I know Calzaghe won, and I dont think that the fight was that close! But a prime Hopkins would beat Calzaghe up comfortably.
That was not a prime Calzaghe either. but yeah, Hopkins looked very good beating Robert Allen 13 times.
At 175, with the build Hopkins has now, yeah, probably every time. At 168, in Calzaghe's prime, no, particularly not Calzaghe pre-hand injury.
Jeez you guys still crying about that fight. Your guy lost. The only thing the fight proved was that Calzaghe is a far superior boxer than Hopkins, hence the Calzaghe win. Now stop crying.
It seems to me that everyone is overlooking the fact that Calzaghe is past his best aswell. Calzaghe would beat him 99 times out of 100. Hopkins couldnt carry Monzons jockstrap:yep
Im my opinion a prime Calzaghe was not that much better than the Calzaghe we saw two weeks ago, A prime Hopkins was much much better than what we saw on 4/12/08.
Your are stating the obvious matey. I am British and anyone whithout any biase knows Calzaghe has been managed superbly throughout his career.
Either way it would have been a way more dramatic fight at 168 with both in thier prime's. Calzaghe doesn't seem to carry the punch up to 175. He should go back down, unless he fights china chin Jones. Hopkins seems to be able to hold 175 comfortably, but age has caught up to him. Calzaghe-Pavlik will be a war in a year or so. Right now Calzaghe has too much rings smarts for Pavlik. But Pavlik like Cotto is getting better with every fight.
I quite like Joe, but I think a prime Hopkins may have got the better of a prime Calzaghe. Hard to say for sure. I thought Robin Reid beat Calzaghe in their fight and Joe should have given the guy a rematch. Hopkins had superior strength and the cleaner delivered punches, Calzaghe more workrate and has a great fighting spirit.
If Hopkins is in his prime then he would open up more...giving Joe more chances to land. It's easy to say Bernard could win with a little bit more activity but you have to take into account his defensive stance int he fight. Add to this the fact the Hopkins turned down a Calzaghe fight 1 day after accepting it, 4 years ago and you can't blame Calzaghe for it not happening.