Important facts regarding "primes" for Hopkins v Calzaghe...

Calazage was faster and hit harder 5-6 years ago but he made more mistakes and got floored by Mitchell who was past it. Plus he was having a marital breakdown, which made him duck out of big fights and meant he wasnt on top of his game when he did fight. Calazage did not throw more punches 5-6years ago

Hopkins is definately far more past his prime, 8years past his prime, probably 10-12years past his physical prime, but his technical prime came later. If were talking raw physical primes I'd say Calazage is 6years past his best and Hopkins 12years past his. Each fighter got technically better with age

 

This is a BS thread if ever i saw one. Hopkins' fights with Mercado or Echols were exciting high-paced wars, to name a few. In his fight with Glen Johnson he was throwing 70 or 80 punches a round.

 

Remember that a few years ago(when Hopkins was nearer his prime than he is now) that he ducked out of a Calzaghe fight that was already agreed

 

Yup. Would have been a totally different fight 5 to 6 years ago. The outcome unknown. Calzaghe has clearly lost speed, reflexes, and some of his fighting spirit is diminishing. I don't think he has the fire he once had IE he used to fight with much more emotion. With his loss of speed, reflexes and other natural attributes, he has transformed into a thinking fighter, constantly adapting his style to counter his opponents'. Which isn't a bad thing, but clearly Calzaghe has been on a downward trend for quite some time. In my opinion it started with the Lacy fight. VERY noticeably with the Kessler fight.

Likewise, Nard isn't at his peak either. This fight happened 5 years too late. Oh well, at least it happened.