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

Schaefer is not a trainer, he's not a boxing expert. He's a business man and a friend of Hopkins. I wouldn't put much stock into what he says on the matter. Ask yourself this, if Hopkins didn't care about getting his ass kicked and just wanted a payday, why didn't he call out one of the Kilts? Surely they would present a bigger payday. And if Hopkins is such and easy fight for Haye, why would they completely dismiss the idea? No fight outside of the Klits at HW would draw as much interest as that fight. Why not just take the easy payday in the even he couldn't land one of the Klits?

 

When have you ever known Hopkins to just throw names out there? He doesn't do that.

 

He's a world champ, of course he's skilled. I wouldn't describe him as very skilled though.

 

My argument is not that Hopkins would neccesarily beat Haye, I'm saying this would be a competitive fight. Haye is not special either. This guy has beaten nobody. He punches really hard and has good speed, he really isn't all that special though.

 

It's the combination of things. First off Haye is way too big. Calzaghe didn't have a strong punch with those bad hands, Pavlik too slow and not mobile enough and moved up in weight. Tarver, good fighter, not exceptional, bigger than hops but not by a lot. Haye hits 20X times harder than Pavlik and is pretty fast. He KO's BHop.

 

I don't think its necessarily a competitive fight but I just don't see how Hopkins can get sparked. Impossible. He is impossible to hit clean and he can probably put on 25lbs quite well. I see this as a distance fight, or a possible late RTD win for Haye. I would bet teh over on this fight which would also cover any potential upset and would probably give good odds.

Even though Hopkins is old, he is like lightning compared to John Ruiz, don't forget that.

 

How is Haye way too big? There isn't much difference in reach or height. How many times are people going to make this mistake? Haye has never fought anyone with half the talent of even a 45 year old Hopkins. This is exactly why Haye should not even entertain the thought of fighting Hopkins. Everyone would assume he would destroy Hopkins, and that probably wouldn't happen.

 

THat's all he needs considering his size and BHop's age.

 

Haye is a 2 division champ and IMO is clearly better than Taylor and is a lot bigger, while Hopkins is simply a lot older, I don't see it going well for him at all. Now If he could fight Ibragimov, Chagaev or any other Ruiz- level Euro guy who brings nothing to the table, I would agree with you. But Haye and the Klits have the belts.

 

Dawson, while not as powerful as Haye is clearly better IMO, he has no flaws in his game and would beat the tar out of Hopkins. Haye is very good but not quite Dawson's level which doesn't matter because he is still too much for 45 yr old Bernard.

 

Jermaine Taylor is not that great a fighter but athletic and fast enough to give old bernard tons of trouble. Haye's a lot bigger, hits much harder and is pretty fast himself. Come on, don't say reach and height, who's bigger Williams or Tyson? I know it's not that extreme but you get my point. Yeah it is possible Haye wouldn't want this fight because he knows BHop's a crafty dude and he could look bad.

But two things though, against Pavlik, BHop didn't need a lot of holding, he just outclassed him, but against faster fighters he does, and as I said, Haye is stronger/bigger and I don't know how good BHop will be able to hold and spoil the fight in that situation, he could be (probably would be) manhandled in clinches. Make the fight in the UK lol, he cannot win over there. Here? Well maybe a DQ, Haye retaliates with a rabbit punch and Hops could fake a KO. I'm half kidding, **** it could happen.

 

First of all I never said Hopkins would be a piece of cake for Haye. But eventually Haye would beat him and there's a very good chance he would do it in brutal fashion.

Secondly, Hopkins didn't call out the Klits because obviously he knows he would lose even bigger vs a Klitschko. Plus, the Klitschkos would never fight Hop, and Bernard knows this. It would not only be an utterly meaningless fight for the Klits, but it could even backfire at them in terms of popularity.

All in all, my guess is that Bernard thinks Haye is the biggest payday he could get before retiring, and it wouldn't make him look that bad in losing like it would vs a Klitschko. That said, I'm still not convinced Hopkins and his people really want a fight with Haye.