Finally scored Hopkins Jones, surprisingly one sided, Hopkins did nothing

THE BLADE 2 · Jan 25, 2020

118-110 was my score.By the way I scored the Jones-Toney fight the same

Bokaj · Jan 25, 2020

Webbiano said: ↑

Hopkins was considered one of the biggest punchers in the division at the time, he always struck me as a proper boxer puncher in his younger years, but he hardly laid a glove on Jones all fight. Obviously Hopkins improved a lot after this fight, but I think him, as well as Toney, had the complete wrong style to trouble Jones and would have always suffered the same kind of fate against a prime Jones
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There was no right style. Jones outclassed everyone in his prime.

Bokaj · Jan 25, 2020

tinman said: ↑

Hopkins performance doesnt look good. It looked tentative and cowardly. Instead of refusing to yield and place himself in harms way and risk himself getting knocked out he rode out a surefire decision loss by fighting negatively to survive.
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Don't like the word "cowardly" bandied about of people that take risks the rest of us come nowhere near of. But, yeah, Hopkins could probably have taken more risks and been starched. Don't know what good it would have made him, though.

tinman · Jan 25, 2020

Bokaj said: ↑

Don't like the word "cowardly" bandied about of people that take risks the rest of us come nowhere near of. But, yeah, Hopkins could probably have taken more risks and been starched. Don't know what good it would have made him, though.
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It was a less valiant and brave performance than you would typically expect from a world class professional boxer.

Bokaj · Jan 25, 2020

tinman said: ↑

It was a less valiant and brave performance than you would typically expect from a world class professional boxer.
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It was the approach Hopkins's had throughout his career, and while it might made him less loved than other fighters it served him well today with money in the bank and his faculties well intact. Who am I, who don't even see the point in hard sparring nowadays, to judge him for that?

tinman · Jan 25, 2020

Bokaj said: ↑

It was the approach Hopkins's had throughout his career, and while it might made him less loved than other fighters it served him well today with money in the bank and his faculties well intact. Who am I, who don't even see the point in hard sparring nowadays, to judge him for that?
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Professional boxing when stripped to it's core is about the exploitation of fighters by fans. That's why boxing is a guilty pleasure to us all. Because we know these guys are putting their bodies on the line for our entertainment. And to fight the way Hopkins did is to deprive the fans of what they pay to see. That is a mano a mano matchup.

Smokin Bert · Jan 25, 2020

tinman said: ↑

I have a theory about technical fighters and what they do when they are physically outgunned. When a well schooled fighter finds himself physically overmatched in the ring either through speed or size differential they can either use their skills and fight negatively to ride out a stinker decision loss. Or they can refuse to yield and go out on their shield which usually leads to them getting violently KO'ed.

Hopkins was the better technician than Jones and so was Toney too. But they were just too far outgunned and physically overmatched. So instead of fighting to win the fight, they just fought to not get knocked out. They ended fighting a completely negative bout and rode out a lopsided decision loss where not much happened. They just refused to initiate offense. Another example is Loma-Rigo. Both master technicians, but Rigo was totally outgunned by the speed and size of Loma. So instead of going out on his shield he fought negatively as possible and refused to initiate offense. He later quit anyways, but he weaseled out with all his faculties in tact.

On the other hand we have instances where the superior technician is physically outgunned, but instead of yielding he goes down swinging. A good example is Duran-Hearns. Obviously Duran is the superior technician, but the speed, power and size of Hearns was too much. It was like Duran had too much pride to just clinch, run away and potshot his way to a shutout loss. Before the knockout he laid on the ropes almost as if to say, I have nothing for you, just finish me off right here with dignity.

Barrera was the same way with his fight with Pacquiao. Even though MAB was the superior technician, he was physically outgunned by Pacquiao. The Filipino was just too fast and Barrera didn't have the power to get him to back off. If you recall in the 3rd round Pacquiao scored a flash knockdown with a blazing fast straight left. Barrera went down unhurt, but had a look on his eye before rising to beat the count. The look said it all, his eyes conveyed I can't beat this man, he's just too fast, what can I do, I just can't handle the speed. Barrera refused to yield the fight though and fought to win instead to survive, which is he got knocked out and brutalized. In the rematch a older Barrera survived, but a prime or close to Barrera couldn't survive. Why is that? Because in the rematch Barrera just chose to survive.

Last example is Pryor-Arguello. Clearly the better technician is Arguello, but he was outgunned by Pryor's speed, size, workrate and toughness. If you recall later in the fight Arguello landed a massive, flush straight right hand that Pryor just walked through astonishingly with ease. Nobody and I mean nobody walks through Arguello like that except Pryor. It was at this point that the fight became a foregone conclusion, Pryor was going to walk through him and finish him off with a violent KO.

Hopkins chose to survive and not win the fight. You could say that a shutout loss or a 11 rounds to 1 loss is far less honorable than a brutal KO loss. Because many times when a fighter loses that lopsided it's because they just fought to survive with negative tactics. But getting knocked out viciously is a sign your ambition to win the fight, your refusal to yield, even in the face of a physically superior opponent.

My 2 cents.
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Great analysis. I agree with you 100%

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Finally scored Hopkins Jones, surprisingly one sided, Hopkins did nothing

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Finally scored Hopkins Jones, surprisingly one sided, Hopkins did nothing

THE BLADE 2 Boxing Junkie Full Member

Bokaj Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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