Is Hopkins currently one of the best 15 fighters in the world? If so, why?

Well put me on record here, because I think Calzaghe's the 2nd best P4P in the World right now(Joy Boy ain't my first either).

If he loses 1 round clearly, not talking about a 'feel out/inactive round' that could go to either, I mean one where Hopkins definitively takes, he's dropping down to #5 or so, even if he goes on to dominate and stop him.

I expect a full, obliteration and a defining ****ing statement for him to remain at my top 3.

What it will show if he loses some rounds, is that he's starting to badly decline and in that case, our P4P criteria dictates that he's declining and therefore less potent at the weight.:good

I truly think that Cristian Mijares is the most potent guy at his class(a good division also, not bad) and if you took any fighter in the world and adjusted them P4P to that division, or took him out and made him a MW(with physical adjustments), he'd beat anybody virtually right now, including Calzaghe.

Thus why H2H, I rank Mijares P4P H2H #1 in the world, he's just incredible.

 

I thought we were just counting LHW, since SMW is a stronger division, possibly the 2nd strongest in boxing, i'd get these SMW's over the current Hopkins -

Bute
Kessler(obvious)
Mundine
Andrade(I don't care if I get flame or not, too much workrate and Hopkins can't hurt him).


That's about it. Not sure about Inkin yet, Froch's too uncontrolled, Hopkins could pot shot and win.

 

No

 

hopkins is the most over rated fighter in boxing and has been for years

 

Right, it's not hard to do that either, contrary to popular belief.

Funny enough, I watched Mitchell and Kessler bouts back to back and Calzaghe's reflexes from the Mitchell bout were badly declined, but he fights smarter now. The Calzaghe of Mitchell, fighting less wild(obviously against an elite he'd have not gone in there with the intention to blast somebody out, but it was a good gameplan against mitchell, who became dangerous later on), would have brutally executed Kessler in 8 or so.

That's why I said Kessler fought a past prime Calzaghe, but one who was peak mentally and tactically brilliant, I guess it evens out some.

I'm hoping Joe feels more comfortable at LHW and is a bit faster and a bit harder hitting, I think if he feels good, he'll stay around longer and we'll maybe get a Dawson match alogn with a Woods match you know, a Calzaghe fan can only hope.

If the ****er stays around for 3 more and gets Woods and Dawson, he'll seal his fate as the best of the post-Jones generation.:yep

He'd have the best resume around then!

 

It's very simple to explain it in my manner of thinking... A fighter who is considered P4P number one in the World in 2004, 2005 by consensus, can't drop down 15 places because he lost a split decision and a close 115-113 decision to a newcomer and won a 119-108 decision against former lineal LHWT Champ and won another UD against a top rated P4P fighter in his latest fights. Great Old fighters should be given the benefit of the doubt before being knocked down several places in the ratings... Bernard would toy with Green, Johnson ( once again, won all 10 rounds in Indio, Cal when Glen was 32-0, 22 KOs), Diaconu and Woods. I think he could steal it against Erdei, Kelly Pavlik, Woods and Calzaghe in the right circumstances... The flipside of that is that he can lose a decision to RJJ and that makes a case for Roy in the top ratings too. You just can't count out all of these shrewd operators ( Nard, Roy, JMM, Wink, Shane, Oscar) until they get soundly beaten.

 

Well if he can only be beaten by Calzaghe, Dawson and Kessler, that means he's still a top fighter, and a great win for any of them, you know.

Calzaghe, Dawson and Kessler are A class fighters, definitive top 15's all of them.

In my P4P regular, I have Kessler at 13, Dawson at 11 and Calzaghe at 3 right now, so Hopkins could be top 18 if that's the case.

However, I'm not trying to just pimp out Calzaghe like most Calzaghe fans, I don't think Hopkins beats any fo the guys I listed and he's no longer a top fighter, just a big name who can be tricky, who can be competitive and tricky, so a blowout is the only impressive way to win IMO.

I count the way fights are won, not just the fights, that's why a blowout will count.