devise a strategy to defeat Bernard Hopkins

Go home to Oscar ...

 

Go home to Sturm, at least he beat Oscar.

 

De La Hoya W12 Sturm.


:good

 

JT and Conteh have enhanced this thread. Here's to disagreements!

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Hopkins is a fundamentally-sound strategist. He sets traps. But he can be beaten, especially at his present age. And here's how:

1. Bernard makes two notable mistakes that can be exploited.

These have always been apparant, but they have been worsening over the past 6 years. The first is that he tends to come in with his head down. The cure for this is to weave right and step to the right and then twist your torso to land a right uppercut. Follow-up with a hard left hook because you'll be in a position to finish with it. You want to weave instead of just stepping because he doesn't often just barge in with his head down -he's throwing shots that you got to get under.

The second mistake he makes is not dissimilar to a flaw in Floyd Mayweather -he has a habit of bending at the waist to his right side when the other is aggressive. The cure for that is to angle in left and rip a left uppercut/ right hand / left hook combination.

2. You'll notice that both combinations suggested above finish with a left hook. When facing a counterpuncher like Bernard you have to be set as often as you can -anticpating the response. "Finishing on your left" is a good habit anyway because otherwise you will be left hanging for a second, whereas finishing on the left gets you naturally back in position behind a shot. It's safer.

3. Every style has a foil. The techician is no exception, although it is the highest of the basic categories. Technicians have drilled so much that they are conditioned to react in certain ways to certain stimuli. They are trained to respond to an action with a certain set of responses. So, you throw a wrench into the machine. Pryor did it against Arguello to great effect. Jones' athleticism was enhanced because he understood this. One-Eyed Gypsy Joe Harris emitted wrenches from his dizzy gloves and embarrassed a superbly trained boxer in Curtis Cokes. Hopkins is not the straight-up boxer that Arguello was for example, he does get innovative and throws sneak hooks and such, but that's what he's doing... he's not expecting you to do it. Jones didn't follow the predictable script and Hopkins was a day late and a dollar short as a result of that and the speed.

In addition, technicians rely on balance. Punch him in the chest and get him off balance.

Many Hopkins fans don't understand how or why he could have had such a tough time with Jermain Taylor. The reasons are related to the above. Taylor fought him -and he did so in ways that defied the script at times...Winky didn't and couldn't. Pavlik didn't and couldn't. Trinidad didn't and couldn't. See the pattern? Those fighters more or less followed scripts. Taylor's inexperience and at times amateurish approach actually helped him! He was also rough with him... which makes it tough to stay in position and get set.

4. When you're dealing with a guy who likes to clinch -whether it's a Ruiz, a Hopkins, or a Sammy "The Clutch" Angott, it is a good idea to make them pay for clinching. More precisely, make them pay when they begin to clinch. Get into a small package, roll your shoulders in, and rip short shots to the rips. Hell, aim for the sternum. A guy like Bernard with a 27 inch isn't exactly wearing body armor. My girlfriend has a 27 inch waist. A 27 inch waist is a girlie waist.

5. Bernard sets traps, see them and raise them. A constant one he sets now is when he drops the left hand perilously low and shifts his weight onto his back foot. What he's doing is inviting you in to take advantage of the window he is leaving open so that he can counter you with the right or hook with the left. He wants to catch you coming in. So what to do?

Feint. That will draw him out.

Then feint again but inch closer and to your left. (This is chess. See if you can outthink him.) He will probably feint and re-set. Do what he's doing on you -look for patterns. I'd anticipate the right cross from him, and step in close behind a short left hook (to counter his right), then a right hand (a good follow-up to the left hook), and then a left hook to the body (because you will finish on your left, and dipping to your left will help you evade whatever he's throwing).

6. Pressure old guys. Body shots particularly, but also keep in mind that you have to land often to compensate for his great conditioning. Getting hit saps stamina. I remember sparring with this southpaw who also ran marathons. I ran 2 miles and complained the whole time. He'd run circles around me.... but in the ring, rib shots level the stamina field.

................
Bernard should not emerge from fights unscathed. He is because most of the guys he fights aren't trying to hurt him, they're thinking too much and fighting with caution as a result. Or, they're getting hit too much by him. Vary your attack, get unorthodox enough to disrupt his mechanics, make him pay for every clinch, get him off balance, and rely on body shots. He's Trigonometry, but he's not unbeatable. And he never was.

 

I'm a Hopkins fan and fully understand. Maybe some technical aspects you see I don't. But my posts on the fights are pretty solid, although basic compared to yourself with your last scribbling with it comes to the sheer technical side. And Taylor never fought Hopkins. Depends what you mean by 'fought'. If you mean being aggressive, brief periods only. He boxed him for the most part behind a solid jab, usually doubled to keep Hopkins off balance. And I'm also accurate in saying that Hopkins doesn't like to fight a moving target who's drifting away and creating angles. It makes him unsure. He prefers fighters coming towards him or fighting well within range at all times.

 

Well come in spinner. About time someone did :good

 

I don´t agree with everything in there - using the Jones-Hopkins fight for example - but very detailed insights. Thanks.