Cleverly Ready to face Hopkins @ Barclays 3/9

End of the road for old man B-hop. Cleverly's body shots will lead to a tko.

 

Hopkins has to eventually bow out of the game Clev's style is all wrong for an aging fighter.
I'd favor Cleverly to beat B-Hop & finally end this historic run.

Sup Dinovelvet?
Yeah I'm a fan now.:good
(Kid sold me last night)

 

Let's not go over the top now atschatsch

 

hopkins can't fight that pace that cleverly fights at. but i could be wrong. hopkins might make cleverly fight his fight.

 

You're right buddy. Hopkins needs his breaks in rounds and thats when he gets broken down. No disrespect to Hop, he just cant keep up with workrate.

 

I think Cloud would be the easier and more beneficial fight

 

Clev needs US exposure before he attracts hopkins. There's no reward
for bernie and all risk against the welshman. Clev is a speedy volume
puncher w/ inadequate power at the top level. I don't know if i'd favor
him over hopkins just yet, but i would favor him over Erdei and Cloud.
Would also have reservations about him beating pascal.
Clev does have an entertaining stlye for US TV.

 

Hopkins would win a title at 48 if this is the case.

 

Bhop makes this a boring hug fest of a fight.

But clev beats the old saberthooth all day every day.

 

i probly won't watch this fight live on TV or on replay.

 

Clev gets hit too much, is too wild, and has too poor defense and boxing IQ to beat even the worst version of B-Hop we just saw.

 

His record of winning a legitimate championship against Pascal at 46 would still stand in my book. He'd be a "title holder" in a sea of many if he wins, but that's the extent of it. I wouldn't mark it down as the new record by any means.

Now with regard to this potential fight, I'm curious to see how Hopkins looks. I'd go as far as saying I'm really looking forward to it whoever he fights (yes, laugh all you want - I know I'm in a very small minority who is excited to see Hopkins fight )

In his mid/late 40s, Dawson is a bad stylistic match-up for him as we saw. He's bigger, more athletic, much quicker, and has the jab needed to keep Hopkins at bay and unable to get any consistent work done. Hopkins looked pretty ugly and faded in April. That said, he looked to be slowing down a lot in the Ornelas, Jones, and Pascal fights, and those took place between one and a half and three years ago. Cleverly is the type of fighter he should be able to exploit even at his advanced age, but I suspect it just might be more difficult that he or others favoring him anticipate.

Offensively, I think Hopkins is flat-out shot. His speed, reaction time, and offensive variety is a shell of what it used to be back when he moved up to 175, let alone his 160-pound days. Even his brilliant technique has suffered over the past few years. His legs are fading quickly also which makes it tough for him to neutralize his opponent's best weapons, work-rates, and makes it harder on him to control the distance and the angles. Losing competitive fights to Taylor and Calzaghe and losing clearly to Dawson at 47 is one thing; losing clearly to Nathan Cleverly is another thing. Hope it doesn't happen as a long-time fan of B-Hop.

Whatever the outcome of his fights in 2013, I hope it's the last year we see him in the ring. No need for him to end up James Toney, for example - a former great running his mouth, overestimating his ability, and generally making a fool out of himself in dreadful fights versus ordinary opposition.

 

an average feather fisted come forward fighter with poor footwork and head movement.. :think
Bhop is going to school this kid.
there's a certain style to beat hopkins and Cleverly doesn't have the tools.

 

cleverly works hopkins over and stops him late. he'd never be able to keep up with that pace.

hopkins isn't going to take the fight though.