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.
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.
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 fuck!
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.
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.
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
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 shit 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.
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 shit 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 shit but couldnt..andybody who believe otherwise a damn fool
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.
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.
young lion vs old man
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
convinced
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 shit, 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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