Winky Wright is the best middleweight in the world, the uncrowned champion, and he should stay in that division. Light heavyweight is not for him. He came in too heavy for his frame Saturday night. It slowed him down and caused him balance problems. Bernard Hopkins, a naturally bigger fighter, was able to outmuscle Wright on the inside. Winky made the fight, while Hopkins made the clinches, and this should go against Hopkins, but with a referee reluctant to penalize Hopkins for his constant fouling (which included excessive clinching, holding and hitting, and head butting) Wrights aggression played into Hopkinss hands. Bernards strategy was to frustrate and tire out Wright. It worked. Wright landed more punches (Bernards punches mostly landed on Wrights gloves) but Hopkins looked in control throughout most of the fight, threw some flurries here and there, and popped Wright a few times with that famous lead right, and the judges rewarded Bernard handsomely for it. The fight was frustrating to watch because I like both fighters so much (or at least I did). Wright is amazing to watch and has been screwed out of the middleweight title for a long time. I had him winning the fight against Jermaine Taylor. Hopkins has established his place in history as one of the greatest middleweights of all times. He, too, was robbed in his fights with Jermaine Taylor. (These outcomes with Taylor are doubly bad because Taylor is a boring champion who does boxing a disservice whenever he fights. The sooner he loses and goes away the better it will be for boxing.) I was proud of Hopkins when he defeated Tarver (another fighter I dont care much for). So I watched the fight Saturday night interested in watching two technicians in the ring together without rooting for one or the other fighter. If Hopkins won I would be impressed that a man 42 years of age could defeat a great fighter like Wright. If Wright won I would be impressed that a natural middleweight could move up ten pounds and beat a technician and naturally bigger man in Hopkins. I hate to say it but Hopkins disappointed me. Hopkins won the fight by throwing Winky off his game, and he did it by using assorted illegal tactics. Hopkins conduct before and during the fight was unsportsmanlike. The head butting during the fight was particularly egregious. The referee kept warning him but didnt back up his warnings with point deductions. The judges also disappointed me. It was a close fight and difficult to score. I thought Hopkins edged it (without any points deducted for the fouls), but I thought two of the scores were too wide, with the other representing the maximum in scoring the fight for Hopkins. Honestly, I need to carefully score the fight. I didnt set out to write down scores and after Hopkins started his fouling tactics my mental tracking was compromised. Hopkins got a great name on his record, but the way he did it ought to leave a bad taste in the boxing fans mouth.
Doesnt really sound like you watched the fight, that butt was definetley not intended, and the second half of the fight you'd see Winky clinching more than Hop. EDIT: The scores were difentley too wide, i can understand Hops winning but not by more than 115-113.
I wont disagree, but it still looked accidental, mainly because hops head was down, and you have a southpaw and orthodox..But than again Hops head is always down, especially when he throws so i dont know. Not to mention i hate Winky...(Mosley fan here)
Wright was a fat **** last night. Had no muscle definition on him cause he had an extra layer of fat. He shouldn't be fighting that heavy as he can make 160 and probably 154 without a problem. Props though for taking the fight.
The butt didn't look accidental to me. Regardless, Hopkins won legit IMO. But, if I had been the ref. I would have taken two points (one for butting, one for holding) from Hopkins.
Take a point from Hopkins for clinching while Ricky Hatton is allowed to wrestle??? sounds like bull****... Hopkins used saavy amnd other dimensions of the sport to beat Wright at age 42... a great accomplishment no matter how messy it looked
I think the headbut was accidental, at least thats the way it looked to me, but Im alot like MagnificentMatt in that I a mosley fan and hate wright. But clearly everyone could see wright was out of his element last night and needs to go back to being a middle weight. Speaking of ricky Hatton I was always kinda a Hatton fan till his last fight. That fight was like the ,ost boring fight I ever seen and to beat that at the end of it I had to hear him run his mouth about them 4 rounds was more exciting than Mayweathers whole career. Thats a joke and I think if they ever do fight Hatton dont stand a chance.
It was interesting that his trainers said he came into camp in horrible shape and had to sweat off a lot of pounds. Im sure he took Hopkins way too lightly, and he paid the price. As far as Hopkins, he did exactly what it takes to beat a guy like Wright. You have to get on the inside and rough him up. He knew he wasnt going to stand on the outsie and outjab Wright. Just shows Wright aint much of a fighter once you make him fight.
Speak for yourself. Hopkins is a throwback fighter, a veteran, and comes to win. It doesn't matter how he does it, he comes to win. The headbutt looked completely accidental, with Wright actually coming forward, but Hopkins is slick. I think it was accidental, but I also believe that Hopkins was intentionally putting himself in situation throughout the fight where he would be more likely to headbutt. Just a smart, rough performance. Hopkins is a living legend, enjoy him while he's here.
I agree b-hop is a legend, and he has proved he can beat any kind of fighter even the defensive specialist Winky Wright.
But how you win the fight does matter, Marnoff. That's the essence of sport. You win matches within the rules. Otherwise it's not a sport. Sportsmanship can't be thrown out the window just because you want one fighter to win. It wasn't just an accidental headbutt. Hopkins was headbutting all night long. It was blatant fouling and he should have been penalized. At one point it was so bad as to be laughable when the ref didn't do anything more than mildly scold Hopkins. If by throwback you mean back to the days when fighters clinched, butted, and rabbit punched then yeah Hopkins is a throwback. But what the sport really needs is a throwback to the days when fighters actually practiced the sweet science. Watch Hagler-Duran or Hagler-Mugabi. That's pure boxing. There is almost no clinching and there is no fouling. This point was in my face as I watched the fight and they flashed Hagler's smiling mug on the screen: how awful it was that the great middleweight champion had to watch in his presence such a sloppy foul-filled fight. Hopkins is far off the mark of excellence that Hagler attained in his prime. And Wright was well out of weight class do do very well. I was expecting some science. What I saw was slop. Very disppointing. Those who paid for the PPV were ripped off. And it was Bernard Hopkins' fault and a ref with no balls.
