Great win for Calzaghe though I don't think it was a great fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's interesting that Calzaghe gets all the respect in the world for beating Hopkins, but at the same time, Jermain Taylor's wins get minimized. It's also interesting that B-Hop gets called old by some JC fans and at the same time, is suppose to be JC's career defining fight. JT's wins over Hopkins are arguable, but seem much more impressive now considering that Hopkins was few years younger back then. Yet after his losses to Pavlik, you'd wonder if he even fought B-Hop, twice. Double standards? Let's hope for Pavlik - Calzaghe sometime soon, though I am doubting it's going to happen.
Hopkins is a much much improved fighter at 175. He was really on his last legs as a middleweight against Taylor, and Joe also won far more convincingly which perhaps explains the credit differential
Perhaps, but I still think it's hypocritical to bash JT (even ODLH for that matter) and at the same time, prop up JC. JC might be 36 and 1 fight from retirement, but he's had a relatively easy career compared to other fighters who have gone through much tougher competition. But at this point, that's neither here nor there.
I'm not trying to make any excuses up for Hopkins, but I think he said he was having trouble making 160 for a little while. I'm not sure how true this is because many fighters usually use this excuse. Hopkins looked a lot fresher when he stepped up in weight to fight Tarver. But that also could have been do to the fact that Tarver was indeed stale having to lose all of that weight that he had put on for the Rocky movies, not sure honestly. Another thing you can look at is Calzaghe is 36 years old also and is also probably a little past his prime to. I don't think he's a health freak quite like Hopkins is either.
