Put Hopkins in another era, does he stick out as much?

Malinga was a great performance and Tony a great win , i think the Hopkins fight was one of those fights that makes a fighter improve and i think that was the case here.

 

You see Miguel Cotto as an elite Welterweight during the 40's or 70's? Marquez (or any of the recent crop) as an elite Lightweight in any decent era for the division? Pavlik/Taylor as elite Middles in any decent era? Calderon as an elite Flyweight anywhere from the 60's to the 80's? Montiel as an elite Bantam in the 60's or 70's?

I'll think of more examples that don't necessarily fit the "current scene is weak" trend, but we'll start there.

 

Would they be the best of the best, no, would they be very good contenders or have short championship reigns, yes

 

I guess it depends how you define elite as well, but thats openign another bag of worms.

Teeto, he's not bad on the front foot at all, especially back then, just not great either imo.It's no coincidence the ability to punch on the frontfoot was one of the first things to noticeably decline on him imo.Early on he seemed to want to be an aggressive beast swarming type(though obviously with ringcraft as well) and he was never going to be an Armstrong,Duran, Harada, Chang, Pryor, Pascual perezor even a cerdan.Just doesn't have that kind of innate balance and instinctive aggressive nature.

the change to a more patient lateral moving boxer puncher was right for him.

 

Cotto would be a decent willful lower B level type in the 70s id say.Jean josselin, Menetrey, Ralph charles, Randy Shields sort of level.

But i also think he would be the type to fade away quickly after a whipping or two, exactly like a charles did.

He might actually do better at jr middle then, which was very average for time.Gazo, obed etc he could mix with them despite being smaller.Benes would horribly cave him in though.

 

Ok agreed. It's clear he has shown no real eagerness to be a brutal aggressor.

 

atschAlrighty then.

 

Maybe, he's not durable or strong imo, but he is brave, no doubt. but he's shown the effects imo and probably isn't going to fare any better if he gets mangled by Cervantes at 140 and then Napoles at 147.There were more good contenders to clean up the remains in his divisions then.That follow up championship win might have been a horrific thrashing against Muniz or a young Palomino in a non-title go instead etc..

 

I don´t see Pavlik or Taylor as elite fighters.
Marquez probably would never up to lw but would stay at fw or sfw. And yeah, he would do quite well there. Perhaps he wouldn´t be the best but he would be one of them. I don´t know much about the flyweight division of the time so I give Calderon a pass. Montiel I see it similar to Marquez, he would stay at the lowest weight possible and be amongst the best there. Cotto would manage to be a decent contender at lww and ww. Not amongst the very best but he would earn a title shot.

 

But compare that Hopkins to the one of 95-03 and in that period you could tell he was sharper, more experienced, and more well rounded. He looked inexperienced in the two after Jones but was very skilled against Mercado in the first fight but his craft wasn't at it's best quite yet but close. In the rematch he was more improved and had a better sense of timing. Against Jones he looked bad mainly because of Jones but he wasn't prime, not yet. Look at more of his fights 95-03(his prime) with 97-01 being his peak years.

He still look inexperienced against his next two opponents in Ritchie & Hall. I liked his performance against Aquino but he really hit his stride starting at 95 when he gave Mercado a masterclass.

 

The Margarito beating wasn't too one-sided until the end of the 10th. Before that it was still competitive though Margarito had the momentum past the 6th. I thought he toke a much worse one-sided beating against Pacquiao though Marg was the one who toke his prime from him so it had a worse impact on him after the fight. If anything, I think the Cotto victory toke something out of Margarito too as both guys brought one of the best wars of the decade. I don't know what Margarito's chin is made of but I think people forget how much heavy-handed Cotto hit Margarito flush. He even tagged Margarito a bit in the 11th but they seemed to do nothing. What a chin. He has heart to go on to have another war against Clottey and to not quit again against Pacquiao though the fight should've been stopped much sooner.

 

hopkins would be a stand out fighter and a hall of famer in any era.

 

He'd always be among the elite, but he certainly wouldn't be a long-reigning dominant champion in several eras. Some of them, like the 40's, were simply too stacked for anyone to be a really dominant figure. peak Hopkins isn't out of his league against any middleweight ever.