Correcting Ignorance: "Hopkins only fought smaller men"

I don't compare hopkins to those guys. I compare him to the other guys from this era.

Hopkins debuted in 88, Jones in 89 and Toney in 89 (my god time flies). Jones and Toney both moved up to sek bigger challenged while Bernard stayed behind and ruled over a weak middleweight division.

 

Surely Toney moved up because he kept getting fatter? I'm not sure we should be giving credit for that.

 

The small fighters Monzon and Hagler beat were proven at the higher weights. The only small guy Hopkins beat who achieved anything, and actually very little, in the higher weights was Tito and he never looked that good at 160, aside from the Joppy fight.

None of the smaller fighters Hopkins beat, have a win like Hearns over Hill or Duran over Barkley.

 

great point..and just to even compare those greats is quite embarrasing

 

I agree with that, but I do think you may be overrating the wins. Like you said though, you can only beat the guy in front of you and that's what Hopkins did.

 

Not sure on this one. Rather than use 'smaller men' I'd say the argument could be made by some that Hopkins fights guy who aren't battle hardened or natural at the weight.

 

can i say....hypocrite

 

And the "oh, but Pavlik was smaller" is a crock anyhow. We've all heard for years that Pavlik boils down like a madman to make 160, pretty much the same way Hopkins did, except that he had modified his nutrition to the extent that his weight didn't swing much.

Two huge natural middleweights fighting at a contracted 170 is not a massive size mismatch.

 

It's a fair point bud and I agree on his opponent choice but the various weight advantages Hopkins had can't be ignored wether it's his or his opponents choice.

At the time of the fight it could be argued that his opponents:

Pavlik - Best at 160 fought at 170
Calzaghe - Best at 168 fought at 175
Wright - Best at 154/160 fought at 170
Trinidad - Best at 154 fought at 160
Hoya - Great achievement to reach MW but Hopkins was a fight too far even at a 156 catch-weight (I think I'm right)
Hell I'll even throw in Glen Johnson - Although still green Johnson was poor at 160, so much so that fight was the last time he fought at 160.

I know there are some catch weights in there but generally the 'comfortable' fighting weight was in Hopkins favour.

For the record I feel the results would still go the same way if the weight factor was in his opponents favour.

 

Nice post. Good facts. You are right, middleweights fighting lower weight guys are common. The fighter I wanted Marvin to fight is Michael Spinks. I know Spinks was bigger and all that, but it would have proven a lot. Hearns was going to fight Spinks if he got by Hagler. I wish Marvin would have tried to prove his greatness by moving up the way Duran and Hearns and Leonard did.