Hopkins wasn't ever prime at LHW to begin with, and Conteh at his peak was an amazing fighter. The best version of Conteh beats the Hopkins of the Tarver fight comfortably imo.
Agree with cobra...prime Nard wasnt a lightheavy and prime Conteh was. I still think the skills and defensive ability of Nard would see him highly competitive here...in the end he wouldnt be able to deal the speed and jab of Conteh at this weight, and he would simply give rounds away whilst staying in his shell. Hardfought but clear points verdict for John.
i'll go with conteh too,at his best conteh was a hell of an athlete and a big banger before hand trouble forced him to rely more on his left jab. together with ken buchanan they were a real force in the 70's
Hopkins was crafty as hell at 175 but his offense wasn't the same. He did a lot more of the "throw right hand, dive in with head, clinch" move he mastered. I think Conteh, with his good movement, jab, right hand, and strength would be too much for Hopkins. I'll say Conteh by clear decision.
Hopkins gets hit to the body claims it was a low blow for round after round after round after round. Rolls on the floor in the last couple of rounds holding groin. Throws a handful of decent punches the entire fight and claims a victory , the judges however say he loses widely !
A prime Conteh has the skills and power to outbox Hopkins, the bad thing for Hopkins is that if he goes too negative and starts to frustrate Conteh a Bit - Then Conteh ups the Spite Level, and it might all start to go in, Head and Elbows ? Conteh "Ripped" so many up because of his ability to switch from cute boxing to Vicious Classy Mugging instantly, quite often it was the Slo-Mo replays which highlighted the sudden unleashing of this "Ruthless attitude" I am sure Conteh would win, but also think Bernard may have some justifyable rough-housing complaints against Conteh.