there i said it...
hell no. Hopkins is way past his prime. The difference is that Hopkins fought the wrong style against CAlzaghe by being too conservative with his punches. a combination punching Hopkins will beat Calzaghe.
That's because Joe was successfully resilient in not accepting Hopkins pace, but enforcing his own high pace, high punch out-put, chasing, moving well, feinting and getting to Hops.
Pavlik did none of these things hence Hopkins was able to look 'better'.
i agree it had something do with joe to an extent... but bernard was tired by round 5, it was very noticeable... and he wasnt nearly as active as he was in the pavlik fight.. it just appeared to me he was in much better shape for the pavlik fight
Prime can mean whatever you want it to mean.
The Hopkins of now would arguably beat any previous version of himself and is arguably higher on the P4P list than he's ever been. Not in his physical prime though of course.
in my personal opinion... hopkins didnt look good at all in the joe fight and was tired by round 5.. and thats the bernard joe beat.... nard look fantastic against kelly...
That's because Joe was successfully resilient in not accepting Hopkins pace, but enforcing his own high pace, high punch out-put, chasing, moving well, feinting and getting to Hops.
Pavlik did none of these things hence Hopkins was able to look 'better'.
Im a brit and an educated one when it comes to this sport, and hopkins is not in his prime, although I would say he is a better defensive fighter now then when he was in his prime, but I do think the pavlik fight did show just how good calzaghe is.
Hopkins in his prime was almost unbeatable, in my opinion only a fighter with a considerable speed advantage, and all the intangibles a great fighter needs, would have been able to beat him. Joe calzaghe is not in the same league as hopkins when you talk about legacy, but joe calzghe is great fighter, and would have competed with any form of bernard hopkins prime or not.
in my personal opinion... hopkins didnt look good at all in the joe fight and was tired by round 5.. and thats the bernard joe beat.... nard look fantastic against kelly...
Hopkins hasn't been in his prime for years.
True. Neither has Calzaghe.
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Physically Hopkins is past him prime.
But many aspects of his game now are better than when in his supposed prime hence him achieving some of his best wins and p4p rankings post 40.
Examples include psychological, ring intelligence, defence, tactics, slickness and countering are all probably better then they ever where. He's learned how to minimise his weaknesses and maximise his attributes immaculately.