I'm sorry but the more i watch Calzaghe, the more i see weaknesses.

I find it funny that somebody bumped this thread but looking back at it, i think i was somewhat correct. I always contended that Hopkins' game plan would be to move on his feet like he did against Winky to nullify Calzaghe's workrate and try to catch him coming in with lead right hands and clinch or to come in with combinations and clinch. That's what happened. Of course, i wasn't sure he would do this but it was my guess.

The problem is that Hopkins ran out of gas as the fight wore on. Something that is completely understandable as he's 43. But i still contend that if father time had not caught up to Hopkins, his punches would've been much more accurate and the lead right hand would've made Calzaghe more weary late in the fight. Hopkins' punches lost his accuracy as the fight wore on and that made Calzaghe more brave. That's a stark contrast early in the fight when he completely respected Hopkins' punching accuracy. Yeah, he had some moments late in the fight but he was at his best early in the fight. And that is usually the opposite of most Hopkins' fights as he usually does his best late in his fights.

 

I give Joe credit for pushing the work rate. So i think it's a combination of Joe's work rate and the fact that father time finally caught up to Hopkins in this fight. Hopkins was as fresh as a daisy in his fight with Winky and he threw about 200 more punches than in the Calzaghe fight while moving about as much. The difference was father time IMO. But Joe definitely pushed the pace. So i give credit to Joe also.