Why has Hopkins made this unwinnable match? Why does he think he can win?

I'm not debating Joe's punching power. I think he's a decent puncher when he sets his feet.

My recollection of the Mitchell fight is that when he got up his pride was hurt and he launched on a offensive, leaving his chin hanging out a little too much for comfort. He scored with a big left but until that moment I was worried he was going to get clobbered again.

 

Sounds a bit high. This is sort of money he made against Oscar.

 

Joe is vulnerable to any hand when he starts swinging wildly. Calzaghe used to walk onto right hands in the early days (see Reid, Eubank and even the Sobot fight), but seems to have tightened things up a bit in the last few years. If JC misses with shots from the outside, he tends to keep his head down (Kessler did very well to rattle home a couple of uppercuts in such scenarios in the last fight).

The fact is that we're all talking about how Hopkins can take advantage of Joe's mistakes as his way of winning. The only way to beat Calzaghe is to impose your style over his. To knock JC out of the speed and rythem he consistantly finds during all of his fights. I just can't see Hopkins doing enough to win but he can make this ugly and disjointed. BHop's motivation in this fight is to show he can get close to Calzaghe to prove that he could have beaten him prime for prime.

 

He was getting hurt after the knockdown. Mitchell was banging away to the body and Joe was moving backwards to the ropes when he found the best punch of his life.

 

So what are your thoughts McGrain?

 

I can see Hopkins wanting exposure in Britian...win or lose I think he'll fight Woods after he beats Tarver

 

Interview with Bernard Hopkins
By Mike Cassell 10/3/07 - I recently got to sit down with Light Heavyweight Champion, Bernard Hopkins. He was his usual honest self, talking about The De La Hoya photo scandal, as well as the future of the middleweight division. He was at Comcast Sports Net, helping to promote the “Fighting City” series of matches recently recorded for broadcast, in which he was a guest analyst. He doesn’t always say what you want to hear, but he always says what he believes, and you have to respect that.

Mike Cassell: What is going on with those pictures of Oscar De La Hoya on the internet. The media is really grabbing onto it. Are those pictures real?

Bernard Hopkins: My opinion is, It’s the price of fame. It’s the price of being in the spotlight. You know, a lot of things come along. If you do not have thick skin in this business, you will not make it. What if They come out next week with Bernard Hopkins in a wig and a dress. That comes along with the territory. I’m not asking for it, but you have to pick and choose your battles. I talked to Oscar, and he told me that, absolutely, 100%, those pictures were Photoshop, and the people involve wanted money.

Mike Cassell
So they are allegedly extorting Oscar?

Bernard Hopkins
They got paid. They got money form the tabloids, TV. Now the people involved recently came out and said they weren’t real.

Mike Cassell
Kelly Pavlik. The kid filled boardwalk Hall, and destroyed Jermain Taylor. Is this the real deal?

Bernard Hopkins
It`s hype, because he was in there with a guy who was made, or created. Dont get me wrong, Pavlik is good, but he was in there with a guy (Taylor) that was made by the industry, with talent, but still a creation. In the end, Pavlik was good enough to go in there and expose Taylor, and take him out. And it goes to show you, if Pavlik didn’t knock him out, the judges had Taylor ahead, and he was on his way to another bogus victory. I watched that fight 8 or 9 times since Saturday. I couldn’t believe they had Taylor ahead.

Mike Cassell
So Taylor is an industry created guy that got a lot of breaks?

Bernard Hopkins
Absolutely, I believe he got a huge break in the Winky Wright fight. He fought to what they said was a draw. He didn’t lose his belts. The fact is that, if you didn’t knock Jermain Taylor out, you weren’t going to win. The worst thing that would happen is a draw. A draw is a win for him. A draw in our first fight would have been a win for me. I could have kept my titles. They kept those belts around him, milking that status until he can move up in weight and fight Joe Calzaghe. Now that’s out the window.

Mike Cassell
Bernard, it seemed as if after Taylor went 24 rounds with you, he was not the same fighter. He was tearing everybody up, and then seemed to stall in his last few fights.

Bernard Hopkins
One word, gun shy... Watching him, it reminded me of a basketball player tearing through a guard, and he just backs up out of the way, and not just this fight, but the fight before it. Cory Spinks, a smaller guy, had him backing up, and so did Kassim Ouma. Twenty four rounds with me, took a lot of confidence out of him, and changed him physically. An athlete, a true athlete may say and do what they say and do in front of the media. But when we are alone, we know in our heart the truth. It bothers us, you know? He knows that his fights with me, the Winky fight, and his fights with Ouma and Spinks, were not good fights, and deep in his heart, he knows he lost a few. He can't run from that, and he carried that into the ring with him. He had that doubt.

Mike Cassell
Okay, I am going to give you some names as possible opponents for Kelly Pavlik. Tell me who would win and why. Winky Wright and Kelly Pavlik. Who wins?

Bernard Hopkins
I like Pavlik, and I think Pavlik would stop Winky. I think he would beat him up real bad. Do you know why? Because I had Winky first. (LAUGHS) I took Winky OLD PHILLY style. It wasn’t pretty, but I did it like they did it in the old days. I mugged him.

Mike Cassell
Okay, how about the Viking Warrior. Mikkell Kessler

Bernard Hopkins
Very very tough fight. I believe Kessler would win it though. But tough to call.

Mike Cassell
How about Joe Calzaghe?

Bernard Hopkins
I like Joe Calzaghe to beat Pavlik if they fought. Calzaghe throws a lot of punches. He gets in close, and would take away the range of Pavlik. Those long arms need space to build power. Calzaghe would smother him.

Mike Cassell
What do you think of Bob Arum hinting that Pavlik may fight John Duddy in Madison Square Garden next. Is that fight good for boxing?

Bernard Hopkins
No. Its bad. That is just Bob Arum sticking it to Lou Dibella, because Dibella threatened to take the belts off the table if the rematch clause wasn’t in there on the Sept 29th fight.. So Lou Dibella strong armed Bob Arum originally, saying we want the rematch over 160lbs. That’s why Arum wants the Duddy fight in NY.

It doesn’t matter though, I think Pavlik would beat him up even worse at 168.

Mike Cassell
You sat in and did some commentating with me for Comcast Sports Net in September at the Blue Horizon. How surreal was that?

Bernard Hopkins
You know Mike, if you can fight at the Blue Horizon, you can fight in any venue in the world. I made my bones there, it is where I started, I’ve come full circle. It was an honor to sit with you guys, and get exposure for young talent. Its needed, and I was proud to be apart of it.

Mike Cassell
It was our honor, thanks for your time.

 

purses are 4 million uk each.

and IMO hopkins has the style to give calzaghe a very hard fight, and can beat calzaghe, given certain intangibles.

 

I thought you were doubting his power by saying he got a lucky shot. Sorry man, maybe I misunderstood your comment. I was just saying that, in my opinion, it wasn't lucky at all. I think Joe can be a hell of a puncher, but he'll only punch with full force if he really has to because there's a big risk of hand injury. It's not a gamble I'd like to take either, if I was a fighter in his position.

 

Right. Still not bad. That's about 8 million USD?

 

The more of these interviews I see of Slopkins the more I want him to die a painful death
Taylor beat him get over it Bernard....****ing guy would'nt know sportsmanship if it fell out of the sky and hit him on that ****ing goofy ass head of his
Watch, after Joe hands him his ass, he'll act like a total cocksucker, downplaying Joe's victory.....Bernard Hopkins is the worst thing for boxing...I really can't wait for Joe to crush that pair of clownshoes that is Popkins

 

some intagibles of the top of my head

1/referee and how he refs the fight

2/altitude-will calzaghe be able to keep up a pace never having boxed at 2500 feet altitude.
i have cycled in switzerland at 5000 feet altitude and it is an absolute killer.

3/what kind of fight will calzaghe fight, a kessler fight or a bika fight.

4/how will calzaghe feel and deal with the extended media merry go round in america.

5/will calzaghe fall into the traps hopkins will set

6//how will calzaghe handle the light heavy limit.

7/will hopkins get under calzaghe`s skin

8/will the judges favour the home fighter as IMO this fight is 99% going to points descion.

i should have added i know what kind of fight gameplan hopkins is going to try to adopt, and that will require a lenient ref, knicking all the close rounds on the judges scorecards and backpeddling and moving side to side to keep calzaghe`s workrate down and catch an onrushing calzaghe with counters and then tie up and spoil.

if calzaghe that fought bika turns up and with a similar ref IMO calzaghe loses.

 

All that decides whether Calzaghe drops 0 or 1-to-2-ish rounds.