Why did BHop struggle so much against JT?

taylor beat b-hop twice like it or not he was generally outboxed both times

 

Gatti-Ward is exciting in my book, but having fought in a ring myself I find myself more interested in BOXiNG. Trying to put myself in the fighter's shoes and imagine whats going on in their head, the mental warfare between the two fighters is far more entertaining to me than any slug fest. Watching how one fighter attacks, how the second reacts, how the first fighters takes note of all that before he attcks again. Personally from this point of view I absolutely love watching Hopkins fight even if there isn't much action, because he's the best at the mental side of boxing.

 

Not really. All I was saying is that I thought Taylor won one (The second), the other was a draw and that I didn't want to rewatch them to give a RBR analysis.

 

Without people like Hopkins we essentially have two half naked men bludgeoning each other for money. The Gatti-Ward fights were exciting but it says a lot for Arturo that his legacy is largely based around three fights with a club fighter.

 

Don't lie to yourself please...

I am a Hopkins fan..

But fact is Jermaine Taylor beat Bernard Hopkins twice.

 

Hopkins is usually always in shape and has plenty of stamina. Perhaps at his age, he knew he was going to have stamina problems, particularly fighting at that low weight he always maintained. So he fought a very low paced fight. However, noticed how when he went up to light heavy, his endurance and aggession are much better. despite him always being in shape, perhaps it was a factor with taylor

 

Hopkins saw something that prior to that fight, most did not see. Taylor tires easily toward the latter half of fights. He started slow on purpose...choosing to control where in the ring the fight took place, keeping the pace slow...all while allowing Jermain to punch himself out, picking his own clean shots along the way. He kept the better defense, keeping Jermain on the outside only when wanting to engage himself. As Taylor tired...Hop pounced and punished him.

It was his gameplan...and seeing as how MOST people (fans, fighters, press, etc.) feel he won both fights...Id say it worked exactly how he felt it would. That is the thing most dont understand about Bernard...he is a MASTER at strategizing his opponent long before they even step into the ring. Most Calzaghe fans are far overlooking this fact....they wont be tho, come the 20th.

:good

 

taylor got a gift.

 

Because Bhops' skin is lighter than JT's.

 

Y'know sues, this was a point I was thinking over yesterday, and if can answer it for myself, Hopkins becomes my pick without a shadow of a doubt.

You are taking the position that Bernard started slow on purpose against Jermain as a part of his plan. Frankly, I think he was forced into this plan by the simple fact that Jermain was the much, much more explosive athlete at that point in time. Sure Bernard could and did wait him out, and was in the process of drowning him in deep waters the first time out, but I'm not sure he could have engaged early even if he'd wanted to.

Calzaghe is bigger than Jermain, and more athletically gifted on top of that. He also wasn't the one huffing and puffing after going the distance with a very active fighter in Kessler. It's hard to see him tiring against Bernard.

The scenario that I can't answer as I lean towards Bernard is that if he falls behind in this fight, which his style past forty makes almost certain versus a big, active fighter, can he do enough consistently to get back into it? Calzaghe isn't likely to wilt, and will be fighting with the confidence of knowing he's in front.

I think if I pick Hopkins, I end up picking him because I end up convincing myself that his technical superiority here is immense. Mackie can get him in the best shape possible, but he can't turn back the clock. The clock is what cost him decisions against Jermain.

 

EXACTLY!

Hopkins was never a HBO/Showtime endorsed fighter. That's one reason I like him. He really did it his own way, and against the flow.

BlueApollo.

Kessler's is no Hopkins. Not even close.
Taylor is a much more dangerous puncher then Calzange. Cal throws a lot of punches, but there's not very much on them.
Taylor would stop Kessler early.

 

i think a more apt description of a cheerleader is someone who turns a close fight into a blatant robbery and throws out conspiracy theories.

 

The two fights were robberies.

I had Bernard winning both 7 - 5

However, it is stupid to say that Taylor didn't present a puzzle for Hopkins.

I think much of the problem was about Hopkins finding it hard to make 160. He was weak at the weight, and he knew this affected his ability to take a punch. Hence he looked to COMPLETELY avoid Taylor's punches. Notice how Bernard just DOESN'T get tagged at all by Taylor. I can count on my two hands the number of punches Taylor actually LANDED. Compubox of course doesn't really capture that as punches on the shoulders and gloves are often counted as landing.

Attempting to avoid Taylor's bombs cut Bernard's output significantly, which ultimately is why the judges thought he lost. Another factor was JT stealing rounds by throwing meaningless flurries at the end of close rounds.

Had the judges been looking at effective punching, they would've given the fight to Bernard: Bernard simply won every single round he wanted to win.

 

He came across a young bull his own size with a high workrate.