He didnt say Hopkins was the Greatest of All Time...he said he was the greatest of HIS time, which is easily arguable.
Noone said he was a bum, he said he was past his prime. Pavlik would lose to any version of Hopkins because his style doesnt mesh well with Bernard. Vs a more stationary opponent though, one that isnt skilled enough in the usage of angles and changes of direction that he can pump his jab and work his offense through it, he would be fine.
i didn't call him an over the hill bum dip****. i said he was faded, and yes he WAS/IS past his best. The version of Hopkins that beat pavlik was PAST HIS PRIME. His stamina is less than it was, his punch output is lower, and he doesn't punch in combination as much as he used to.
I like Bernard and have a great dislike for Pavlik so i would agree Bernard is much better. Does Pavlik even fight these days anyway? But there are still better fighters out there in mt opinion. I'd put Vitali about Bernard for sure.
Vitali? Over Bernard? Please make your case...because honestly, he isnt even in the top 30 of this era. And I hold VK in pretty high regard.
I still look apon Vitali as unbeaten as his 2 loses were out of his hands. He's got the higest KO count of any HW champ ever and he has never been to starchville... not once. Hopkins is great but in my eyes he has had far to many bad fights to be the best.
:nono dirty and picky hopkins is just a bit above average fighter with good career management such as : taking on the drained tarver , butting the significantly smaller winky wright en route to a decision. clinching or faking a low blow whenever in trouble. taking on the also smaller dlh and chito trinidad , losing to the now exposed jermain taylor twice , to the also overrated roy jones (and i also think that jones was even drained in that fight) , losing his first fight to a clubfighter , being knocked down by segundo mercado , taking on the lighter greener kelly pavlik and still taking him the whole distance. what a great fighter.:hi:
he's up there now hes the best of his generation between middle and LH no question. Jones was by for the better athlete but on fighting skills and technique I go with Bernard
Well based on this you can 't then say that either of them would of beaten Calzaghe in his prime. Woulda shoulda couda. Calzaghe beat Hopkins then Calzaghe beat Jones. These are the facts we can stick to if you don't want to talk what if's.
Definetley! but Hops was coming on in those fights and Taylor ( despite things having gone wrong for him now ) was a big strong fast Middleweight and Hopkins was haviong to really struggle with the weight by that point
If he fought and won belts in his real weight division LH all his career, I could say he's the greatest. But NOT.