Hopkins was tall (probably not quite 6'1 as listed, but close to that) and had a long reach but so did middleweights in every era. He made 160 for years and was probably not more than about 166 at fight time in his prime, so he wasn't huge in weight either.
He had height and reach on virtually every top ten middleweight champion. He went up to light heavyweight and likely fought better opposition at 175 well into his forties and did terrific ..Monzon who feasted on small men wouldn't do it and neither would Hagler .. I never heard his height disputed as less than at least 6'1" .. his reach close to 76 .. that's pretty big .. in the top of the class ..I love Hagler but he was a very different fighter against boxers that made him miss like Duran and Leonard than against maulers and sluggers ... he lost confidence and tended to fight conservatively and kinda dumb actually .. I always felt Marvin was insecure about his stamina after he nearly punched himself out in the first Obel defense .. Hopkins would be a very challenging matchup for anyone ..
A lot actually. Bernard padded his record at 160 against mediocre opponents. I would pick Robinson, Fullmer, Basilio, Griffith, Napoles, Tiger, Benton, Monzon, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Benn, Toney, Nunn, for the win.
He went up to light heavyweight after he lost the middleweight title. Look, if we are matching them at 175 and all age 41, yeah, Hopkins comes out on top against everyone except maybe Archie Moore ! Match them at 160 in their primes.
Well, just some examples (timestamped) : This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected .... and I really didn't even have to look for those. Those were the first four 1990s fights I clicked on and all of them have him under 6'1. He was 6' for years as i remember it. We just don't know if he was taller or shorter than Monzon, to use the obvious example, because Monzon has been similarly listed with even more varying heights, anything from 5'11 to 6'2. We know they were both tall middleweights.
Hopkins' reach was listed at 71, 73, 74 and 76 from what I've seen. His height was 6'0 or 6'0 1/4 for years until he was old then it became a full 6'1, from what i can tell. His unofficial weight "in the ring" is recorded as 166 here in the second Echols fight in 2000 as "166". And he was talking about doing a fight at 154 in those days too, so he wasn't "HUGE" as a middleweight. This content is protected (note his height and reach again). then again, there are people on this forum who seem convinced every top middleweight since 1990 was suddenly a huge 175 or 180 + pound "weight cutting freak". I'm not saying that's happened in this thread but there's a myth that all fighters began cutting 15 or 20 pounds to weigh in around that time. It's nonsense.
That's B.S. he did not pad his record he literally fought the best opposition available to him in his era. Remember, he came out of the can and had zero promotional help because he didn't have any amauter success and was coming out of a long prison stent. He had didn't have someone maneuvering him to a title, he had to grind for it. His era was full of solid guys that were not house hold names because the MW division was over shadowed the heavyweights and WW of that era. Trust me, I know a hell of a lot about the 50's and 60's middleweights and guys like Keith Holmes, William Joppy, Howard Eastman all had the talent to give those guys problems. I'm not saying the 90's had as many great fighter's at me as the 50's and 60's. I'm saying he was not paper champ that feasted on pure thrash fighters. Hell at lightheavyweight he took on multiple bigger, stronger, younger fighters like Tarver, Cloud, Shumenov, Kovelev, Dawson, and Pascal. Hell, even Kelly Pavlik was the taller man when they fought at a catchweight. Joe Calzaghe, Winky Wright, Oscar and Tito all were not in their natural weight classes when they fought him but looking at those names and the different styles they all had and the adjustments he had to make for those fights just prove his versatility. Bottom line Bhop is not any easy out for anyone. He is one of the most versatile, well prepared fighter to ever step into the ring.
Very true. Bhop was never a weight cutter because he was so dedicated to his craft he never allowed himself to be out of condition in between fights. I'm in my mid forties and was still training up until my gyy closed due to Covid and would see these MMA guys cut large amounts of weight before their fights, I'm taking 20 plus pounds on fight week. A lot of them go out drinking and partying after matches and blow back up on weight. Bhop never lost focus and was always eating right.
Yeah, I think the vast majority of these "weight cutters" and guys who "kill themselves to make weight" are just lacking the discipline. Too many spin it to make it sound like they are just HUGE but really their walkaround weight is a little too high for what an athlete should be. The number of them who actually genuinely dehydrate/rehydrate to add a lean healthy 10% - 15% over body weight after the weigh-in is very few too. It happens in the lower divisions for sure. Some of those guys are dedicated AND seem to know how to manipulate their bodies to weigh in really light. Hopkins did it the right way. And I can't remember him ever using "making weight" an excuse for a bad fight.
Or you can use it to gage their strength, stamina, heart and skill set .. he was 40 years old when he lost razor thin fights to a very young and talented Taylor ... at 40 Monzon was four years retired and a bloated drunk with a coke spoon up his nose ... at 40 Hagler was eight years retired and hiding out in Italy , still crying about Ray Leonard. Robinson was on his was to Alzheimers, Ketchel and Greb were long dead, Griffith was a retired fringe contender, Roy was an often KO'ed hollow shell .. Hopkins outshone all of them .
