Should Hopkins have stepped up to 175 in 2002?

yes, he should have moved up and taken roy's 60-40 offer

 

Yes...

 

He didn't have to step up to 175 in 2002, he could have taken the offer on the table to fight Calzaghe at 168, then would have kept his options open for a return to middleweight, staying at SMW or stepping up again to LHW.

 

i dont think he wanted any of roy...and he rejected calzaghe too at that point

 

Sloppy Joe was fighting Tokker Pudwells in 02.

That BUM had nothing to offer Hopkins.

 

:yep

 

he made the right move staying at 160. At 175 he would have gotten sparked by RJJ and lost a lot of money. At 160 he waited out a much bigger payday against a much easier opponent in DLH and he got that histroic 20 defense mark. Not to mention that by the time he did step up to 175 jones was no longer around and the division was his for the taking

 

No he should have moved up after the Eastman fight in 2005, it was his 20th title defense so it would have been a good time, then he wouldn't have wound up losing to JT (its easy to say this years after it happened of coarse). Honestly though I think his career played out pretty well, if he had moved up in 2002 he wouldn't have had 3 of the biggest wins of his career against Oscar, Tarver, and Pavlik, two of which (maybe all three, I can't remember who was the favorite in the Oscar fight) he was the major underdog.

 

Hopkins would have taken Jones in 2003

 

if he believed it as strongly as you did he would have taken the career high payday which would have been about triple his highest payday to that point instead of staying at middle and fighting carl daniels for 1/6th of the money.

 

Yeah except for being the recognized champion in a weight division higher! What was Hopkins doing at that time again? Oh yeah, beating recognized champions in a weight division lower.

 

Pudwill was a replacement opponent at two weeks notice, as you well know. I'm sure that Hopkins' reputation absolutely rocketed as a result of fighting William Joppy at the time that he would have fought Calzaghe had he not scuppered the Showtime offer though...

 

They were still in negotiations during the Daniels fight. During the post fight was where the famous "60/40 I'll whoop yo ass" comment happened. It was a Co-Main Event with Hopkins - Daniels and Jones - Kelly for HBO though at 2 different venues.

Now depending on who you believe in this all, there are far different views on what really happened during these negotiations.

Roy stated on TV that he would give 60/40, but to this day Hopkins has said he only offered 70/30. On top of that, Roy also completely refused to meet at a catchweight...even though Hopkins was the one risking the most (titles, big paydays down the road, moving up, etc.). Now if Hopkins had taken the 60/40, would Roy have met him at a catch??? Maybe, but Bernard's pride got in the way. And if Roy had agreed to the catch, would Bernard have taken the 60/40? Again, maybe...but Roy's pride got in the way.

Dan Rafael of ESPN put it best a few months back when it looked like they may revisit talks (and name the PPV "5 YEARS TOO LATE" ). He said that...and Im paraphrasing of course, seeing as how it was in his rankings column months ago...Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones may resurrect talks on a fight that should have happened years ago but both their ego's destroyed. Honestly, couldnt have put it better.

The myth that Bernard was all at fault is just that...a myth. Negotiations are called that for a reason. When you have 2 fighters not willing to budge on either side, they both are at fault when the talks die.

As for the original question of the post...

He was making an attempt to move up after the Trinidad fight...but that fell by the wayside (see above). While in negotiations for that move, he continued to defend his titles...and as he kept winning, he started getting closer and closer to the all time defense record. Bigger fights came and the biggest fight that made sense north of 160 fizzled.

So, for my opinion on it...yes, he should have moved up AND FOUGHT JONES! But politics happened and that fight fell through. At that point, he had two choices...move up and lose his titles or go for history. And once that became reality, the answer quickly turned to no.

 

I got the names mixed up but my argument is still valid. Bernard's next fight against Morrade Hakker gave him less than 1/6th of what he would have made against Jones

Why should Roy go down to a catch weight. Bernard wouldn't be risking anything, At a catchweight his middleweight titles wouldn't be on the line because it would be above 160, if he loses he just goes back down to 160 and still has his titles. I garantee you Bernard would have wanted Roy's light heavyweight titles on the line so why not fight at light heavy? As far as moving up in weight being a risk I think that recent history has shown us that cutting too much weight is an even greater risk so again I disaree with you. Roy would be the one risking everything (titles, his p4p # 1 status, big paydays, cutting weight) while hopkins would have everything to gain (avenge a defeat, huge paydays if you win, p4p1 status, and undisputed in a 2nd weight class).

Lets ignore risks and look at facts.

1. Roy was a bigger draw
2. Roy already had a win over hopkins
3. Roy had everything to lose and nothing to gain since he would just be beating another guy that he already beat. Just imagine the excuses the first time he beat hopkins he was too green and the 2nd time he was moving up in weight.
4. 40% would have given hopkins 3 times as much as he had ever made.
5. His next fight was against a complete nobody for 1/th of the money.
6. Against a much easier and smaller opponent in DLH his pride wasn't an issue. He was willing to acknowledge that Oscar was the draw and that he only deserved about 1/3 of the purse that Oscar was getting.

In some cases one fighter shouldn't have to budge and I think that was the case with Jones. hopkins had one big win against a guy that was at welter about a year before he beat him, he was still not a draw and still not widley respected but he still wanted more than he deserved in negotiations.