HOPKINS Sees something in PAVLIK that We Dont

hopkins should retire already lol

I think he thinks he sees big vulnerabilities, which is what we all think. Pav can look slow and clumsy in the ring. All his opponents think they can exploit it. When they get in the ring though, they quickly realize Pavlik is a different beast than they thought. Long Armed Straight Punching in Bunches is a hard thing to overcome. Hopkins I think will try one of two things. 1: He will either try to move to his left like crazy against Pavlik to take his right hand away. He will have some success with it, but he will have to stop to get his own right hand off, which will leave him vulnerable. 2: He will try to get inside and mug Pavlik, which might work, but Pav seems to like mugging on the inside himself (Miranda) and there is no way Hopkins can mantain that for 12 rounds. His best bet would be to try to get to Pavlik early, hurt him and cut him and work on that. Good post, I agree. He even said in a '07 interview, which you may have seen, that Calzaghe could beat Pavlik by smothering him since he feels Pavlik needs room to be effective with his punching because of his long arms. He'll probably try the same thing.

He is just a fighter... and fighters fight. That is why he wants Pavlik. I don't think he sees something we don't.

He probably thinks Pavlik wont be as effective against a guy who uses a lot of movement and gives a lot of angles. He sees a different version of Tito Trinidad. I think Pavlik is pretty smart though. Basic, but smart. He'll find ways to time his punches and hit Hopkins. He wont just smother him and throw a bunch of meaningless punches like Calzaghe did. Which worked for Joe, but he almost lost.

I think so also. I also don't think Hopkins has enough gas in the tank to pull it off.

I agree, He seems to know something is there that he might be able to take advantage of. Hopkins feels as though Pavlik is STILL green! he won't bad mouth Kelly and inspire the younger stronger kid, but he's going to praise him and even go as far to say that Pavlik has the heart of a Philly fighter!! Hopkins is a master mind at winning the mental war its just the physical part of the wars he's been slackin' due to father time! but I think its Kelly's resume that B-Hop is lookin at.....JT fought the wrong fight on the night Kelly became a star! Miranda was there to be hit.....so Hopkins feels as though noone that Kelly has fought has the ring intellect of a Bernard Hopkins! both JT and Miranda were offensive dudes with huge defensive flaws. Pavlik works off of his jab(his range finder) then drops the right like that bomb that hit Hiroshima...he drops to the body once in a while.....but thats it! Calzaghe had more of an offensive arsenal....while Kelly is straight 1-2 all night! Calzaghe could punch off angles and that kept Bernard defensive....Kelly is not as mobile as Joe so Bernard shouldn't tire in this one....Joe's mobility didn't allow Hopkins a chance to breathe......his hand speed was a step up from what he was used to facing and that too kept B-Hop defensive.....but Kelly doesn't present those problems for Hopkins.....Kelly's claim to fame is his POWER.....it's not IMPOSSIBLE to negate that in the ring!!!

Hopkins is getting KO'd

I'm convinced that HOPKINS sees something in Pavlik that would allow Hopkins to win impressively, and thats why he is being so nice. And he is saying a lot of good things about Pavlik, and hyping him up. Probably in the hopes that he get more credit if he gets the impressive victory. I think hopkins thinks he has too much speed for pavlik, where as calzaghe had fast hands cause he slaps.

It could be, you never know, but I honestly don't think so.

I'm convinced that HOPKINS sees something in Pavlik that would allow Hopkins to win impressively, and thats why he is being so nice. And he is saying a lot of good things about Pavlik, and hyping him up. Probably in the hopes that he get more credit if he gets the impressive victory. I think he thinks he sees big vulnerabilities, which is what we all think. Pav can look slow and clumsy in the ring. All his opponents think they can exploit it. When they get in the ring though, they quickly realize Pavlik is a different beast than they thought. Long Armed Straight Punching in Bunches is a hard thing to overcome. Hopkins I think will try one of two things. 1: He will either try to move to his left like crazy against Pavlik to take his right hand away. He will have some success with it, but he will have to stop to get his own right hand off, which will leave him vulnerable. 2: He will try to get inside and mug Pavlik, which might work, but Pav seems to like mugging on the inside himself (Miranda) and there is no way Hopkins can mantain that for 12 rounds. His best bet would be to try to get to Pavlik early, hurt him and cut him and work on that.

Maybe Hopkins doesnt like Calzaghe so much, that he is ready to lose to Pavlik, and pass his torch to Pavlik. Not that he is going to lose on purpose, but if he should lose, he wants Pavlik to look very good, and perhaps revenge his loss to Calzaghe later in the future. This is the way Hopkins can make Calzaghe look worse. No. Taylor took the torch from Hopkins. Pavlik took the torch from Taylor. Now Hopkins wants his muthafuckin torch back.

lets go whiteboy!!!

Pavlik has many flaws that a younger Hopkins would've taken advantage of but at this stage of his career will he physically be able to..... we do not know. we will just have to wait tilll fight night.

He might be onto sumthin. Bernard don't seem like the type to say shit he don't really mean.

I had Taylor by a point in the Pavlik rematch....at worst a draw. Pavlik is currently one of my favorite fighters, so I was happy he got the "W" after Taylor was handed two victories against Hopkins that I don't think he deserved. Taylor was pretty much able to box Kelly effectively in their rematch, and I say that to say this - If Jermain Taylor can "outbox" Pavlik, then Bernard Hopkins sure as hell will be able to. I don't give a fuck about Hopkins age. I think Team Pavlik is seriously overlooking the task they have at hand, and Jack Loew seems eerily Trinidad Sr-esque in his outlook leading up to this fight. Hopkins has been up against big punchers before (a prime Antwun Echols, a prime TitoTrinidad, a prime Joe Lipsey, Charles Brewer, etc.). Pavlik's style is so fucking basic, that I really don't see him as much of a threat. Keep in mind that al of Bernard's recent outings were against Southpaws (Wright, Tarver, Calzaghe etc.). He's a different fighter against righties. I am not here denying that he is not the same guy as he was in his mid-late thirties, but his competition over the past few years has been against all top P4P guys, and he's beat them all, and taken VERY FEW shots in doing so. Nobody can claim dishing out as much while taking very little. Yeah, the punches thrown may be anemic compared to some guys, but look at the punch connects. The connect percentage. He out landed Taylor in BOTH fights...Wright and Tarver too. He landed ALL the meaningful blows against Calzaghe...and most of the punches the aforementioned three opponents were credited with were nothing clean, and in the case of Calzaghe, damn near phantom-ish. Joe Calzaghe was awarded some RIDICULOUS number of connects (something like 234 punches). Let me tell you something - DLH hit Forbes over 200 times, and Forbes face was a mess. Margarito landed on Cotto over 200 times, and Cotto was broken. Joe Calzaghe did NOT land 200 punches on Bernard Hopkins. I'd go as far to say he probably landed less than Hopkins, although I was not counting....but there was no need to anyway. I know what I saw. There is no way you get hit over 230 times and come out without a scratch. Sorry. Just no way. That said, Joe Calzaghe is very well conditioned, and has busy hands (albeit an amateurish style, which was the way the last fight seemed to be scored). I mention this because Kelly Pavlik, while busy, is not as busy as Joe Cal. He's not throwing those loosey goosey slaps non stop. Kelly Pavlik has a very basic 1-2 style. He's heavy footed. Jack Loew (and Kelly, for that matter), act as if this is going to be an easy task, and all this talk of KO? How the fuck can they even think KO? They need to be thinking connect, first. I just don't see it. Hopkins defense is way too complex for these guys. Jack Loew is throwing around comparison's of this proposed bout to that of Margarito/Cotto, with Kelly being Margarito and Hopkins being Cotto. Couldn't DISAGREE more here. First of all, Hopkins and Pavlik are roughly the same size. There's no 5-6 inch height/reach advantage, and both guys can carry 160-175 easily. Secondly, Bernard Hopkins is a more complete fighter than Cotto. His defense is SURE a HELLUVA LOT BETTER than that of Miguel Cotto's, and Hopkins counters much more effectively when he makes you miss. His footwork is much more efficient too. As for comparing Kelly to Margarito, I would say Kelly probably is a bit heavier handed, but Margarito applies way more pressure, takes a better shot, and throws a helluva lot more. Gentlemen, Hopkins vs. Pavlik is NOT Cotto vs. Margarito. Boxing is a pure styles game. Hopkins has the style to beat Kelly Pavlik with relative ease, and in the process take little to no punishment. Whether he is penalized yet again for this proficient style is another story. I really just don't see Pavlik out boxing Hopkins OR stopping him. I can see this being another Hopkins/Eastman type of outing, where Hopkins lands at will, and doesn't get hit. It could wind up like Hopkins/Trinidad depending if Kelly can withstand the punishment. Kelly has been in some fights (Taylor 2x's, Miranda). The saving grace for Pavlik in those fights where he was taking a helluva lot of fire is that he was also landing a helluva lot on his opponents, and they eventually succumbed to that. With Hopkins, Pavlik is going to be n the receiving end of a lot of clean punching, and landing very little. I think Bernard takes him rather easily on points. That's just my opinion. We shall see.

I'm sure he sees something, Pavlik is flawed, I just don't think Hopkins has enough left to capitalize on those flaws.

Expect to see Hopkins throw a lot of left hooks. Pavlik brings his glove back to his head very slowly after he throws the right hand. Expect Hopkins to throw alot of left hooks? Hopkins has thrown about 12 punches total in his last 3 fights. He'll look to spoil as usual.

I'm convinced that HOPKINS sees something in Pavlik that would allow Hopkins to win impressively, and thats why he is being so nice. And he is saying a lot of good things about Pavlik, and hyping him up. Probably in the hopes that he get more credit if he gets the impressive victory. i see dead people calzaghe could punch faster then lightning

Maybe Hopkins doesnt like Calzaghe so much, that he is ready to lose to Pavlik, and pass his torch to Pavlik. Not that he is going to lose on purpose, but if he should lose, he wants Pavlik to look very good, and perhaps revenge his loss to Calzaghe later in the future. This is the way Hopkins can make Calzaghe look worse. You know, I think some boxers do use that tactic. Take Oscar saying he was willing to fight Cotto (I never thought that fight would come off, Oscar was switching to Pac even before Cotto lost). I reckon he came out with that to highlight that he was willing to take on all comers unlike a certain other boxer...

Hopkins is trying to make Pavlik insecure.