My thoughts on this. I had Bernard winning, but Joe looked great...

Ok first off I want to say I loved this fight. It was great and I give both men a lot of credit. This was a classic match up of clean punching vs agression in the middle rounds. And I am a person who scores clean punching off of agression. My scorecard:

Note I messed up scoring Round 1 in the chat. I accidently submitted 10-9, so to even it up I made round 3 10-8 when it should have been 10-9. I was highly pleased by both these guys. I felt the middle rounds went to Bernard because he was landing cleaner and he would match mostly Calzaghe's flurries in the middle rounds. However rounds 5 and 7 I could see going to Calzaghe and I was impressed how Calzaghe wasn't cut on the eye or the forehead or that he wasn't getting tagged by Hopkins right as much as I thought he would. What makes Joe so special is that he can adapt so well. Other things: -Bernard's actions and interviews were kinda disapointing. He was obviously playing for time in the 10th, but I give him credit it worked. He should have given Joe some credit though. It was an execution. It was a close fight and if you thought you won that's nice, but give Joe some credit. He should have said something about the white boy comment was just hype. - Joe Cortez did a great job. Thank god. Except he called a stupid time out again. - Further evidence tonight shows why Larry Merchant should replace Harold Ledderman as the unofficial judge for HBO. 116-111 for Calzaghe is REALLY stretching it and I think he gave round 8 to Joe, which imo was clearly Bernard's round. -I'm glad Bernard really put up a entertainig fight. He looked good and just shows Joe's greatness. I really hope Bernard gained some respect of some Joe fans on here, but I doubt he did. -Rematch? Honestly I would like too, but I'm more interested in Calzaghe vs Kelly Pavlik. - Calzaghe needs to vacant the ring belt at Light Heavy if he isn't going to fight either Dawson or Jones. - I'm suprised that Enzo was telling Joe to go for the knockout. -I'm even more convinced that Bernard beats Calzaghe in his prime if Bernard matches Joe's work rate. Well those are my thoughts. Thanks for reading and I'm really disapointed, but I hope people give Joe Calzaghe his credit.

Comments (20)

warp1432

Well Jermain didn't really earn it....Joe did.

18y ago

You were expecting Bernard to give Joe credit? He didn't give Jermain any.

18y ago

Wiley_Hyena

Cal dont punch hard Wiley he never put a mark on Hopkins with Lacy he landed hundreds more thats the difference , he is no banger for mine , I dont see what your on about here , he showed no power in this fight at all , Hopkins was the one that cut him up and dropped him clean and wobbled him in a later round , Joe won with sheer volume . He punches hard enough. 32 knockouts. Combine that with sheer volume, a rock solid chin, and elusiveness, and you have a great fighter. Calzaghe is ambidextrous and this presents a peculiar style to the eyes, and a baffling opponent even to a great like Hopkins. I doubt Calzaghe will lose a fight in his prime. Unless he gets greedy or hard up for money, he may very well retire as undefeated champion.

18y ago

Neckodeemus

One thing against Hopkins is that he did allow some drift in the middle rounds. I think his flooring of Joe left Joe stuck in two minds, attack or wait, for the first four. Then he got into it and Hopkins took his rounds off at the wrong points. Hopkins, though, did land the more telling blows. Compubox is not a judge of quality. Problem for Hopkins is that he would land then smother and it may have done his shots a disservice. Along the ropes, when Joe would open, Hopkins sometimes had the last word. Often with punches landed you then look at accuracy and punch effectiveness. One shots from Hopkins early put Joe over and made him fight cautious, Hopkins' punches in the following rounds kept him cautious. Compubox is good fun but with a stat 9/10 times there can be a lot of problems with that stat. My girlfriend is a fan of Joe's boxing and she had Hopkins 4-0 in the early going, then Joe tightening the scoring, she was turned off by Hopkins' spoiling and time wasting, she had it a draw and is a pretty good judge. Reckons Hopkins made a mountain for his own back. However, fight over. Joe won so time for him to move on and Hopkins to perhaps move into being a trainer. Jones will land shots on Joe but his chin will present a problem. I think Joe-Jones may be an interesting fight, can we hack the showboating though :nonono:

18y ago

jzpowahz

yes I agree that Hopkins landed the cleaner punches. But even after that, I cannot see how someone who is on the backfoot for 12 rounds and lands about half as many as the other guy could possibly be scored as the winner. (Yes I agree that the 1st round knockdown was legitimate but I certainly don't think it was a punch that hurt Joe, he got hit by a lot more from Kessler IMO) Terrible form from B-hop not even acknowledging Joe's win. Was an A class sore loser interview right after the fight.

18y ago

MetalVomit

Why is your karma green when you're a terrible poster? You need to lay off the crack, you crackhead Nice comeback. Just kidding. Was the lowblow "significant?" Hopkins went down and rested for almost 4 minutes after that. You might say that Hopkins faked it. But, that's the thing about Calzaghe; he's deceptively powerful. Against Jeff Lacy, I was thinking what's going on with all those pitty pat looking punches? But, in the later rounds of that fight, Lacy was a complete mess. The key to Calzaghe is the fact that he's ambidextrous. He's a unique fighting machine and he just convincingly whipped Bernard Hopkins. That win put Calzaghe in the history books. the low blow was right below the belt line, any man knows, it doesnt take much of a shot to the dick or balls to make your heart skip a beat. I wouldnt say Calzaghe "whipped" Hopkins "convincingly" either. Not a chance. I have no bias against JC, and I'm a fan of Hopkins, but I never let who I root for cloud my vision. Calzaghe landed more punches, and almost zero of them were enough to rock a butterfly. Hopkins dropped JC once, rocked him a couple of times and certainly landed the more telling blows. I'll watch it again in the morning, but I wasnt drunk when I watched tonight (which I usually am on fight nights), so I doubt my outlook on the fight will change.

18y ago

Neckodeemus

Without a second viewing I thought Hopkins nicked the fight. More punches thrown by Joe but the abiding memory is the amount of cleaner shots Hopkins seemed to land. I would not go wild if it was scored either way though as it is a case of what you like. I like the guy making an impact with his shots, pro boxing is not decided on amateur point scoring, got to take into accounts the frugality and quality of Hopkins' shots. But Joe made a hell of a case for himself. On thing that rankles is that 9-point card. That is very poor. Given the other cards were similar it is clear one guy completely misread the fight, Hopkins can complain about that but not the verdict overall as it went tight due to his inactivity at times. A few years ago it is a different bout, Hopkins was more effective then again so was Joe.

18y ago

Wiley_Hyena

i'm going to watch the fight again in the morning, from what I saw, it was Joe outlanding Hopkins with almost meaningless punches, while Hopkins landed much harder and crisper shots on Calzaghe. Both fought a little dirty, and it was ugly as a righty vs. lefty usually is. It either should have been a draw or a Hopkins decision IMO. I can't remember the last time I saw a guy win a fight while landing almost zero significant punches. Only in boxing. Was the lowblow "significant?" Hopkins went down and rested for almost 4 minutes after that. You might say that Hopkins faked it. But, that's the thing about Calzaghe; he's deceptively powerful. Against Jeff Lacy, I was thinking what's going on with all those pitty pat looking punches? But, in the later rounds of that fight, Lacy was a complete mess. The key to Calzaghe is the fact that he's ambidextrous. He's a unique fighting machine and he just convincingly whipped Bernard Hopkins. That win put Calzaghe in the history books.

18y ago

Gareth_Ivanovic

I usually prefer clean punching, but Bernard didn't do enough and it made it hard to give him certain rounds when Joe was way more active. Even though his shots were mostly his slaps mixed in with some straight lefts. Calzaghe IMO just beat Bernard by outworking him.

18y ago

i had hopkins winning as well. i posted a round by round score here. sucks that he was screwed out of a victory. joe never kanding anything substantial. hopkins rocked joe a few times. joe has a higher punch output, but most of what he landed where blocked, landing on a shoulder, or barely made contact. unbelieveable scoring. as godzhand said, meaningless punches. and of course, people from london or whatever will sqay joe easily won. what a surprise. if joe had been ko'd, they would've came up with something. most of them at least. i have balls. i don't feel the need to defend my country. i like who i like, regardless of where they are from. i guess if you are british, you are maybe punished if you don't support a fighter of british origin?

18y ago

Lucky13

I had Joe winning 7-5. Rounds were so close because Bernard ties you up to make sure you don't do nothing spectacular. Speed beat Bernard IMO. I feel he was stronger, more elusive, and landed the harder punches but he wasn't active enough. I knew it when he took the time to recover in the 10th. What's up, just don't forget to send the 10K to ~Lucky13~ and not Lucky13 because my old accound was banned. If you already send it then whatever, don't worry about it.

18y ago

Jim_Jeffries

Hopkins barely threw any punches in any round, I don't know how you would have him winning any rounds if he doesnt throw shit :owned: Did you count all the clinching Hopkins did as punches? I thought it was pretty funny in round 4 I think it was, where Harold gave it to Hopkins when Joe outlanded him like 24 to 10 in that round.

18y ago

Dirt_E_Gomez

Why is your karma green when you're a terrible poster? If you can't see how people score rounds w/ Calzaghe missing shots and being relatively controlled by the man who is throwing accurate, but conservative punching... then you can't be helped. I'm not saying you have to score it for B-Hop, but to say somebody is :owned: for that makes you silly.

18y ago

GodOfWar

Your logic is as retarded as your final fantasy VII collection. Go to bed. Why is your karma green when you're a terrible poster? You need to lay off the crack, you crackhead

18y ago

Addison

18y ago

Orion

thats what i had. Thats about what i had.

18y ago

Dirt_E_Gomez

Hopkins barely threw any punches in any round, I don't know how you would have him winning any rounds if he doesnt throw shit :owned: Your logic is as retarded as your final fantasy VII collection. Go to bed.

18y ago

GodOfWar

Hopkins barely threw any punches in any round, I don't know how you would have him winning any rounds if he doesnt throw shit :owned: Did you count all the clinching Hopkins did as punches?

18y ago

MetalVomit

18y ago