Was Hopkins/Pavlik REALLY a technical masterpiece?

"Outworking"?

 

Not really Pavlik is just not that good!

 

Well, Hopkins is a very versatile (complete) fighter, and is quite exceptional in that respect. It's difficult to pin him down into a particular stylstic bracket. I still do think styles are relevant, though. Hopkins molded his game to exploit the fact that Pavlik is quite slow with his feet and hands and doesn't have fantastic defence. That makes him vulnerable to a mover. Against somebody who had, say, Froch's style, he wouldn't have got beat down so much (unless you're taking into account the whole bronchitis thing).

Anyway, RE the whole outworking thing. I don't feel that Hopkins outworked Pavlik. He was more active than Pavlik purely because he was taking away the chance for Pavlik to get off. Hopkins was always either too far away, too close up or bashing him in the face. None of those are appropriate opportunities to throw a punch on KP's part. You could still class that as "outworking" if you really want, but it's not a very meaningful use of the word.

 

What's that supposed to mean?

 

That KP was scared!