Paul Hodkinson Discussion

I agree he deserves more attention than he receieves.
He was involved in some excellent scraps and notched up some decent wins in beating Marcos Villasana and Ricardo Cepeda.

The Ring had Hodkinson in the no. 1 spot between November 91 thru April 93.
He was a bit of a hard luck fighter though, twice getting stopped on cuts in bouts he was a leading on points.

 

AlFrancis rates him highly.

 

i suppose he is underestimated overall, at least nowadays.Not as good as a lot of the more high profile recent feathers like Pac, Morales, MArquez etc...but a notch better than a lot of the hyped fighters from other weightclasses of the past few years.

Good solid, offensively tidy pressure fighter with excellent power in his left-hook.IF he had been a couple notches better technically and slightly more durable, then you would have had a pretty formidable fighter.Most of the world class British featherweights of recent decades fall into that category i'd say... good fighters with a few big weaknesses that stopped them taking that step up to genuinely very good\excellent world class.

in other words i'd put him that category of being a good fighter, but a vulnerable transitionary type champ who was never going to reign for long if he took on other good worthy challengers.Same category as a lot of the late '60s/early'70s junior lightweights,'80s lightweights, more recent welterweights(better than most of that last crop i'd say)etc....with some being a bit better than others, but none really ahead of the pack, or truly notable talents.Hodkinson Vargas, kelley, gonzalez, prime medina, tom Johnson...some entertaining capable Feathers at that time.


Aas far as why he didn't have a long career, i'd say he largely just fits into the old "pressure fighters burn out quick" cliche.Probably shouldn't have taken so long off after losing to Vargas, then jumped back in against Robinson having lost a step and perhaps in overconfident mood.

 

Hodkinson vs "sweet C" Colin McMillan would have been a great pressure fighter vs pure boxer matchup.Shame the timing wasn't quite right for it to happen with both at their best.

McMillan is probably my favourite British feather of that decade.I think with his lack of any real physical presence and power, he would have struggled anyway against the more physical aggressive fighters at the top level, regardless of the shoulder problems that ruined his career prematurely. he was a really tidy fun stylist to watch though.Could be a tough forgotten darkhorse type for a lot of feathers that favour more reserved technical fights.

not the best highlight mind you..

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xCo-T7VklM[/ame]

 

McMillan had great fleetness of foot, a switch-hitter in the Michael Nunn mold as far as punching technique and unorthodox movements goes, which often left him just as vulnerable. I'd bet on Hodkinson's crashing left hook taking him out at some point, similar to what happened against Ingle.

Speaking of which, that fight and his fight with Kevin Pritchard (the glass-bodied journeyman that we saw in the highlight) are up on Youtube as well. I'd check out the Pritchard fight to get a better glimpse of him at his young, athletic best, though the Ingle fight is hard to top for action. Great bout, that one.

 

I liked Hodkinson out here in the states we didnt get to see him until he fought Villasana the first time and although he lost he was beating Villasana and landing some hellacious shots, but Villasana had one of the greatest chins ever and somehow busted Hokie up by the mid rounds, actually it didnt look like Villasana was landing that much Hodkinson must have had some tender skin. I missed his fight with Goyo Vargas but i heard he was dominated, no shame in that Goyo was a helluva a fighter in his prime.

Ok back to Hokie i was impressed with his handspeed and obvious power, i figured he would be a future champ after that fight as he was winning handily up until getting stopped.

 

He did. He won the rematch with Villasana in pretty dominant fashion, somewhat similar to the first bout without the cuts intervening. Defended it a couple of times as well before flaring out against Vargas.

 

Eye damage always threatened his progress in big fights. He was crushed by Vargas, when the potential American Super Fight with Kevin Kelley was on the table.

Although a warm favourite to beat Robinson, hindsight showed he just did not have his heart in the game anymore.

On the plus side he was an entertaining and popular fighter with legitmate power, but made his name beating up old men, although to be fair impressively...

 

yeah, those bodyshot knockdowns are hilarious.you would think it was Arguello ripping them into the midsection.I tend to agree Paul would have had too much aggression and power, nothin Mcmillan threw would have any effect in keeping him off, though he might be made to look a bit foolish at times.

McMillan actually has an official site out there where you can watch the vast majority of his career.Wish more fighters would do something like that.

http://www.colin-mcmillan.com/archive/index.html

the WBO title win against formerly great amatuer Stecca is worth checking out.

mcmillan was never the same after ruining his shoulder against palacios, though i think his weaknesses were exposed in that fight anyway, as he was struggling against a typical hard as nails, roughhousing south american fringe contender/journeyman who wasn't interested in cute stuff, and just pressured and fouled the **** out of him;Mcmillan showed he didn't like the rough spoiling stuff there.that one reminds me slightly of Fidel bassa's last fight where he had his retina detached.

 

I thought the Vargas fight was a great competitive war actually, well worth tracking down if you haven't watched it anarci.

Both guys landed loads of punches, but Vargas great chin was the difference.he was moving smoothly and walking Hoko onto counters throughout and eventually hurt and finished him off.

Kelley vs Vargas is a great fight as well.Kind of forgotten now.

 

Aaahhh! Fidel Bassa was a quality fighter!
Anyway here's Hodkinson/Villasana II.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Kl7UI1cPw[/ame]