Hopkins V Calzaghe Weigh-In

one of the best weigh in punches I remember was back in I think 2002 morales landed a good clean right on barerra

 

Like I said and tryin to be constructive, Hopkins is the one to have used that line mostly and you can check it on interviews where he talks too much for my liking - you know, the art of war, to take the best weapon from your opponent and turn it against him... I don't know if he has done so but he's known for defensive skills.

I was saying that Taylor was physically impressive, not that Kessler wasn't because Hopkins is not facing Kessler or is he? People and Calzaghe are saying that Hopkins can lose now because he lost twice to Taylor... Listen, Taylor was also known for throwing 89 punches a round but only landed something like 12 per round in most of the early going. Taylor drove Hopkins to the ropes ( round 2 and after getting that nasty cut in round 5) and kept Bernard on the defensive due to sheer physicallity and power. I challenge people to look at Hopkins' eyes in that round 2 when he had Hopkins against the ropes - he didn't land clean, sort of pushed Nard back and Hopkins never took his eyes off him. Basically, Hopkins blocked the jab as fast as he jabbed, and moved side to side to make Jermain have trouble setting the jab... Jermain spent a lot of energy chasing him and was caught too many times on the counter-move with left hooks and lead rights even in those first 6, 7 rounds.

True that Calzaghe was able to penetrate Kessler's shield, switching body attacks and going upstairs from rounds 6, 7 on and specially in those last 30 seconds in the eight... But he needs to impose himself with some telling blows or he's not going to make Bernard move back at all - maybe throw the right jab and if Hops blocks it, punch hard to the body with the left and grab? I see this one fought at the middle of the ring and Calzaghe stealing it essentially with flurries and counter-jabs.

 

Calzaghe is not trying to move Hopkins back; he's trying to get him to come forward, which he won't do, as it would play right into Calzaghe's hands...Hopkins will not afford to "run away from Calzaghe and just counterpunch"; it would use up too much energy; he will want to change pace, as he does so well, cutting in after counterpunching, to grab, hold and hit and wrestle and hit, before moving to the side, changing pace again, moving backwards to draw Calzaghe in, counterpunching, etc...Calzaghe will have a problem not so much with Hopkins coming forward but with the counterpunching and change of pace, when Hopkins is on the backfoot, and the change of direction and pace that goes with that...to win, Calzaghe needs to reset as little as possible and keep the workrate and swarming continuous, and perhaps try to do most of the damage when the counterpuncher comes in...footwork and angles will be crucial, as you say, for Calzaghe too - and he does both of these things well.