Young Hopkins vs ggg ... He stops ggg

Agreed

 

You mean the young and less experienced version of Hopkins? The guy who had some struggles in his first fights with Allen & Echols? That version of Hopkins puts up a hell of a fight, but loses.

I've been a fan of Nard since his 2nd win over Echols, and picking him over Trinidad paid for an entire semester of college, but I can guarantee you no version of Hopkins would stop Golovkin. Maybe UD, but not stoppage.

Golovkin's career accomplishments up to 32 years of age is very on par with what Hopkin's was. And honestly, Golovkin is showing to have more potential over the next 3-5 years than Hopkin's did.

 

Not buying it

 

Not sure if he stops him, Golovkin seems to have a decent chin and Hopkins even in his prime was more of an accumulative puncher than anything. Though with Golovkin's leaky guard maybe Hopkins could force a stoppage late.

Hopkins by UD is much more likely.

 

He will fight him but he will hug him all night and you will call that technique. That is not having cajoles in boxing.

 

Love Hopkins but GGG has far too much skill to just walk into Hopkins' traps. Either man could be KO'd, but GGG is more of a true KO artist than Hopkins is.

Hopkins' size and savvy would bother GGG, but this isn't Trinidad or Pavlik we're talking about here. This is a skilled, super amateur background KO artist with a real chin.

Hopkins has the reach and the size, GGG has the edge in power. Both have sturdy chins. I lean towards Hopkins taking the fight, but if someone were to be KO'd, I would think it would more likely be Hopkins than GGG. The look on Stevens' face when GGG dropped him told the story. If Mercado was able to deck Hopkins twice at middleweight, then I think GGG could put Hopkins down and out.

 

He's been around so long, people really forget how long it took for Bernard's career to take off.

Everything people are criticizing Golovkin for regarding the first 8 years of his pro career, would be more amplified over the first 10 years of Hopkins career (putting them at the same age).

Leading up to his fight with Roy, Hopkins fought 20 unmentionable cans and then two low-level journeymen.

After Roy, Bernard started fighting low level journeymen and faded JMW's. He then won the IBF title from Mercado. Look at Mercado's background. He's every bit on par with Milton Nunez, (who Golovkin only needed one fight in Panama to defeat).

Then as a title holder, Bernard goes and fights very weak opposition until he gets a faded JDJ, a former JMW who moved up and was KO'd by MW Castro, and then fights a trio of journeymen and losses just before he fights Hopkins. That ends up being Bernard's most celebrated victory until he enters the MW tourney four years later.

After JDJ he fights a very green Glenn Johnson, who up to this point only ever fought low level journeyman and cans. Johnson was a very inexperienced fighter at that stage and fought more like a young Jeff Lacey thinking he could just overpower Hopkins. He ate punches all night and was stopped on his feet.

After Johnson, it was Andrew Council, a good MW, but like Macklin, always lost his step up fights. Then Hopkins fights another faded JMW in Simon, and then he had his run that impressed me the most; Allen, Echols, Vanderpool for a total of 5 fights. But none of those guys would be considered elite MW's. Very good, but nothing significantly better than what we've seen Golovkin face yet, and all were inexperienced relative to guys like Geale & Macklin.

By this point Bernard's been pro for almost 11 years, title holder almost 6 years, and is turning 36 years old. He then goes into the MW tournament and truly makes a name for himself.

Now relative to what many people consider one of the top all time MW's ever, Golovkin is in very good relative position to achieve his lofty potential. And he'll have every bit the ability and oppurtunity to surpass Hopkins, who for what it's worth in my opinion, might not even be an all time top 10 MW. Hopkins reign is due to his longevity, but in short 2-3 year reigns, there are many who could be considered greater than Bernard.