If Hopkins had fought as well as he did last night, he would have beaten Calzaghe

I disagree with this thread.

B-Hop never comes to the ring in anything other than top condition. He fought as well as he could and as well as he was allowed to against Calzaghe.

I had him winning the fight by a point, but the judges disagreed.

I would like there to be a rematch, but the illogical and biased speculation of the thread-starter is clear.

Hopkins could not fight like that v Calzaghe purely because Calzaghe doesn't lumber after you flicking out shots in hope, he is a superior fighter to Pavlik. That was the real difference between the two fights.

 

I agree with everything in this post except that one sentence. There is absolutely no way Calzaghe hits harder than Hopkins, Joe couldn't stop Pavlik or any other top fighter these days (but he will stop RJJ). Think how many hundreds of shots he landed on Lacy's face and head, and didn't stop him. Had Calzaghe fought Pavlik last night, the result would have been much the same (UD), though I expect not quite as wide.

 

I guess not . . . Bhops couldn't have fought Calzaghe the way he fought Pavlik.

Calzaghe was giving Bhops hard time coming in and was forcing Bhops to spend too much energy . . . Pavlik was flat footed and was open to Bhops combo's reason why Bhops was able to do his thing and dictate the tempo of the fight.

 

I wouldn't expect THIS version of Calzaghe to finish Kelly with power. He doesn't use that at this stage of his career.

But he is more than capable of stopping Pavlik on cuts or exhaustion.

Lacy, IMO, was a more durable character than Pavlik and he came very close to being stopped.

BHop, again IMO, would not have lasted the 12 without the benefit of the refreshing little rest he wangled. (Damn near gassed out anyway !)

There's more than one way to stop an opponent.



IMO, Kessler would stop Kelly, probably with power.