If it's a prime Hopkins (97-01) then he beats Ward. Ward's overrated and Hop was better in most areas that matter. It would not be one sided, and it be an ugly ass fight, but I'd expect a prime Hop to win by clear decision.
A matchup to excite even the most jaded boxing fan. Sorry, I meant a matchup to jade even the most excitable boxing fan.
Hopkins wasnt prime at 175. He was prime at 160. He has several losses and a couple of draws at 175, no knockout victories there either. Quite frankly, his record at 175 is nothing special. At 175, Ward takes him. Hopkins is an atg at 160 though. He was a monster there. No question he is better p4p than Ward.
Hopkins lost to Dawson at 175lbs and lost to Jermaine Taylor twice right before he moved up to 175lbs, he was past his best, Ward would get in and outwork him. If Hopkins moved up to 175lbs within his prime, it’s a competitive fight, but I still favour Ward, he’d take the jab away from Hopkins and beat him on the inside. Ward wins over 12 round 106-102 because of all the points deducted from both…
Probably the type of grappling maulfest where the sheer f*ckpig ugliness of it makes it hard to score and thus produces a diverse array of cards and opinions. Both of them as part of their considerable armouries were very adept at spitefully enforcing their old school rough-housing tactics on greener, more straight up and down naive fighters. They both also disliked similar tactics being thrown back at them, see Ward vs Bika, Hopkins vs Calzaghe etc and were usually a bit hypocritical and melodramatic/vocal about it, so I wouldn't want to be the ref. I tend to think that Hopkins was generally a little bit tighter defensively technique wise than Ward, less prone to having to skip back in a straight line while dipping etc, more two handed with his attack and better at sneaking his right over and through. His footwork at ring centre was also a bit lighter and more sophisticated imo. Better at taking little half steps to create angles and the right distance to responsibly sneak attack from with speed. Tended more to keep his feet under his shoulders when having to move laterally or change direction at speed. He'd also have a slight height advantage and a significant reach one, moreso even than the likes of Kovalev, while not being at a speed disadvantage. If anything, maybe slightly quicker handed. Hard for Ward to win the fight at mid to long range imo, hence him having to get inside and do damage there. Even then, the best I can envisage is him either holding his own or marginally getting the better of things before they're forced to split and reset, and that's no more likely than Hopkins doing the same imo. I'd favour Nard if I'm honest, either the early light heavy incarnation vs the Kovalev version of Ward, or the late nineties Hopkins vs the Froch/Kessler version of Ward.
Hopkins is the wrong man for Ward. Ward wins the first half and Hopkins wins the second half big would be my guess.
Definitely more disciplined, which might be the difference, i'm not sure technically. Be interesting to think about while going through them though. I've been meaning to go through Bernard's whole career for years and years.
Disciplined might be a better way of putting it tbh, I meant that he was a bit defensively sharper and responsible overall.
I may be in the minority here, but I love watching both guys fIght and think they'd make for a technical chess-match at longer range and a decent phone-booth back-and-forth mauling up close. It's funny, for all the flack some of the oldies give newer fighters for not knowing their way on the inside and despite the melodrama made about inside-fighting being a lost art, two of the greatest inside fighters ever remain demeaned for their mauling styles. Maybe that's part of the reason inside-fighting has fallen out of fashion, just a thought. Anyway, I think it would be a very close, grinding affair. Ward has spoken about his immense respect for B-Hop before and the similarities in their styles are quite apparent. B-Hop has the bigger punch but Ward was a bit faster to my eyes. Ward was a better athlete but B-Hop was subtler and craftier. If Ward can force B-Hop onto the front-foot he'd have a better chance of winning and would likely frustrate Hopkins in any outcome. B-Hop for me though was just that little bit more cerebral and cunning and this would make the difference in a close fight. While I prefer Ward as a fighter, I find it hard to pick against Hopkins here. In a trilogy I imagine Ward would pick up a decision though.
