Since B-Hop might retire for good now, how do you rate him in this decade. And after, how do you rate him ALL TIME against other greats like Hagler, Monzon, Hearns, Leonard, ETC.
To me, i feel that he is the best boxer of this past decade. Was P4P for a long time, and dominated MW divsion and had the LHW crown for a couple of years. Beat the youngsters, and was in close fights were many feels that he should have won, TAYLOR x2, calzaghe. To me it was clear he should have won Taylor 1.
So how do you rate this legendary fighter. He worked all the way to the top from nothing. Kept his body in great condition, and fought whoever challenged.
Its true Bernard handpicks opponents and usually knows their weakness before he picks them. He still has to execute it. And to be fair when you get on his level you get to pick ur opponents. Pavlik was expected to outwork him and he had trouble laying a glove on him. Even in the fights he's lost its been very close.
Hopkins handpicked some fights in his career. But the Pavlik wasn't handpicked. Pavlik went looking for Hopkins, and Hopkins accepted. And Trinidad wasn't handpicked because he was in the MW tournament they had, and Him and HOpkins had to fight. De La Hoya had a paper belt that Hopkins went after. Tarver was LHW champion, and the Lineal champ. Winky was the Most avoided man in the sport at the time, and nobody wanted to fight him because he causes a bad style match up. Taylor was a up and Comer everybody wanted Hopkins to fight, and HOpkins fought him. He didn't have to fight the younger MW champ at the time, but still did for the fans.
Some fights he did do pick, but it was tune ups. Like the fights before DLH. And the fight before Taylor. Those were okay opposition that he could beat with one arm, but they were a tune up and to get more defenses. But that was only like 2-3 of his defenses.
No,no,no.I know that you are a big Hopkins fan,and thats cool,we all have fighters that we dig,but to say that Hopkins fought better quality opposition than Floyd or pacman is straight ridiculous.He was mw champ for ten years or so beating good but not great opposition and his best wins came against fighters fighting outside of their best weights,and dont bother mentioning Tarver as that joke calls himself a legend yet sports a 27/4 record.
Dont get me wrong,B-Hop is a tremendous fighter,one of the best in the last 20 years but not THE best.Love him or hate him(and I am not particularly keen),its Floyd.Better skills,better resume,five weight champ,better opposition.There is no disgrace or slur on his name to call him one of the best fighters of the last 20 years.I am sure that he himself would be pretty happy with that,and so as a fan should you.
fasho.. i understand what you are saying, and you got my respect.
Off the top of my Head Its between Floyd, Hopkins, and Pacquiao.
Thing is, Pacquiao, alot of people are going crazy over him, but they gotta realise he beat shot morales coming off a loss to raheem I think. David Diaz (who?) A Kentucky fried oscar de la hoya, and the results against Marquez were debatable.
Hopkins has always been a smart matchmaker, if he wants to fight, chances are he's already seen something he knows he can exploit. In the beginning I had calzaghe by UD to beat hop, then I realized Hop saw that by keeping him turning, not set, parry the jab, roughing him up, he could win that fight and at 43 he nearly pulled it off. This is why I dont see him going anywhere near Chad dawson, because Chad's seriously quick, and has good output, good enough defenses too, think hop learnt his lesson from the taylor fights. His gameplan is very simple imo, to try and get over Roy Jones in the Legacy stakes by picking careful legacy fights, Im not taking away from his achievements though, for me, I think hopkins greatness is his Skillset and dedication. Wether he has taken the risks Floyd has that's debatable.
Its true Bernard handpicks opponents and usually knows their weakness before he picks them. He still has to execute it. And to be fair when you get on his level you get to pick ur opponents. Pavlik was expected to outwork him and he had trouble laying a glove on him. Even in the fights he's lost its been very close.
AND? Its not what Hopkins thinks, but what the fans think. and his legacy is above Floyds in terms of greatness, resume, and quality opponents faced.
Off the top of my Head Its between Floyd, Hopkins, and Pacquiao.
Thing is, Pacquiao, alot of people are going crazy over him, but they gotta realise he beat shot morales coming off a loss to raheem I think. David Diaz (who?) A Kentucky fried oscar de la hoya, and the results against Marquez were debatable.
Hopkins has always been a smart matchmaker, if he wants to fight, chances are he's already seen something he knows he can exploit. In the beginning I had calzaghe by UD to beat hop, then I realized Hop saw that by keeping him turning, not set, parry the jab, roughing him up, he could win that fight and at 43 he nearly pulled it off. This is why I dont see him going anywhere near Chad dawson, because Chad's seriously quick, and has good output, good enough defenses too, think hop learnt his lesson from the taylor fights. His gameplan is very simple imo, to try and get over Roy Jones in the Legacy stakes by picking careful legacy fights, Im not taking away from his achievements though, for me, I think hopkins greatness is his Skillset and dedication. Wether he has taken the risks Floyd has that's debatable.
Hopkins himself said it was Floyd.
/thread
AND? Its not what Hopkins thinks, but what the fans think. and his legacy is above Floyds in terms of greatness, resume, and quality opponents faced.
Yeah,and when he beats Pacman that will really blow Zag out of the water!:no::no::no::no:
thats whack for you to say.
The man on your picture got credit for knocking out a LW in Duran.
People need to cool off with hating on Hopkins for beating Oscar and Tito.
Oscar was blown up, I'll give you that.
But Trinidad was a wrecking ball just clearing out divisions, and a Champion at 160lbs before he even faced Hopkins.
He blew William Joppy out of the damn water in what? 6 rounds? And Joppy was a pretty damn good career Middleweight in his own right, and a guy who's never been stopped before, or after, not even by Hopkins himself. Up until the recent TKO loss to Bute at the age of 38.
If Hopkins win over Trinidad means nothing, then Hagler's win over Hearns means nothing either. :lol1:
Hopkins, never been KO'd, some say he hasn't even lost this decade, dam fine resume, he's 103 years old, just put on a clinic against a formally undefeated champion in Pavlik. After a heartbreaking Calzaghe loss. The mans incredible. Personally I say he is the best, however I can see cases for others, I feel if Hopkins had've won the re match against Taylor there'd be no competition, those two losses really just stick in my mind, as debatable as they are, Taylor just isn't a good name to have two losses two when you're a guy of Bernards calibre.