Finally had a chance to watch the Hopkins - Taylor fight again, and I paid particularly close attention to the controversial rounds: 4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 (and yes, the sound was down). What's interesting is that I noticed that with the exception of R12 (which I'll get back to later) Hopkins seems to take it easy the first couple of minutes and then starts to pick up the pace in the final minutes. Now what he manages to accomplish in that time varies from round to round, but have a look at the fight again and you'll see what I mean. His best stuff, and his most aggresive moves, almost always come in the final minute.

This has implications for those watching the fight. Hopkins' work sticks in your mind more, just as rounds 9-12 stuck in people's heads. You end the round with a more active Hopkins and you think he spent the whole three minutes that way. Thing is that just like a fight is 12 rounds, a round is three minutes and it should be judged on what happened in its entirety.

Rounds 4 and 7 go to Taylor easily, in my opinion. He owned the ring 70-80% of the time and none of Hopkins counters were even close to being effective. Have a look at these rounds again and try to forget the fighters you're watching. Better yet, switch their roles and pretend that Taylor is Hopkins and vice versa. At least to me, the fight then looked like a seasoned pro with a green kid dancing around him. Taylor was in control, even if he wasn't landing everything, even if the tempo wasn't quite as high as he might have liked.

Rounds 5 and 9 are closer. Thing is in both Hopkins really only comes on strong in the final minute, and while he gets some good shots off, even then I have a tough time giving him these rounds. I see it this way: for two minutes Taylor controlled the ring 75% of the time, while for the final minute Hopkins controlled it 75% of the time. And while Hopkins landed some shots, I believe Taylor landed and equal number, though spread out over a longer time. This makes Hopkins look better, since he is landing at a faster rate. However if you consider the number of landed shots to be equal then since Taylor controlled the ring longer, you could argue that he won the rounds. Of course if you're judging by different criteria things change a bit. Doesn't matter to me because even if you give Hopkins 5 and 9-12 it's not enough to win.

And now to round 12: I give this one to Hopkins, mostly because of the flurry that had Taylor reeling with about a minute to go. But for the first half the round Hopkins was doing the chasing and was not landing anything particularly impressive. The point I'm trying to make is that I find it funny that at this stage of the fight Hopkins was doing was Taylor was for most of the rest of us, yet people say Taylor accomplished next to nothing but that Hopkins clearly won this round. In fact I would argue that the counters Taylor landed while Hopkins was chasing him were for the most part better then anything Hopkins could come up with in those early rounds when Taylor was the pursuer.

I'm guessing the Hopkins fan base is the reason that nobody has replied to this post. You're exactly right. People say that Taylor wasn't effective early on, but Hopkins only actually landed anything effective in TWO, I said TWO rounds!! Taylor onwed the ring for most of the fight. The only people crying ROBBERY are the Hopkins fans who believed so much that he was invincible.

I'm guessing the Hopkins fan base is the reason that nobody has replied to this post. You're exactly right. People say that Taylor wasn't effective early on, but Hopkins only actually landed anything effective in TWO, I said TWO rounds!! Taylor onwed the ring for most of the fight. The only people crying ROBBERY are the Hopkins fans who believed so much that he was invincible.


taylor didnt own anything..He was the AGRESSOR which allowed him to be busier and win the early rounds..but to say he OWNEd the early rounds is a overstatement. He missed with a bunch of his wild punches.. Like I said taylor vs hopkins was like forrest vs mayorga 2..taylor was mayorga with a jab and was the agressor..115-113 either way or draw is correct

taylor didnt own anything..He was the AGRESSOR which allowed him to be busier and win the early rounds..but to say he OWNEd the early rounds is a overstatement. He missed with a bunch of his wild punches.. Like I said taylor vs hopkins was like forrest vs mayorga 2..taylor was mayorga with a jab and was the agressor..115-113 either way or draw is correct
My apologies Zab. I only said he owned the ring becaues he won the rounds. Sorry if that interpretaion is inaccurate, prove me wrong please. But your'e right, it was a close fight and Taylor did enough early on to win the fight. Hopkins coming on late means **** when you judge fights by the rounds. That's just how boxing is scored, sorry to disappoint you.

taylor's win was not convincing
naf said!

taylor's win was not convincing
naf said!


If you look at it on a round by round basis with the sound off and watch Taylor constantly forcing the action I think its clear that Taylor wins on agressiveness alone for most of the rounds. Other than the two times hopkinds hurt him, Hopkins never made taylor pay for his attacks and I think that that equates to ring generalship and makes it a convincing win when u also consider the blood and energy, not to mention time wasted because taylor was so confused as how to handle the cut, that Taylor expended because of a Bernard headbutt.

taylor's win was not convincing
naf said!

Yes, but Hopkins was not convincing either, and Taylor did enough to win on points. That's all I'm trying to say.

Yes, but Hopkins was not convincing either, and Taylor did enough to win on points. That's all I'm trying to say.

we are sorry , canadians opinions are not allowed . thk you

we are sorry , canadians opinions are not allowed . thk you

Watch out tino, any more from you and we'll unleash the mighty force of the canadian military upon your fair shores :boxing:

Watch out tino, any more from you and we'll unleash the mighty force of the canadian military upon your fair shores :boxing:

NO NOT BRYAN ADAMS !

NO NOT BRYAN ADAMS !

Even worse my friend, a few hours of this and you'll be waving the white flag in no time:

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/04/06/21/image_21064.jpg

Rounds 1-4 I've given all to Taylor.

Round 5 I gave to Hopkins easily. Also, the cut occured at this round.

Round 6 was hard to score. Neither fighters started throwing until a minute into teh round when Taylor threw a combo. Lots of posing. 30 seconds left, Taylor throws a flurry when Hopkins is against the rope but took a good left hook in the process. Hopkins wasn't hit in the exchange. 15 seconds to go, Taylor walks into another left jab by Hopkins. 8 seconds left, Taylor throws a flurry but they all land on the hips. Takes another left hook in the process. Hopkins wins that one but Lampley is right by saying that Taylor was more active. I'll give this one to Hopkins

Round 7, Taylor is jabbing but not touching. If he is, Bernard is so far away that when the glove makes contact, Taylor's arm is already pulling back - almost no impact but Lederman thinks it's a good hit. No it's not. Hopkins is now leaning into Taylor and throwing a right lead and connecting. They are both clinching and punching - Hopkins is clearly winning in that affair. Hopkins wins that round. Sorry. But my opinion.

Round 8, Hopkins and taylor exchanging some light taps. Neither willing to commit some weight behind it. 1:54 left in rd 8 and Hopkins "looks" like he connects with a left which makes Taylor slip, Bernard throws a quick right but headbutts him on his jaw, Taylor throws a strong flurry to Bernard's body and backs away. Lots of posing again. 1:05 left, Taylor eats a thudding left hook from Hopkins. Holding and hitting by Hopkins and gets a warning. Neither fighter really connected all that much. The most obvious was that left that Taylor took at 1:05. Hopkins.

Round 9, 2:45 Hopkins connects with a left right and leans and clinches Taylor. 2:30 Taylor connects with a beautiful 7 punch combo to the body and head (blocked though) of Bernard as he is near the corner. 1:50, both jab and connect but Taylor jabbed more. Then Taylor throws a left and overhand right, connecting! 1:22, Taylor and Bernard clinch and punch but Taylor is taking the worst of it. :22 Bernard connects with a hard right counter. Taylor throws some horrific shots but Hopkins leans back with it - IT LOOKS AS IF HE CONNECTED BUT THEY DID NOT! Taylor IMO takes that yet Lederman gives it to Bernard.

Round 10, 2:42, while Lederman is giving his scores, Taylor takes a hard left hand and takes another 1-2 from Hopkins before he's tied up. 1:56 Taylor eats a big right and gets tied up. Taylor is getting pushed and hit and pushed and hit. 1:15 Taylor throws an overhand right and lands on his knees as he misses. :58 left and Taylor gets clocked by a right! Taylor holds on and as they break, Taylor's eyes look a bit glassy. :41 ANOTHER right lead connects by Hopkins! Near the end Taylor connects with his own big right but Hopkins was leaning back and took it well. Bernard.

11th round was a beat down. Taylor looks tired. Looks punch drunk. He's slow to react. Taylor is still throwing combos but is gettig walloped. :40 Taylor connects with a beautiful left right as Bernard is just not throwing! But Bernard HURTS TAYLOR with :30 left! But with :20 left, Bernard does nothing as Taylor is on the defensive! LET IT GO HOPKINS!

12th round : Lots of posing. Taylor misses with a right and Lampley calls it a connect! Even says it's the best right hand of the night. No, Bernard deflected it with his shoulder. 2:05 and Hopking knocks the vaseline off of Taylors head! Crowd roars! 1:45, Taylor stays in teh corner and eats a right punch! How they scored this for Taylor, I DO NOT KNOW. Taylor retaliates with a big right but not sure if he connects as Bernard's back is to the camera and he rolls his torso back with the punch. 1:30 and 1:25 Bernard throw two hard rights and both connect. 1:03 and Taylor takes BIG right hand from Hopkins and another at :59 left! They bounce into the ropes! Lampley says Taylor is wobbly now! Hopkins stands too long and the don't exchange until :05 left. Neither really connects clearly.

I have Hopkins winning. This is my opinion. Don't hate.

I have Hopkins winning. This is my opinion. Don't hate.

You make a good case. One thing I have to say though it that it seems like a lot of guys are giving Hopkins rounds for just one or two good punches. Here's the thing: We all have the benefit now of watching the fight over and over, pausing and reiwnding and so on. So we can pick out the times when Hopkins landed in rounds where he was being chased around most of the time. I would still give most of the rounds to Taylor, though obviously some people see it a different way.

The thing is that, come on, Hopkins is a veteran here, he should have known that his approach to the fight would not look good to the judges. You can say, well, the judges should have known better, and so on. But we all know what boxing judging is like, and if Hopkins really wanted to win this fight he should have known that being pursued instead of the pursuer most of the night was going to make him look bad, no matter how many counters he landed. I mean, hell, we all saw a recent example of that in Johnson - Tarver I.

You make a good case. One thing I have to say though it that it seems like a lot of guys are giving Hopkins rounds for just one or two good punches. Here's the thing: We all have the benefit now of watching the fight over and over, pausing and reiwnding and so on. So we can pick out the times when Hopkins landed in rounds where he was being chased around most of the time. I would still give most of the rounds to Taylor, though obviously some people see it a different way.

The thing is that, come on, Hopkins is a veteran here, he should have known that his approach to the fight would not look good to the judges. You can say, well, the judges should have known better, and so on. But we all know what boxing judging is like, and if Hopkins really wanted to win this fight he should have known that being pursued instead of the pursuer most of the night was going to make him look bad, no matter how many counters he landed. I mean, hell, we all saw a recent example of that in Johnson - Tarver I.

I agree. Hopkins was more accurate and more affective but not very aggressive nor busy. In fact, he was the one backing up and circling most of the fight. As I said in the previous threads, I can not blame the judges for scoring this for Taylor.

a few random thoughts:

it is not aggression that matters in scoring rounds, but effective aggression

it is a sad truth but staying busy, and just looking like the aggressor without landing anything meaningful can win you the fight

hopkins knows this, but he is 40 and cannot be busy for 12 rounds.

35 years old hopkins would have murdered taylor
30 years old jones would have left tarver and johnson looking for him all night
prime pea would have schooled tito

...and in a few years we will see mayweather fall to a lesser fighter

age catches up with all fighters, even with #1p4p, sometimes more gracefully (hopkins), sometimes it is painful (roy jones), depeding on styles

Hopkins showed no killer instinct. If he had been a shark when he smelled blood in the later rounds, especially the 10th, he might have knocked Taylor out. Hopkins has nobody to balme but himself. That bs about "oh I should have won because I took the later rounds" is a joke.

Quit crying nuthuggers. Your boy lost far and square.

a few random thoughts:

it is not aggression that matters in scoring rounds, but effective aggression

it is a sad truth but staying busy, and just looking like the aggressor without landing anything meaningful can win you the fight

hopkins knows this, but he is 40 and cannot be busy for 12 rounds.

35 years old hopkins would have murdered taylor
30 years old jones would have left tarver and johnson looking for him all night
prime pea would have schooled tito

...and in a few years we will see mayweather fall to a lesser fighter

age catches up with all fighters, even with #1p4p, sometimes more gracefully (hopkins), sometimes it is painful (roy jones), depeding on styles

How was Hopkins aggressive though? Ineffecient aggression is better than none at all. And you are being aggressive if you control the ring, which Taylor was doing in the rounds he won. Look at the way Hopkins has to repsond to him and not the other way around. Hopkins is the reactor, not the initiator, of most of the action.

And yes, age was a factor, Jermain was the first guy to take advantage of a slowed-down Bernard.

Hopkins showed no killer instinct. If he had been a shark when he smelled blood in the later rounds, especially the 10th, he might have knocked Taylor out. Hopkins has nobody to balme but himself. That bs about "oh I should have won because I took the later rounds" is a joke.

Quit crying nuthuggers. Your boy lost far and square.

There's no excuse for not getting a KD in the 10th. The shots he landed on Taylor were brutal and another push would have sent him down to the canvas. Taylor's clinching was no excuse, he should know how to deal with that sort of thing at this point in his career. He gets the KD and maybe the KO and none of us would be arguing.

Finally had a chance to watch the Hopkins - Taylor fight again, and I paid particularly close attention to the controversial rounds: 4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 (and yes, the sound was down). What's interesting is that I noticed that with the exception of R12 (which I'll get back to later) Hopkins seems to take it easy the first couple of minutes and then starts to pick up the pace in the final minutes. Now what he manages to accomplish in that time varies from round to round, but have a look at the fight again and you'll see what I mean. His best stuff, and his most aggresive moves, almost always come in the final minute.

This has implications for those watching the fight. Hopkins' work sticks in your mind more, just as rounds 9-12 stuck in people's heads. You end the round with a more active Hopkins and you think he spent the whole three minutes that way. Thing is that just like a fight is 12 rounds, a round is three minutes and it should be judged on what happened in its entirety.

Rounds 4 and 7 go to Taylor easily, in my opinion. He owned the ring 70-80% of the time and none of Hopkins counters were even close to being effective. Have a look at these rounds again and try to forget the fighters you're watching. Better yet, switch their roles and pretend that Taylor is Hopkins and vice versa. At least to me, the fight then looked like a seasoned pro with a green kid dancing around him. Taylor was in control, even if he wasn't landing everything, even if the tempo wasn't quite as high as he might have liked.

Rounds 5 and 9 are closer. Thing is in both Hopkins really only comes on strong in the final minute, and while he gets some good shots off, even then I have a tough time giving him these rounds. I see it this way: for two minutes Taylor controlled the ring 75% of the time, while for the final minute Hopkins controlled it 75% of the time. And while Hopkins landed some shots, I believe Taylor landed and equal number, though spread out over a longer time. This makes Hopkins look better, since he is landing at a faster rate. However if you consider the number of landed shots to be equal then since Taylor controlled the ring longer, you could argue that he won the rounds. Of course if you're judging by different criteria things change a bit. Doesn't matter to me because even if you give Hopkins 5 and 9-12 it's not enough to win.

And now to round 12: I give this one to Hopkins, mostly because of the flurry that had Taylor reeling with about a minute to go. But for the first half the round Hopkins was doing the chasing and was not landing anything particularly impressive. The point I'm trying to make is that I find it funny that at this stage of the fight Hopkins was doing was Taylor was for most of the rest of us, yet people say Taylor accomplished next to nothing but that Hopkins clearly won this round. In fact I would argue that the counters Taylor landed while Hopkins was chasing him were for the most part better then anything Hopkins could come up with in those early rounds when Taylor was the pursuer.Good post. This what I've been trying to say. Rounds 5 & 9 is a draw. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 for Taylor, rounds 10,11,12 for Hopkins. That is my score witch will be 117-112 for Taylor. Let's don't forget all the holding & hitting by Hopkins which compubox counted those cheap shots. Taylor clearly won the fight.

Good post. This what I've been trying to say. Rounds 5 & 9 is a draw. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 for Taylor, rounds 10,11,12 for Hopkins. That is my score witch will be 117-112 for Taylor. Let's don't forget all the holding & hitting by Hopkins which compubox counted those cheap shots. Taylor clearly won the fight.

What? No spat about my reply? :p

well according to most of yall u feel since Taylor wuz the aggressor he won the fight. cool, now i believe i can b the Heavyweight champ of the world and i'm only 150lbs but hey if i get in the ring against Wladimir and throw a thousand punches wether i land em or not, i win right, well according to yall i would, boxing is offense and defense, Hopkins wuz amazing in decoying the young fighter to what he wanted. Granted Hopkins wuz a little slow, not, he did what he does best, he feelz out his competition then executes, i mean ****, half of Taylors punches went right passed the shoulder, watch the fight in slow motion find out for yourselves, now i am a true Hopkins fan, and i did have it a draw cause i wuz a little upset with Bernard and his lack of activity, but that wuz his plan, performed to perfection. Its just a shame u dont get points for dodging good punches, but oh well, just knock the dude out and that says it all.

If that was all this hyped up young lion could show against an old man than he's no where near what their trying to make him out to be.He ain't no young Bernard and barely even a old one at that.He didn't impress me

Finally had a chance to watch the Hopkins - Taylor fight again, and I paid particularly close attention to the controversial rounds: 4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 (and yes, the sound was down). What's interesting is that I noticed that with the exception of R12 (which I'll get back to later) Hopkins seems to take it easy the first couple of minutes and then starts to pick up the pace in the final minutes. Now what he manages to accomplish in that time varies from round to round, but have a look at the fight again and you'll see what I mean. His best stuff, and his most aggresive moves, almost always come in the final minute.

This has implications for those watching the fight. Hopkins' work sticks in your mind more, just as rounds 9-12 stuck in people's heads. You end the round with a more active Hopkins and you think he spent the whole three minutes that way. Thing is that just like a fight is 12 rounds, a round is three minutes and it should be judged on what happened in its entirety.

Rounds 4 and 7 go to Taylor easily, in my opinion. He owned the ring 70-80% of the time and none of Hopkins counters were even close to being effective. Have a look at these rounds again and try to forget the fighters you're watching. Better yet, switch their roles and pretend that Taylor is Hopkins and vice versa. At least to me, the fight then looked like a seasoned pro with a green kid dancing around him. Taylor was in control, even if he wasn't landing everything, even if the tempo wasn't quite as high as he might have liked.

Rounds 5 and 9 are closer. Thing is in both Hopkins really only comes on strong in the final minute, and while he gets some good shots off, even then I have a tough time giving him these rounds. I see it this way: for two minutes Taylor controlled the ring 75% of the time, while for the final minute Hopkins controlled it 75% of the time. And while Hopkins landed some shots, I believe Taylor landed and equal number, though spread out over a longer time. This makes Hopkins look better, since he is landing at a faster rate. However if you consider the number of landed shots to be equal then since Taylor controlled the ring longer, you could argue that he won the rounds. Of course if you're judging by different criteria things change a bit. Doesn't matter to me because even if you give Hopkins 5 and 9-12 it's not enough to win.

And now to round 12: I give this one to Hopkins, mostly because of the flurry that had Taylor reeling with about a minute to go. But for the first half the round Hopkins was doing the chasing and was not landing anything particularly impressive. The point I'm trying to make is that I find it funny that at this stage of the fight Hopkins was doing was Taylor was for most of the rest of us, yet people say Taylor accomplished next to nothing but that Hopkins clearly won this round. In fact I would argue that the counters Taylor landed while Hopkins was chasing him were for the most part better then anything Hopkins could come up with in those early rounds when Taylor was the pursuer.

thanks bomb. very insightfull.i've been wondering how the fck *****kin fans were being so bias on the outcome just because jerk ford gave taylor the 12th.and not even considering idiot roths lousy score.

me being a taylor fan automatically noticed hopkins pulling the ray leonard style of doing hardly anything in first half of close rounds then coming on strong last minute.i thought everyone seen that.but evidently general public went by what happened in last few rounds and who looked better at the end of the fight.shortsightedness.

i'll always wonder how much more convincingly taylor would have won if he didnt get that deflating headbutt gash. that has to take a lot out of you.

Finally had a chance to watch the Hopkins - Taylor fight again, and I paid particularly close attention to the controversial rounds: 4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 (and yes, the sound was down). What's interesting is that I noticed that with the exception of R12 (which I'll get back to later) Hopkins seems to take it easy the first couple of minutes and then starts to pick up the pace in the final minutes. Now what he manages to accomplish in that time varies from round to round, but have a look at the fight again and you'll see what I mean. His best stuff, and his most aggresive moves, almost always come in the final minute.

This has implications for those watching the fight. Hopkins' work sticks in your mind more, just as rounds 9-12 stuck in people's heads. You end the round with a more active Hopkins and you think he spent the whole three minutes that way. Thing is that just like a fight is 12 rounds, a round is three minutes and it should be judged on what happened in its entirety.

Rounds 4 and 7 go to Taylor easily, in my opinion. He owned the ring 70-80% of the time and none of Hopkins counters were even close to being effective. Have a look at these rounds again and try to forget the fighters you're watching. Better yet, switch their roles and pretend that Taylor is Hopkins and vice versa. At least to me, the fight then looked like a seasoned pro with a green kid dancing around him. Taylor was in control, even if he wasn't landing everything, even if the tempo wasn't quite as high as he might have liked.

Rounds 5 and 9 are closer. Thing is in both Hopkins really only comes on strong in the final minute, and while he gets some good shots off, even then I have a tough time giving him these rounds. I see it this way: for two minutes Taylor controlled the ring 75% of the time, while for the final minute Hopkins controlled it 75% of the time. And while Hopkins landed some shots, I believe Taylor landed and equal number, though spread out over a longer time. This makes Hopkins look better, since he is landing at a faster rate. However if you consider the number of landed shots to be equal then since Taylor controlled the ring longer, you could argue that he won the rounds. Of course if you're judging by different criteria things change a bit. Doesn't matter to me because even if you give Hopkins 5 and 9-12 it's not enough to win.

And now to round 12: I give this one to Hopkins, mostly because of the flurry that had Taylor reeling with about a minute to go. But for the first half the round Hopkins was doing the chasing and was not landing anything particularly impressive. The point I'm trying to make is that I find it funny that at this stage of the fight Hopkins was doing was Taylor was for most of the rest of us, yet people say Taylor accomplished next to nothing but that Hopkins clearly won this round. In fact I would argue that the counters Taylor landed while Hopkins was chasing him were for the most part better then anything Hopkins could come up with in those early rounds when Taylor was the pursuer.I agree 100% what you said about these rounds. *****kins lost the fight, anyone that is not biased will see it this way.

I'm guessing the Hopkins fan base is the reason that nobody has replied to this post. You're exactly right. People say that Taylor wasn't effective early on, but Hopkins only actually landed anything effective in TWO, I said TWO rounds!! Taylor onwed the ring for most of the fight. The only people crying ROBBERY are the Hopkins fans who believed so much that he was invincible.

two rounds... that's definately a nominee for most ridiculous statement of the year.

taylor's win was not convincing
naf said!
Definition of an epileptic having a fit in the lettuce patch?
A seizure salad!

two rounds... that's definately a nominee for most ridiculous statement of the year.
Hopkins stunned Taylor in two rounds. What's so ridiculous about that? I believe it was rounds 10 and 11, not sure b/c I haven't seen the fight in a while. Hopkins did win rounds 9 thru 12 though, but that won't get you the victory. The saying is "you have to take the belt", but the same can be true of "you have to defend the belt". Bernard left it up to the judges to give him the close round solely because he's the champ, "and old" according to his own statements. Since when do judges give decisions based on who the champ is and how old they are? Lame excuse from a crybaby who thought he was invincible and ended up getting beat by someone who was green as hell and shouldn't even have been in the ring in the first place. Taylor hasn't even shown us how great he could be yet.

the fight wasnt even close go look at compubox hopkins killed him in power shots in damn ner every round 7 to 4 with 1 even to be exact ..hbo had eveything to do with the fight u can tell by how roy jones was acting and how he wanted to say **** but couldnt..andybody who believe otherwise a damn fool

the fight wasnt even close go look at compubox hopkins killed him in power shots in damn ner every round 7 to 4 with 1 even to be exact ..hbo had eveything to do with the fight u can tell by how roy jones was acting and how he wanted to say **** but couldnt..anybody who believe otherwise a damn fool

the fight wasnt even close go look at compubox hopkins killed him in power shots in damn ner every round 7 to 4 with 1 even to be exact ..hbo had eveything to do with the fight u can tell by how roy jones was acting and how he wanted to say **** but couldnt..andybody who believe otherwise a damn fool
lol, Roy Jones was pissed because he wanted to fight Hopkins. He said it himself on air before the fight. I believe it was that he wanted Hopkins or the winner of the Jonhson-Tarver rematch. He was also pissed because he was defending Hopkins the whole fight saying how Hopkins was just waiting to jump on Taylor. The decision made Jones look like a dumbass and he was pissed.

lol, Roy Jones was pissed because he wanted to fight Hopkins. He said it himself on air before the fight. I believe it was that he wanted Hopkins or the winner of the Jonhson-Tarver rematch. He was also pissed because he was defending Hopkins the whole fight saying how Hopkins was just waiting to jump on Taylor. The decision made Jones look like a dumbass and he was pissed.
u cant be serious taylor landed only 50 power shots.. and hopkins landed 78 this a damn joke ..he landed more power shots in 7 round to 4 rounds for taylor with one even ...jones already stated he was gone fight tarver johnson winner over a month before the figh

Finally had a chance to watch the Hopkins - Taylor fight again, and I paid particularly close attention to the controversial rounds: 4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 (and yes, the sound was down). What's interesting is that I noticed that with the exception of R12 (which I'll get back to later) Hopkins seems to take it easy the first couple of minutes and then starts to pick up the pace in the final minutes. Now what he manages to accomplish in that time varies from round to round, but have a look at the fight again and you'll see what I mean. His best stuff, and his most aggresive moves, almost always come in the final minute.

This has implications for those watching the fight. Hopkins' work sticks in your mind more, just as rounds 9-12 stuck in people's heads. You end the round with a more active Hopkins and you think he spent the whole three minutes that way. Thing is that just like a fight is 12 rounds, a round is three minutes and it should be judged on what happened in its entirety.

Rounds 4 and 7 go to Taylor easily, in my opinion. He owned the ring 70-80% of the time and none of Hopkins counters were even close to being effective. Have a look at these rounds again and try to forget the fighters you're watching. Better yet, switch their roles and pretend that Taylor is Hopkins and vice versa. At least to me, the fight then looked like a seasoned pro with a green kid dancing around him. Taylor was in control, even if he wasn't landing everything, even if the tempo wasn't quite as high as he might have liked.

Rounds 5 and 9 are closer. Thing is in both Hopkins really only comes on strong in the final minute, and while he gets some good shots off, even then I have a tough time giving him these rounds. I see it this way: for two minutes Taylor controlled the ring 75% of the time, while for the final minute Hopkins controlled it 75% of the time. And while Hopkins landed some shots, I believe Taylor landed and equal number, though spread out over a longer time. This makes Hopkins look better, since he is landing at a faster rate. However if you consider the number of landed shots to be equal then since Taylor controlled the ring longer, you could argue that he won the rounds. Of course if you're judging by different criteria things change a bit. Doesn't matter to me because even if you give Hopkins 5 and 9-12 it's not enough to win.

And now to round 12: I give this one to Hopkins, mostly because of the flurry that had Taylor reeling with about a minute to go. But for the first half the round Hopkins was doing the chasing and was not landing anything particularly impressive. The point I'm trying to make is that I find it funny that at this stage of the fight Hopkins was doing was Taylor was for most of the rest of us, yet people say Taylor accomplished next to nothing but that Hopkins clearly won this round. In fact I would argue that the counters Taylor landed while Hopkins was chasing him were for the most part better then anything Hopkins could come up with in those early rounds when Taylor was the pursuer.

Precisely. When scoring rounds people need to look at every 30 seconds and ask themselves who's winning. If one guy comes back the next 30 seconds, is the round now even or is one guy ahead? Keep thinking of who is ahead and note when a guy evens the round. Usually when a guy has the other guy reeling like Castillo had Corrales in a couple rounds, you have to note whether the guy reeling about was winning earlier and how bad was he winning? Because when a guy gets rocked, USUALLY he lost the round but not always.

If anybody has their copy of Castillo-Corrales on hand when reading this, I'll be happy to explain.

In round 8, Corrales is completely dominating Castillo the first minute, easing down the next, and getting his head taken off the last 30 seconds or so. I give the round to Castillo because of how bad he had Corrales rocked. If it was just a couple flurries, Corrales would have won the round, but Castillo had him going all over the place.

I thought Hopkins didnt start to do anything until the 9th round, and by then it was too late. Taylor tired a little, then B. Hop did some work, but he'd already lost the fight in my opinion. He can say what he wants, he waited too long to do something, and lost by 2 rounds at least.

Look, that was one boring ass fight and Im a B-Hop fan. But if you watch the fight almost every punch Taylor throws is blocked, completely missed or barely landed and hyped by Lampley. Look at the compu box figures,, Overall, Hopkins went 96 of 326 (29%) to 86 of 453 (19%) for Taylor, a 78-50 edge in power connects for Hopkins. Yeah I know the first rounds were what the judges gave Taylor,based on aggression, but scoring should be done on effective aggression,Taylor was not effective. What this fight really came down to was that Taylor was\is HBO's new crown prince and HBO wanted very badly to see Taylor emerge victorious so they could ride off into the ppv sunset with Taylor's dick jammed deep up Jim Lampley's rectum. B-Hop's biggest mistake was thinking he could cruise thru this fight and get a decision out of the judges. He should've been more aggressive, he should'nt have waited so long, but the judges should have given him the respect he deserved as the champ and made Taylor actually win the fight instead of the gift he was given via HBO. 2nd fight I scored a draw but i won't argue with the decision very close, also boring as ****!

Good post. This what I've been trying to say. Rounds 5 & 9 is a draw. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 for Taylor, rounds 10,11,12 for Hopkins. That is my score witch will be 117-112 for Taylor. Let's don't forget all the holding & hitting by Hopkins which compubox counted those cheap shots. Taylor clearly won the fight.


IF Hopkins won rounds 10, 11 and 12 I think he deserves the victory.

Shane Mosley won it in 2nd DLH fight
Trinidad won it againts DLH

:D


Hopkins wins it for sure if he's younger and not retiring soon.