Hopkins getting better with age was/is a myth

Bernard Hopkins deserves a massive amount of credit for his longevity. Fighting at his age is remarkable. But the truth is he never beat a great prime fighter that was as big as he was when they fought.

 

Nobody saw Calzaghe massively landing on Hop.

Cal didn't land ****. Hop landed the more telling blows. Cal had the pressure, he just couldn't land clean.

 

Tito was chinny at welter because he drained himself at the weight like Cotto did. But when both moved up their durability improved dramatically. I mean Tito even went the distance with RJJ who was naturally much bigger and while RJJ was shot or close to it he still had enough power to drop Calzaghe in his next fight.

Allen I'd agree was never that good. He had speed but my god I have never seen a fighter with a narrower stance, he had the worst balance possible, he would fall over from the slightest nudge because of his narrow stance.

Pascal is clearly world class. Sure he lost to Froch but Froch is a damn good fighter, clearly the 2nd or 3rd best Supermiddle of his time and Pascal was good enough to beat Dawson a guy who beat Hopkins.

Pascal had the speed of hand to give Hopkins problems but his foot work was nowhere near good enough.

So yes your statement still holds but it just needs further clarification. Speed of hand is not enough to beat Hopkins, quick feet, fast hands and an elusive style would always give Hopkins problems.

 

To be able to fight a guy in your prime who is great you have to be fortunate that a fighter like that comes along during your time. Jones and Hop weren't great when they fought each other. And I like how you conveniently slid "as big as he was" to corner off Hops win over Tito. Smart, but he still beat Tito. But you see Sugar beat Hagler. So you can't use that as an excuse lol.

Hop has beaten enough good fighters for me to believe that he is an atg. He is not a legend, but he's greater than great.

 

I give Hopkins all the credit in the world for beating Tito. But he was bigger than Tito and nobody can deny that. As far as when Bernard and Jones fought, they were both top ranked middleweights. And, quite frankly, Ray Leonard was smart enough to challenge Hagler when MMH was past it enough to get into wars with guys like John Mugabi, unlike the close to prime versions of BHop and Tito when they fought.

 

The problem is that Taylor and Cal didn't out land Hop. And imo Hop beat Cal and Taylor both times. We are on two different pages in terms of who beat who.

 

No, it's not!

****en hilarious!!!:rofl

 

Agree to disagree

 

Exactly. :good

 

I give Tito more credit for moving to160 than Hop beating him. Hop was the older man, but he was clearly bigger than Tito. With that said, Hop totally outclassed him.

Hearns came up and beat some very good MW's until he got to Hagler-but you saw Hagler Hearns. And I do agree, Hagler probably had one war too many before he fought Sugar, but he also fought the wrong fight against Sugar which means what? That he had more respect for Sugar than he did Hearns.

 

As far as Hagler Leonard is concerned it's been done to death on these boards, usually by me lol. Having written that if u get a chance read Sorcery at Caesars by Steve Marantz and then watch the 30 30 special about Leonard going to Panama so DURAN could get closure,lol. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

 

its not a question of choice. you'll have to stick to them, theres nothing more to reminisce about apart from injured Kessler. 3 fights, Christ.

or pick another smw titlist, loads of them give you more choice.

 

After Hopkins got whooped by Jones, he smartened up. Stayed in his lane at MW when the division was weak. He pulled up Tito and ODLH to make himself famous. Then his resume from that point on is a roler coaster. Dude gets way too much credit. And gets free passes for way too much, while other fighters get bashed to hell for lesser.

But I agree, prime Hopkins beats both Taylor and Calzaghe. Too bad prime Hopkins never proved himself. And his best wins are against blown up welterweights.

 

Hopkins skills improved, but overall he declined. He just learned new skills to adapt to the aging body.

 

dude the words came straight from his mouth. did you see what he looked like at the martinez weigh in? believe me, there used to be some people well connected to his corner on this board and it's no secret what he was doing to get down to 160 and it wasn't healthy.

so yes he did fight back at mw after the hopkins fight. and yes he was killing himself to do it.