Who beat better competition at 160 lbs; Hopkins or GGG?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by dmt, Jun 3, 2020.


  1. dmt

    dmt Hardest hitting hw ever Full Member

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    Who beat better competition at 160 lbs; Hopkins or GGG?

    For the purposes of this discussion, let's exclude anything Hopkins did at 175 lbs.

    Who beat better competition at middleweight?
     
  2. Tin_Ribs

    Tin_Ribs Me Full Member

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    Hopkins. His opposition hardly set the world on fire and had outright poor points but Golovkin's middleweight era is the worst in history that we have significant film of imo.
     
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  3. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    Hopkins, but it's marginal to me, Golovkin's numbers are great and he's underrated legacy-wise at MW I feel.
     
  4. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    Imagine what Hopkins would have done to Canelo though? Holy ****.
     
  5. AwardedSteak863

    AwardedSteak863 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Hopkins but not by much at 160. His dominant wins over Tito, Holmes, Joppy, Eastman, and Allen are pretty impressive. All of those guys could fight. In a mythical matchup, I would take BHOP over GGG hands down. He could beat you so many different ways.
     
  6. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft He Who Saw The Deep Full Member

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    Not to mention the fact that Hopkins competition technically includes a prime Roy Jones.
     
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  7. lufcrazy

    lufcrazy requiescat in pace Full Member

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    Hopkins.

    Almost certainly that's purely down to the MW tournament and the politics of the time allowing him to keep every title.

    Golovkin is a missed opportunity for greatness imo.

    He spent 7 years ranked in the top two of the division.

    And many of those years he'd have been the favourite over the person ranked above him.

    But someone always got there first. Cotto got to Martinez and Alvarez got to Cotto. By the time he got to Alvarez he was faded enough that Alvarez could argue victory.

    But my problem with Golovkin was his competition stepped up in perfect time with his performance declining.

    So we're left with a relatively low quality resume.

    Where as with Hopkins he got the big fights and won them all dominantly.
     
  8. ChrisJS

    ChrisJS Boxing Addict Full Member

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    IMO Hopkins got hosed against Taylor and Golovkin against Taylor and they were both old by then. I don’t factor those “losses” in. That said, it’s Hopkins. Trinidad was a great victory (though he wasn’t a natural middleweight) that’s the only great middleweight victory between the pair that’s official.
     
  9. JohnThomas1

    JohnThomas1 VIP Member

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  10. PhillyPhan69

    PhillyPhan69 Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    really? I don’t think either guy was at their prime just yet in the first fight. I think they were both still a little green. In the 2nd fight certainly not.
     
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  11. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    . Bernard beat the better comp. GGG did a better job of destroying his..
     
  12. Xplosive

    Xplosive Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Agreed.
     
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  13. Man_Machine

    Man_Machine Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I'd say Hopkins, overall, competed with a better level of opposition. The gap between his and Golovkin's ledger might not be huge, but there's a significant enough of a margin to matter, in my opinion.

    I'll take Hopkins' contests against Taylor; Trinidad; Holmes; Joppy; Jackson; Johnson; Allen over Golovkin's against Canelo; Jacobs; Murray; Macklin; Geale; Lemieux; Brook... ...any day of the week.
     
  14. Richard M Murrieta

    Richard M Murrieta Now Deceased 2/4/25 Full Member

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    I think Bernard Hopkins competition was a lot stiffer., Tito Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr, William Joppy, and Oscar De La Hoya.
     
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  15. JC40

    JC40 Boxing fan since 1972 banned Full Member

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