Is too much emphasis being put on Hopkin's Right Hand

The crippled, blind and generally shot Reid Froch fought, still demonstrated a decent right.

 

There is a huge difference between taking a big right hand from a powerpuncher...and a perfectly placed, well timed counter right hand that you never see.

Like these...

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Did you see those uppercuts Calzaghe took from Kessler :scaredas:.

He didnt see those coming and he ate them up.

 

From a power standpoint, Joe doesn't have much to fear. He should be able to take Hopkins' best punch.

From a scoring standpoint, he's in trouble if his connect rate falters and the judges see him hit repeatedly with shots like those above.

 

Dont get me wrong, I am not picking Hopkins by KO by any sense of the word. But the point is, with Joe being a southpaw, with him lacking in the defensive area, with him being suseptable to a straight right down the pipe...and with Bernard being so good at placing that right hand where he wants it and exactly WHERE he wants it (his timing is otherworldly with that punch)...Calzaghe is GOING to get hit with it often and CLEAN.

 

I think KEss may hit a lil harder, but BHOP uses his WAAAAY better! eg, technique, timing, countering, etc

 

I have seen Calzaghe get hurt by a whole lot of right hands. Kessler hurt him with an uppercut and stopped ALL of his momentum for the rest of the round. Calzaghe does recover well. Kessler did not capitolize b/c he has too much confidence in his one punch. He is not a finisher. Bhop has not been in his twilight but in his prime he would finish you. Reid is and AVERAGE fighter and an AVERAGE counter puncher. He is slow stiff as a brick. Bhop can twist turn use angles etc to find a sweet spot. He knows he can take anything Calzaghe throws and he knows calzaghe aint **** unless a guy is coming straight at him in his firing range. If Calzaghe comes forward with his wide squared up stance and throws his looping side armed punches. This is going to be an interesting fight. If bhop can get in good shape and get his mean streak back he will be competitive.

 

I don't see Hopkins hurting Joe with a lead straight right though it's not completely out of the question. I think more importantly is that they will look good to the judges.

 

Bhop's right hand is sneaky he ducks down like he is just getting under a shot but he is winding up the right. Calzaghe ben dropped by lesser shots. To knock Tarver down like that takes some power. Tarver usually does not hit the canvas.

 

This aint no ****ing up and down Kessler. That angle is hard to anticipate.

 

Start walking in behind a stiff jab, and make the fight as ugly as possible on the inside...

Or remain calm and wait for Joe to overextend himself by reaching too far...

Or start looking for sneaky inside counters between Joe's flurries.

Or... sues can probably come up with more. I can guarantee that Hopkins has more than one plan going into this fight. We're talking about Sun Tzu here, not George Bush.

 

Hopkins always has a plan a-z when entering a ring. I have a huge breakdown of both fighters (I actually went back and watch a good chunk of each ones careers over the past few weeks...much to my wife's displeasure....she really aint a boxing fan... ) and how I see the fight playing out. Alot of the stuff has been mentioned...alot of the stuff hasnt. I will be finishing it up and posting it close to fight night (probably Friday or Sat). THAT is when I will let everyone know exactly why I am picking Bernard.

(BTW, Calzaghe is one of my all time favorite fighters...has been for a loooooong time...I just feel he is at a huge stylistic disadvantage here...I will explain more at the end of the week...)

 

Great post...

Yeah, I got a ton more...but I am saving it for my ultra in depth breakdown at the end of the week. I just dont want it to get lost on page 4 or 5 come fight night.