Hopkins always said he takes away his opponents' best weapon. What is Calzaghe's?

Ethan Trims · Mar 1, 2008

sues2nd said:

Rather get into the back and forth about whos better...or whos worse, I will just answer the original post.

Joe's advantages in this fight are physical...not stylistic (do people even KNOW the difference??)...and those being the obvious like speed and output. These are the two weapons that pose the biggest problems for Bernard...now instead of answering how Hopkins will take those away, I will instead show you.

Lets take a trip back about a month to the fight between Paul Williams and Carlos Quintana.

Williams was the faster fighter by a HUGE margin. Williams was also the busier fighter by a HUGE margin. Because of these factors (and these factors ONLY) most felt Williams would just simply "outwork" him.

Lets stop for a second and take a look at those last few sentances.....sounds alot like most of the posts people picking Calzaghe are making if you substitute the names.

Now, what most people failed to see was, Quintana has great timing, solid defense, is a great counter puncher, is VERY accurate and has very good footwork.

He used his superior movement (not many in the sport are better than Bernard at this....remember, Im talking footwork, not footspeed) to never really allow Williams to set to throw in flurries or for any power for that matter.

Leading into that, everytime Williams DID get set to throw, Quintana was able to time him perfectly and land FLUSH with a lead right or counter right (while he WASNT set). This was a bi-product of not only Quintana's timing being MUCH more important than Williams speed, but also Williams below average defense (something he shares with Joe).

And because of Quintana's constant movement keeping Williams off balance (unable to set) he was able to not only cut his workrate pretty much in half, but he was also able to time when Paul would actually be ready to throw and would either block/parry or tie him up.

Hopkins BTW holds a SIGNIFICANT advantage over Joe in the areas of defense, footwork/movement, timing and accuracy...even the most ardent supporters of Calzaghe will tell you this.

Dont be surprised if the final punch stats are very close...with Bernard landing the much cleaner and flusher shots.

(and before any of you fools point out that Joe is 100x the fighter Williams is....I KNOW AND I AGREE....but dont forget that Hopkins is 100x the fighter Quintana is as well....this post was about styles...not names)
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Not a good comparison between Calzagh/Hops and Quintana/Williams.

First off, williams was definitely not the faster fighter. He threw arm punches but quintana got off easy with his full body punches. He had the speed advantage quintana did, thats how he accomplished this, you should watch the fight again.

Secondly, calzaghe has proven in the past that he is not one dimensional and predictable as quintana proved himself to be. Joe may have a physical advantage but hops doesnt have a stylistic advantage over joe, he'll have problems with him altogether.

a confortable easy Joe UD...

sues2nd · Mar 1, 2008

Ethan Trims said:

Not a good comparison between Calzagh/Hops and Quintana/Williams.

First off, williams was definitely not the faster fighter. He threw arm punches but quintana got off easy with his full body punches. He had the speed advantage quintana did, thats how he accomplished this, you should watch the fight again.

Secondly, calzaghe has proven in the past that he is not one dimensional and predictable as quintana proved himself to be. Joe may have a physical advantage but hops doesnt have a stylistic advantage over joe, he'll have problems with him altogether.

a confortable easy Joe UD...
Click to expand...

Williams isnt faster than Quintana????

You sir, are delusional.

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Hopkins always said he takes away his opponents' best weapon. What is Calzaghe's?

Ethan Trims Active Member Full Member

sues2nd Fading into Bolivian... Full Member

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Hopkins always said he takes away his opponents' best weapon. What is Calzaghe's?

Ethan Trims Active Member Full Member

sues2nd Fading into Bolivian... Full Member