice.

 

Thats true, he was def 'the man' at middleweight and its not his fault that the middles didn't have much strength in depth when he was champ or that the big money fights happened to be the smaller guys moving up (he'd have been a fool not to take them). Bigger challenges were availiable to him if he had of been willing to move up in weight earlier but that was his choice, he made 160 easily so he stayed there. Unlike some I'll never put down a champion for staying at a weight and dominating it over several years, it takes talent, focus and dedication. I'm not a big fan of all the bouncing up and down weight divisions, hand picking from the same clique of oppoents that goes on these days.