Hopkins vs Haye: Hopkins will get the beating of his life.

You need to get real! You want a 45 year old man with no punch power, who has never fought even at Cruiserweight to mix it with arguably the hardest puncher in boxing right now? Hopkins can't hurt Haye, Haye will walk through him taking a few pitter patter's to take Bernard's head off!

You are even more insane than Hopkins. I don't think you have really thought this through properly.

 

That would depend how Hopkins looked. I don't think he'd be competetive in the fight so it almost certainly wouldn't go down as his best win.

Dawson would not beat Haye. Glen Johnson hurt him. Simplistic, but a major concern if you're fighting a big punching heavyweight that actually has the speed to hit you. It's not like Roy Jones handpicking Ruiz and dancing around all night, Haye can actually hit you. That would be Dawson's problem.

 

I've thought it through, and so has Hopkins. Hopkins is not a guy to take on all comers, which is why he has avoided Dawson. Hopkins is carefull about who he fights. I'm not saying he would beat Haye. This is a fight that Haye should pull out. However, it's a fight in which Hopkins would be competitive. Haye will never take this fight. It's a fight where he has zero to gain. Even if me and Hopkins are completely wrong, and Haye destroys him, what does Haye accomplish? It's a lose lose situation for Haye.

 

And DeMarcus Corley hurt Mayweather, so what? Dawson is more talented, skilled, and faster than Haye. They have about the same height and length as well. Haye has neve fought anyone anywhere near that skill level. People put way too much stock into size in boxing.

 

The problem for Hopkins is in order to beat Haye he will need to hurt him, Believe me brother, Hopkins will not hurt Haye, he will not get his respect and Haye will keep throwing bombs. Haye WILL land and Hopkins will be in a world of trouble.

I understand your logic, Hopkins is a master at manouvering people around, taking away their best weapons, but Haye is too fast, too powerful, has decent footwork and will land. 12 rounds is a long time and one shot, not even a clean one may be enough to hurt Hopkins. It's not a winnable fight for him. He needs to stick to fighting light heavies. He has no business in the heavyweight division.

 

FFS Bernard needed rest breaks against a very gun-shy and shot Roy Jones, he cannot even beat Jermaine Taylor, he struggles with guys who have hand speed and just a bit of size and power. Haye being stopped by Thompson is meaningless at this point because it was early in his career and he has shown since that he can go into the later rounds and produce, against Hopkins stamina will NOT be an issue for Haye, as Bernard himself can only fight in spurts yet still needs rest breaks.

 

He should just retire, Dawson would pummel Bernard if they ever fought.

 

I would pick Haye to win this fight, but it's a fight in which Hopkins would be competitive. This is a fight where Hopkins would be expected to get destoryed. Hopkins would do better than expected, and his stock would actually go up.

 

I think if Hopkins wants to end his career with one more fight, should try to tempt Calzaghe with a rematch (I know thats a long shot). He's avenged his loss to Jones, and if he can beat Calzaghe he can finish in a decent way.

Stay away from heavyweights though!

 

Yes. But right now he's 45 years old, not 35, not 39, not 42.

And after his performance vs Jones we shouldn't have doubts that Hopkins can't compete at the elite level anymore. Of course he will never fight Haye, but if he did right now he would be stopped in the mid to late rounds, no matter how competitive he would look in the earlier rounds.

 

This sums it up pretty well.

 

People said the same thing before he fought Tarver and Pavlik. Both of those guys were supposed to put the old man out of his misery. Hopkins is constantly proving people wrong. He matches up relatively well with Haye. I believe Hopkins' stamina is not a real issue. Haye does not throw a ton of punches. He also doesn't fight and inside and won't use his size to wear down Hopkins. I'm telling you guys, Hopkins has been calling Haye out for a while now. He would not be doing this if he and his team didn't believe he had a legit shot.

 

He is calling Haye out because he is a HUGE payday and a chance at winning HW gold and making history is just too big NOT to go for. Bernard is looking to cash out and Haye provides a good payday. Bernard had every advantage when he fought Pavlik, (Size, Speed, Skill, Strength, Power) Against Haye he will be 45 fighting moving up in weight against a guy with fast hands. Bernard doesn't deal well with big guys who have fast hands. FFS he can't even beat Taylor who has a ton flaws in his game, minus the size, strength and power Haye brings.

 

Maybe they did, personally I didn't think Tarver was going to have an easy time vs Hopkins. Anyways, Hopkins went against 170-175 pound guys, not vs a heavyweight with great power and speed.

Why do you believe that? He had to take three 5-minute breathers against a totally shot fighter who posed minimal to zero threat of hurting him.

But that's Haye's style vs bigger opponents, or at least guys with equal size. I bet he's not going to fight the exact same way vs a much smaller fighter. He will try to use his size. Plus he's very powerful and fast, he won't have to land too many punches to put Bernard in trouble.

Schaefer said he'd rather that Hopkins retire than pursue a fight with Haye. Plus, someone said that Hopkins' people said earlier on sky sports that they won't pursue a fight with Haye (can't find this on the net though).

 

Really? He's fought Jones twice, Taylor twice, and Calzaghe. He did better against a pre shot Roy Jones than any other fighter. Many people thought he beat Taylor both times and he landed all the clean punches against Calzaghe. There parts of Haye's game that Hopkins can exploit. He can nullify that right hand from Haye. If he can get inside, he can make it interesting. It's easy to say Hopkins had all the advantages against Pavlik now. We've seen that fight play out. Before the fight, most people expected Hopkins to get destroyed. Now if this fight happens and Hopkins exposes some of Haye's weaknesses everyone will be talking about how Haye lacks stamina, how he doesn't use his size well, how he doesn't fight well on the inside, and how he lacks footwork and defense.