Was Bernard Hopkins Ever THEE Guy?

listen....crack sells. doesn't make it good for you.

this whole notion that ppv #'s = success is skewed.

more than anything...ppl are buying floyd's ppv's because they want to see him lose, not because they think he is TGE.

hopkins has never been a flashy guy...but when it's all said and done, he's the guy that defied the odds. he's the guy that accomplished the impossible. he'll go down in history ranking higher than floyd in the atg category.

 

Calzaghes whole legacy is built on the SD over Hopkins, hardly the stuff of legends.

Roy Jones, Chad Dawson and Jermaine Taykor beat him much more convincingly

 

he is like roy jones bad twin.

 

And still he beat Hopkins.

 

Spot on answer...

One complaint: I wouldn't call his run at 175 as "the man" being "quite a while." Beat Tarver, lost immediately to Calzaghe. Beat Pascal in rematch, lost immediately to Dawson (with the sketchy "NC2" first fight in between). It was amazing he did it at all and especially twice, but he never reigned as "LHW King" for any notable length.

 

he sure did edge out old Hopkins on stamina. but don't forget old roy jones too. jones was MUCH better than Hopkins when prime, so you must surely see that as the bigger victory.

personally I would see joes career as built on wins over lacy and kess, his greatest victories and so obviously his prime years.

 

Not really because Hopkins was still near his best at that point. Jones not so much, that's why Hopkins was the more difficult fight ya see.

 

It's funny how Bhop couldn't draw **** but has still made so much money, guy has a net worth of 50m or something, he has made a ton for a guy who can't draw, made i think 10m vs ODLH alone and how many other 2-3 m purses, Calzaghe, Pascal, Jones 2, Tito, Pavlik plus all those defenses Bhop has earned more than some guys who were big draws. On a similar topic idk if anyone has seen what John Ruiz made in his career i tallied the purses i know of and it came to like 18m in total and there were other title fights not included John ****ing Ruiz likely made 20m in his career despite being one of the most boring fighters ever.

 

Never a great draw but a fantastic boxer and knew how to adapt and bring his opponants down to his gameplan workrate

 

calzaghe waited until they both were beaten by somebody else and hit their 40's before overcoming his 'fear of flying'
beating Hopkins meant something, but there's a good reason why calzaghe wasn't going near jones and Hopkins in their prime

 

RJJ because he was never given the opportunity and losing to RJJ wouldn't have done him any good. Hopkins because he was at 160.

 

fighters who don't crack the US rarely 'get an opportunity' unless they chase it. that's why nothing happened for calzaghe until he got on that plane and made it happen

(look at khan and hatton's careers take off once they left war+en and invaded the US...)

i'm not saying calzaghe HAD to fight them in their prime, because he was clearly the best SMW, but the opportunity was there for many years

unfortunately, he let frank war+en get him rich at home without taking those fights when it really mattered

 

Actually things started to happen for him as a result of him dominating lacy in the UK.

Yeah Khan and Hattonss careers went well after they went to the U.S but their careers were also ended as a result of that.

Going over and chasing prime RJJ wouldn't have been a good idea because he would lose (like everyone). I think Joe would have a decent shot against any version of Hopkins but would it happen? Joe couldn't make 160 and would Hopkins be willing to move up back then? I'm not sure because he stayed at 160 for a looong time.

 

hatton and khan's may have 'ended' as a result of stepping up, but I bet they sleep pretty well at night knowing they did all they could to fight the best in the world
yeah, the lacy fight did open a door for calzaghe, but being with war+en guaranteed it closed pretty fast. he's never been interested in giving his talented stable a US profile, just a belt to defend

I think Hopkins would have moved up if calzaghe had come over here and courted the networks. there wasn't a deep pool of talent between 160 and 175 - but what we did have were 3 clear and legit world champions (in the true sense of the word) reigning over 3 very average divisions
even if it was just calzaghe v Hopkins, it would have been a great spectacle for the boxing purists regardless of the result

 

hops was the man at MW for a decade or so.. you thinks the MW division is bad now, during hops reign it was worse. and i mean worse he had to fight stevens and adama level fighter 2 sometime 3 phukin times.

and i think what hops does at his age is incredible BUT he gets way too many passes. i dont care what anyone says i seen him quit 2 fight due phantom injuries. i dont care i seen it and he was TRYING his best to get points taken or get both Cal and old shot jones DQ's. i seen the sh!t and people can argue all they want he quit. he realized he wasnt prepared for dawson and, umm i forget that C level fighter he has to fight 3x due to that quit job.

he made it like he fell wrong but he didnt want to dig deep and or lose. those i just cant get past them.

and he was a MW and needed at the time blown up WW's for his claim to fame.. he truly made his name off tito and odl who were half the size of him.

but what he does now, even though he woulnt ever fight the best from 160-175 but still even fighting at his age, great job PED abuser