I think Hopkins would have been stopped if he didn't fake his low blow

You thought wrong!

Calzaghe called it the phantom punch and called BHop a crafty old devil for tring to take a rest.

 

hey if i was calz i would have just went though with the punch. kinda makes me suspect about calz pulling his punches for points.

 

Which punch?

 

phantom punch huh...so how was it different from a low blow?:yep

 

Your point was that Calzaghe admitted to low-blowing Bernard deliberately.

My point was that he didn't.

Listen to the post-fight interviews.


BTW, because Bernard pulled Joe's head down (for the umpteenth time), the punch did land low, but nowhere near Bernard's balls. The Max Kellerman replay showed that.

Bernard's reaction was worthy of an Oscar (The acting award, not the golden boy).

The drama that followed was to buy time for a rest. Everyone knows that, even Bernard. He winked at Cortez when he unsuccessfully tried it a second time.

But then even YOU probably knew that too.

 

He wasn't even remotely close to being hurt. There is no way in hell Hopkins was gonna be stopped

And Kessler wasn't gonna be stopped in the 8th round either, not even close. Even if it had been the same ref that did the premature stoppage against Manfredo

 

Frank Warren said in the press today he thought calzaghe was going to stop BHop before he had the rest

 

EDIT: Just realized pharoah basically said the same thing!

No way would Hopkins get stopped. It's not like he doesn't know how to buy time on his feet by clinching and I'm sure he could continue doing that for 1-2 minutes, or however much time was left. He was never hurt in the fight either and Calzaghe's flurries were ineffective as far as the punches go. So unless were talking about Manfredo type stoppage (which wouldn't happen because Hopkins knows how to clinch during attacks) I don't see it.

 

True, but they're not getting the point here.

We hear things like Bernard was never hurt (TRUE) and Joe's punches were ineffective (FALSE).

Bernard needed to buy time, not because he was hurt, but because he was reaching the wall. He was approaching exhaustion. And a fighter can be stopped by exhaustion (Wlad twice: Purrity and Brewster; SRR against Maxim). The low blow antics were clearly bogus.

Would he have been stopped without that little bit of craftiness?

We'll never know.

I'd put the probability at 25 - 30%.

 

He was fatigued but I don't think enough that we're talking about quitting or being stopped. It was a close fight and he did what he had to do to give himself a boost. I'll have to watch the fight again but did he not try to buy time again in the 11th or 12th yet he was still able to continue despite not having a break?

 

Anything at all to hype the Mediocrity that is Joe Calzaghe.

 

I don't think B-Hop would have been stopped....He held at every possible sign of danger.

 

A ****ing excellent contribution to the discussion !