Hopkins' Heart

It used to be higher, but he needs to just retire and stop this ****. Everyone gets it, youre an old fart and can "compete" for a minute a round with the young guys and extend that to a full fight with an array of spoiling tactics. Time to call it a day and go be a trainer or commentate or something else.

 

this ***** couldn't walk a foot in hops' shoes. or anybody's who came up rough. his previous statement attested to his uppidity silver spoon life.

 

why does it soundlike you are referring to a particularly overhyped, over-rated, boxer who only beat one prime opponent in his whole career?

 

Sure it does - he has a sh!t-ton of talent and skill, which has compensated for any inconsistencies he has in heart.

His massive career success is largely attributable to his ability to use his talent/skill to take charge of fights early and keep his opponents from doing him harm.

But when he's been unable to take charge early and forced into the kinds of fights that he's normally able to avoid, the results have been wildly inconsistent at best.

 

None of what you've said suggests he has a questionable heart.

 

I don't think it's a lack of heart. I just think Hopkins is a businessman first. He does what he feels makes sense from a business perspective. The Allen fight is a great example. He gets paid for a couple rounds of work, & than gets a rematch. That guarantees him TWO paydays right there. He got paid for 2 rounds of work in his last fight. He can spin it & still get another payday. It's all business for Hopkins. I don't think he lacks heart or anything.

 

It has to be approaching a 9. He shows how much heart he has by his dedication in the gym. He gets up for every fight. Strategically looking for breaks doesn't mean he lacks in enthusiasm or passion for the sport. You cannot be fighting either at his age or with his level of craft (and certainly not both) without an immense will to win. He constantly takes on men who are supposed to beat him, and will get the victory any way he can.

How can you see a 45 year old get dropped twice, once behind the head, by an explosive young fighter in his hometown and country and get up to at least draw with him and win on many people's cards, and say he has no heart? Ridiculous. People just hatin

 

There are a variety of ways to display great heart. I don't think fighting with a shoulder injury like Williams did is the only avenue to proving it. And yes, I would certainly say getting dropped twice and coming back to take control of the fight shows heart. So does getting badly hurt early on in a fight, upping the aggression regardless, and coming back to win (and surviving another very shaky moment in the last round of the fight).

 

That's bull**** right there. Does Hopkins have Gatti, Morales, Frazier, Saad Muhammad type balls? Not at all, but very few do. But in two of his last three fights, he's displayed courage. To what extent is a good argument (I think he showed a decent amount of it), but to deny it completely is absurd.

 

Heart isn't trying to win any way you can? Heart isn't getting up twice against a younger fresher fighter and getting through it? If that's not heart, IDK what is. Hopkins always makes sure he's one step ahead of an opponent and takes plenty of risks getting the better punches off; he showed this especially against Pascal.

You can't reduce the argument to "willing to fight through an injury" when it could be career-ending to do so and even more dangerous for a damn 46 year old. By that logic, Rafael Marquez has no heart.