no he was a champ in the old days how he ever became champ is mind boggling boxing was a joke back then a guy with his built was heavyweight champ what kind of farce was going on:think
He should have been the light heavyweight champ in his own era after he beat O'Brien. I think he would almost certainly take Pascal based on his last outing. Burns was a murderous compact body puncher.
I wouldn't deride Burns' body type, as it was much like that of Langford. Compact build with long arms and huge punching power. I think he would be a factor in the light heavy division in any era, certainly against someone of Pascal's calibre.
There is no reason why he couldnt make super middle or lower, so we could well be looking at a multi division champion. With good money to be made in the lower weight classes, it is likley that he would never even have atempted a run on a heavyweight belt.
No, or if he was it'd be as a brief stint. He has far too many technical weaknesses with his hands down and straight up style and retreats in straight lines. He's begging to be knocked out or schooled right there. On the plus side he counters well, punches well, uses range effectively. but he'd have to have Roy Jones speed and reactions to get away with that stuff today, he'd be a Carl Froch level fighter today
The curent #1 fighter in the light heavyweight division lost to a Carl Froch level fighter called Carl Froch.
Hopkins is clearly no1 after Saturday and would disect Burns. Burns may well beat Pascal, although I think Pascal has improved since Froch, its easy to now discount the good work he did since that fight, which was closish but clear loss and say hes useless after losing to a tactical great. Dawson would outbox Burns too unless he gets caught with a big bomb
I think people are making too much of Hopkins' performance. It was a draw not a 1st round KO. The odds of him being able to repeat even that performance are miniscule. On the other side, Burns was like Fitz in the sense he set great traps and lured guys in to his right hand. I think he would need to develop a bit more dimension to his game but he has the tools.