People overlook Calzaghe's body work.

The problem is, when Joe goes to the body, it's with wide, looping hooks that leaves him wide open for counters. He also has a bad tendency to lean left or right while he's throwing these wide shots.
He can get away with this against B level fighters, but against Hopkins he'll eat some nasty uppercuts and hooks.
I expect Calzanghe to learn this early in the fight between rds 1-3.

 

Agreed.

If Calzaghe wins its not because of Hopkins age , as hes an ageless great fighter. Its because he was the better man on the night.

The same if Hopkins wins, it wasnt because of new weight class to Joe and fighting in America.

There are NO excuses for tomorrow.

 

He works the body very well as I am sure Kessler will testify. I agree with your prediction but maybe a round or two later.

 

:yep.

I think Hopkins will finish the fight though.

 

Lol. Of course the 'he was old' card will come out but ****it, it don't matter. A win is a win in boxing.

If Joe is so 'open' though why hasn't he been put down more? He's too fast, he keeps moving, never repeats head movement and such. Nah, he's not open. Just looks that way, Ali seemed 'open' alot did he not?:deal

 

Hopkins is old. Calzaghe said so himself. If Hopkins, old as he is, beats Calzaghe, Calzaghe was overrated.

 

You should never trust a boxer... if you do, you probably think that Floyd Mayweather has only beat overrated fighters because he said they are all **** before they had met. :nono

 

Nah...nothing to do with that.

Hopkins is 43 and way past his best, physically. Calzaghe is almost as fast as ever, his reflexes are still very good, and now he punches harder that for a very long time and he is stronger. Huge difference.

 

Brewer still landed 2.5 times more body punches on Calzaghe after 10 rounds ( Brewer 83 bodyshots, Calzaghe 33 bodyshots). The final punch stat after twelve was Calzaghe 289 of 783 and Brewer 179 of 638. Calzaghe started going to the body against Kessler because he found that weak spot in the last 30 seconds of the eight... Obviously, he goes to the body if he can step inside the distance and work at close range. He can't move in with his hands by his side like Eubank did against him in 97.

 

I agree...he'll only go to the body in mid flow, not like a pressure fighter would, unless he's forced to by Hokins.

 

He has to lead himself in and then set those combinations off. Hopkins controls the distance on the back foot and turns exceptionally well, leaving his opponents completely out of position. Once inside, Hopkins won't let Calzaghe swing and that is because they will lock their right/left arms ( they can only throw uppercuts from that position)... Once again and back to the Taylor fights, I invite people to see 3 or 6 minutes of the first two rounds and see for themselves where did Taylor's jab landed... That's right, Hopkins blocked those jabs that fast and moved from side to side to make Taylor chase and set that jab time and time again. Hopkins knows better than we and as well as Enzo that if he stays in front of Calzaghe, Joe outworks him... Bernard's game is to make both fighters connect as least as possible.

 

Its probably true, when I think of Calzaghe I think "sir slaps a lot" and i don't necessarily think where those slaps are being aimed at.

 

Hmmm...Calzaghe cannot just charge the way he did against Kessler...he has to draw Hopkins to the fight and then let those combos go. It's hard to describe; you'll see tomorrow!

 

Here's the counterpunch: Hopkins is also good at working the body. I recall some nice bodyshots from the Winky fight.

It comes down to who's body takes it better. They're both pretty strong. Strong bodies and strong chins.

It's going to be interesting. Purely strategic. I love these kinds of fights.

One day and a half to go.