I thought you said a proper poll. You should watch several fights of bute's before you make an analysis, otherwise you run the risk of making yourself look very stupid. And i don't mean that in a bad way.
even at 175lbs Bute would be bigger than Hopkins in the ring... Bute would come at around 185lbs in the ring while Hopkins would be between 180-185. Bute was 182 in the ring against Andrade now you give him the chance to have extra pounds he is still packing on muscles. So Bute is younger,bigger,faster,more powerful,throw better combinations and have better footwork.... the only thing Hopkins has in his advantage is his ring generalship and awareness. this would end by tko around 8-10 rounds Bute winning every single round
Many thought that Pavlik would be the first man ever to knock Hopkins out before they fought. I won't count Hopkins out in a fight. Ever. Imo Bute would be a slight favourite to win it (something like 55-45 or 60-40), but Hopkins would definitely make it competitive and would have a good chance of pulling it off.
I'd favour Hopkins. This fight is ok for him, even at this stage of his career. Certainly winnable and I actually think he'd look good. Yeah, the Jones fight was horrible but that was styles more than anything. I do think Hopkins still has a few good performances left. The guys who tend to age well, don't go quickly. They are the ones who never appear "shot" and pull out the odd big win, against good opponents. Bute is a good opponent for Hopkins.
If Bernard does well at his next acting workshop, I'll raise his chances to 98% because Bute's bodywork would give him ample opportunity to milk any shots he'd take there as a "low blow". Going against one of the better body punchers in the sport leaves Samuel L. Hopkins way too many chances to showcase his craft.
Hopkins is a clever fighter and goes after the fights, where he thinks he can see something, that he believes he can exploit, or make good money in losing. I dont believe for one second that Hopkins would sign to fight someone like Haye unless hes paid a fortune. But with Bute, it would be another case of Hopkins getting another fighter to come up in weight, to a new division. One where Hopkins has added muscle onto his frame to make himself stronger than the man from the division below. If the fight is signed, then id say Hopkins stands a good chance of winning because he wouldnt take the fight otherwise. One scenario, I could imagine is Hopkins hitting and holding (and low blows) to stop Butes movement making it a hard mauling fight for Bute, which we still dont know how Bute would manage in this type of fight. But.... I think Bute wins by UD Cant see the fight happening now though.
Eventually, he'll realize that HBO won't pay enough money to hold the fight in Vegas. No way Hopkins would travel to Montreal for the fight, but that's really the only way he'd get paid.