How far past prime is Hopkins?

Not far.

Many considered Hopkins to be in his prime when he beat Tito. The Hopkins that beat Pavlik would have still beaten Tito 7 years ago.

 

He's sort of an odd case. It's not one of linear deteriation. He's sort of morped into a different fighter. He's definitely lost a lot of his stamina, strength and speed, but he's countered that by developing perfect punch timing, footwork and strategy (holding, fighting in one or two punch exchanges, counter punching) so much that he is now one of the best ever exponents of these things in the history of boxing. However for all that, he still has a major weakness in the fact that he is...simply..old.. so a technically sound fighter like Calzaghe or Dawson who can withstand Hopkins tricks should be able to beat him by keeping up the pressure. A limited, one dimentional box-bot like Pavlik will find Hopkins an absolute nightmare and this will probably be the case when B-Hop is 50. I rate the current Hopkins as the most mentally aware fighter I've seen.

 

Hopkins' absolute peak with the combination of his physical attributes and his skill and ring intelligence at it's best ended IMO roughly around 2003. However, I think by that time and in the next few years he was having some problems with the 160lbs limit. It's hard too judge how far past his prime a fighter is, virtually impossible to be exact about, but as I see it the best consistancy he had of top level performances was from about '97 to '03, that's where I place his absolute prime.

 

I see him beating guys unlike Calzag or Dawson for a few more years. Kessler and Andrade could be dangerous fights that I wouldn't take. Fighting Johnson again may be pointless.

 

Some of his attributes such as stamina are way past prime, but he still has the skill to take certain styles to school.

 

Personally I think Hopkins will fight again, and there is a good chance he will lose.

 

he is the second best LHW in the world.

 

Sounds about right to me.

I'd say the peak performances of his whole career were against Tito and Joppy. I thought he had slipped a bit when he fought Eastman and DeLaHoya, but as you said, the weight making may have become a factor around that time as well.

 

Both versions would get their racist asses kicked in by James Toney today, yesterday or tomarrow, in the streets or in the ring.

 

Similar to Lewis in his last 3/4 years. Slightly past his physical prime, but peaking from a technical point of view.

 

Hopkins is at his absolute peak.

 

i dont think he is past prime i believe he is as good now as he ever been,a bit slower and tires easier but makes up for it in his experience.
so he is in his prime imo.
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