Joe was clearly nervous the first 3 rounds or so but ole Bernard decided to show up and fight like John Ruiz throwing one punch and then clinching, holding, grabbing etc. I wonder what his total clinches were in the fight? He looked like an octopus out there. He disgraced himself with that tactic. He also faked low blows just like John Ruiz also (I am talking about the 3rd one which Cortez knew was fake) the 2nd one was questionable at best. Dumb fight by Hopkins had he actually tried to fight he had a good shot at winning.
Agree on most of your points except that I don't think Hopkins had much of a chance of winning in the eyes of any fair-minded observer. There is a reason Hopkins throws single punches and grabs. He was feeling those punches that Joe was landing on him. You could see Hopkins flinching big time every time Calzaghe fainted him. To me, Hopkins looked clearly under duress later in the fight, hence those two flops of his worthy on an Oscar.
Unreasobale. He clinched to avoid Calzaghe to steal it and run numbers on him with his faster hands and with flurries inside. He fought on the back foot to make Calzaghe slide out of position and counter sharp. He faked the two low blows to get his breathing back and fight hard in that end stretch - it was Cortez to make him fight on. Hopkins done well not to go for the kill after the KD like Mitchell did in Wales in that second round.
