Why didn't BHop ever campaign at 168?

Roy wouldn't knock Bernard out if they fought five times....

As for the thread, Bernard has a sense of history for one thing and wanted to set a record number of defense. Plus, he was strong at the weight and felt good there. As he got older, making the weight was more difficult, plus he wanted to make the jump to a traditional weight class. He knew he could beat Tarver even when people made him a significant underdog, and so he shocked the world. Now that he has accomplished that, he is going to take other big fights like the Calzaghe match, in and around those weights.

 

Same reason Jones didn't fight at cruiserweight.

 

EXACTLY!

That's what Hopkins does. He examines possible opponents and breaks down their game and makes calculated decisions. He called out Tarver. He called out Winky. And he has now called out Calzaghe. Hopkins doesn't call out a fighter if he thinks he's going to lose. He always has a plan.

 

There was more money in middleweight than super middle or light heavy.

 

Hopkins really badly wanted to make those 20 title defenses, its all he ever used to talk about.

Hell if Hopkins hadn't been a vegetarian, hadn't ran so much and kept in shape constantly I doubt he COULD have made 160 lbs all those years! This is the reason why he's more active and has a much better work rate at 175 lbs..

 

168 has no history outside of Toney, Jones, and Calzaghe. But 175 on the other hand....

 

At middleweight as he got older it was LOW, but increasingly EFICIENT. Bernard doesn't throw unneccessary punches, and almost always has a high connect rate.

Now that Bernard has settled in at light heavyweight, he seems to have more energy since he doesn't have to work so hard at keeping his weight down.

In his last fight he threw something like 750 punches over 12 rounds. Thats about the light heavyweight average actually.

The peoplle that complain about his work rate are just Joe Calzaghe fans that claim Calzaghe will beat Bernard because of his higher work rate.

Also it should be noted that since moving up to light heavyweight Bernard says he has a lot more pop on his punches.

 

The WBC actually crowned their first Champion when Sugar Ray Leonard beat Donnie Lalonde in 88, and then faced Hearns and Duran - Iran Barkley also beat Darrin Van Horn, and lost to Toney. We should not forget about some very good fights involving British fighters - Chris Eubank and Michael Watson, Chris Eubank and Gracciano Rochigianni, Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, Nigel Benn and Gerald McLelland, Chris Eubank and Steve Collins, and then, of course, Ottke along with Calzaghe... The greatest fights were Ray Leonard-Hearns, Toney-Jones, Benn-Eubank, Benn-McLelland, Eubank-Collins, Eubank-Calzaghe, Lacy-Calzaghe, Calzaghe-Kessler.