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

Hopkins knows that Joe is a good fighter, but also knows he's not going to bomb him out of there - whatever happens, he'll not get badly hurt. As you say, he manages himself well too - at 43, getting a few million dollars is managing yourself very well.

I have given reasons before as to why Hopkins can win this fight, but the money will be an overriding factor as well. Hopkins doesn't see too much to lose - Calzaghe is the current toast of the sport, and Hopkins likes to rip up other people's notions.

Worst case scenario, he loses without getting hurt too much and has a fat retirement fund.

 

in this fight i would be happy with any calzaghe win at all and this is not going to be a shutout of that i am sure.

i have long said hopkins is the one style calzaghe will struggle with, if the fight was in the uk i would be 90% sure of a calzaghe win, in america imo it is a 60 to 40 fight in calzaghe`s favour at this stage of hopkins career, but if you watch the wright fight, you will see hopkins still has many tricks up his sleeve and things he does that will make calzaghe struggle.

what i am not sure about is if hopkins will be prepared to lay it all on the line if calzaghe fights well, the last 5 years hopkins has become a saftey first, nick rounds and calculating fighter and not a passionate fighter that he was once ,and can hopkins turn back the clock and up his tempo.

 

These are good points sean.

1 - I cannot see the referee having a say on proceedings to be honest. Can you explain how that would be in this fight? Generally assuming that Calzaghe being the aggressor with Hopkins counter-punching

2 - You may see a small drop in Calzaghe's performance late on but he lives and trains at a small altitude - a non issue for me.

3 - Somewhere in between

4- This will irritate him.

5 - Depends what the traps are

6 - He's always been big at 168, don't see this being a problem

7 - Yes he will

8 - I reckon half of the crowd will be Calzaghe supporters who will be more vocal than the Hopkins ones. It could almost seem like a home crowd for Joe. The more relevent question is one of judge corruption.

 

I agree with you, especially the last bit. Joe has to win very convincingly to win at all. It has to be 100% undisputable. That's the only thing that worries me, an obviously biased decision. I think he can deal with everything else.

BTW, I think Joe will be better at light heavy.

 

intagibles with the ref.

hopkins gameplan will be to circle left and right , have calzaghe follow into a trap and then lead with a straight right with allhis momentum going forward , if calzaghe slips it without moving his feet off to the side or straight back he will be inline for the hopkins shoulder and lowered head and then straight into a hopkins bearhug or a arm tie up and rabbit punch.

in the wright fight hopkins initated 130 of these type exchanges, and the ref did nothing to clean up the fight.

a similar ref performance will suit hopkins and the fight will turn messy and negate from calzaghe getting into any rythem.

this is the sort of gameplan team hopkins will try to implement and it will suit him if these happens.

while calzaghe is himself a dirty fighter tying up/rabbit punching/ etc etc this sort of fight will suit hopkins better , thus the ref will play an important role .

 

I don't think Joe would fare better as a LHW...As to my knowledge he doesnt have a problem making 168......I think Joe should either retire after beating Hopkins or go back to 168 for a fight or 2...Bigger fights less dangerous opposition....

 

against jones i agree hopkins needed to let his hands go and lay it all on the line but he fought to compete with jones abilty insterad of saying **** it lets turn to plan B AND JUST WALK THROUGH HIM AND SEE IF THAT WORKS.

but then i saw virtually all of hopkins fights after jones and up to trinidad and he really was an aggressive boxer puncher, coming forward, letting his hands go and fighting with bad intentions.

he was actually known as a banger during his early reign and it was not until he reached about 37 he started modifying his style bit by bit until now.

 

Joe thinks he'll be better at LHW also. We'll see. He does have problems making 168, he has to starve himself. Joe walks around at 185-ish.

I also think he should school Pavlik before he retires.

 

I'm surprised at this, because I never saw Calzaghe as a dirty fighter. Quite the opposite, I think he fights clean almost all the time. A couple of times he's made one or two silly moves but nothing particularly dirty.

 

C'mon mate I'm doing a good job of being a Joe fan so lets not start the whole Pavlik-Calzaghe thing again 185 isnt that bad considering Lacy walks around at 200+:yikes and somehow manages to make 168...
I guess I just feel Joes current Unified Championship is worth more than a ring belt held by Mr. rockingchair:yep

 

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Hopkins isn't even the fighter Tayloor beat these days.

His style would be one Calzaghe has a little trouble with, were Hopkins closer to his prime. However I wouldn't be surprised to see Hopkins timing and reflexes badly faded and this fight to end up as an embarrassment to the sport.

It is certainly a mismatch, but to what extent?

 

CHJ, no way mate, it isn't a mismatch. To say it's a mismatch would take even more credit away from Joe for facing a 43- year-old man. As much as I think Joe will win, you can never count Hops out.

 

Yes you can...Joes no welter nor is he a basic Tarver:deal