All that last night shows is that Hopkins was no way past it 6 months ago. Calzaghe's win goes up by A LOT after that performance.
BHOP WAS old in his fight vs Joe, I always thought BHOP wasn't the same fighter since the Taylor fight, in his prime he wouldn't have struggled with Taylor that way.
If he beats RJJ, Calzaghe has nothing left to prove, although I hope he continues to insist on proving it. I'm sure Dawson will now become the next Pavlik, although I do think Dawson matches up better, despite his lack of defense and glass jaw. I thought Glen Johnson beat him. I just don't understand why the judges gave him credit for slapping Glen's gloves.
There was nothing old about BHOPS in the Calzaghe fight ..Its just Joe's style and speed that offset Hopkins ..Same with JT he was able to out work Hopkins !! If he was as old as you say he would have never beaten Wright Tarver and Pavlik so dam convincing !
The hopkins pavlik fight sheds a bit more light on the calzaghe fight in that bhop wasnt as washed up as people thought. I think one of the biggest problems with Calzaghe is his brittle hands which he still manages to get around but makes him lack the power he could have. Im sure it was calzaghe i saw years ago fight effectively one handed cos he broke one of his hands on the other guys face - cant remember the exact fight but for the last few years he fights in a way to protect his hands and has done at the top level (no mean feat in a sport where u kind of use your hands a lot) I dont think he can be accused of ducking anyone at the moment (issues in the past can be debated but he still held his title for a long time so his opposition wern't exactly total nobodies off the street as some posters exaggerate ) but at moment he is just getting the money fights he deserves as he makes his exit. There will always be a hyped young fighter coming up as a great is on the way out - the young fighter may or may not have the goods but i dont think its up to the guy who has earned the right to cash in to prove it. Not actually a major calzaghe fan but u read some preposterous anti calzaghe sentiment on here which is at times quite unbelievable.
Hopkins' performance last night adds a lot more credibility to Calzaghe's clear victory over him. It puts to rest many people's claims that B-Hop was shot 6 months ago. Last night was good for Hopkins' and Calzaghe's legacies, hopefully Pavlik can go back down to 160 and continue being one of the most exciting boxers out there at the moment.
BHOP was beating Joe in the first rounds and then tired out BECAUSE of his age. And there's no ****ing way a guy like Taylor would have given a prime BHOP that much trouble. It's obvious that he isn't the same fighter, but he is obviously still good enough to give problems to anyone.
I never mentioned anything about why Calzaghe chose to fight Roy over Pavlik. What the hell does this have to do with anything I posted? Why exactly is this considered a response? No one is even talking about him not fighting Pavlik or "ducking" him. Dude, really, WTF? In case you didn't know this thread is about how Bernard's win last night "SHows how good Joe Calzaghe actually is."
Last night Hopkins looked just as good as he did against Trinidad and Tarver who in my opinion were his biggest victories. Age and conditioning had nothing to do with it. Please also remember that Calzaghe was almost 37 with brittle hands. Calzaghe was simply smart enough to frustrate Hopkins with his workrate, handspeed and footwork.
Everyone should know that styles make fights. Hopkins-Pavlik has nothing to do with JC-Hopkins. Anyone who has watched Hopkins over the years will know that Hopkins has the hardest time with speed. Hopkins was faster than Pavlik so that allowed him to school Pavlik. JC was faster than Hopkins just like RJ was Hopkins just couldnt over come the speed. JT also brought speed to the table and that bother Hopkins some.