From: http://www. east side boxing. com/news.php?p=211&more=1
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People want to me to go up to 190 pounds to fight "superman" and be basically a sacrificial lamb but these same people will do their best to keep Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, and Ricardo Mayorga among a few, away from me. Why don't these people want those guys to fight me?
Case in point... I'm going to quote Larry Merchant, who's part of the system and he's nothing more than a puppet on a string, here's what he said... "Why are you calling out the little guys, I never heard of a middleweight calling out the little guys."
Here Hopkins is basically saying, why should I have to fight the bigger guys when I can fight the smaller guys instead. Notice how he uses the number 190 lbs when talking about lhw, the amount that lhw's will rehydrate up to come fight night.
Well Merchant, why would they want me to fight a heavyweight? What is the problem with me calling out a fighter who's at 154 pounds? What is worse? Me fighting a guy that is 6 pounds away from me or me moving up to fight someone who is 30 pounds heavier than me.
Notice here how Hopkins says the jmw only have to move up 6 lbs, when according to his earlier logic, they would have to move up to 170 lbs, which is the weight Hopkins will be come fight night.
Everytime Hopkins was offered a fight with a bigger guy he always prices himself out, whether it was with Jones, Toney or Calzage
When Hopkins was forced to move up after back to back losses to Jermain Taylor he chose Tarver, a fighter who had to move down 45 lbs to make weight. After beating Tarver Hopkins has refused to fight another lhw. Instead he has fought the following opponents:
Winky:Who had to move up two divisions, Calzaghe: who had to move up one division, Pavlik: who had to move up two divisions and now Ornelis who has to move up one division.
The fights Hopkins tried to make Pwill(smaller), Froch (smaller) and Tito rematch (smaller).
When fights are offered, with guys more his own size like Dawson and Ademek he prices himself out.
Hopkins critising Floyd for fighting a smaller opponent, notice he says that Marquez was at a disadvantage because Floyd was bigger than him
I rest my case
is hagler a midget basher too? his gretest win is against thomas hearns who isnt much bigger than tito. both were huge WWs who were at their best at 154, only 6lbs south of MW. bcuz of those 6lbs should you dismiss them completely? hearns beat some good MWs in roldan and shuler, and tito beat a good fighter in joppy.. correction, they destroyed roldan, shuler and joppy..
nobody counts DLH as one of hopkins' best wins. what else was he to do? he cleaned out his division, beaten all comers, so slightly smaller guys stepped up to try to beat him. he wanted to establish himself as a great MW so he defended his titles. you can say the time he spent at MW was a time where the division was somewhat weak, but to say he picked on smaller men is just dumb. he fought everyone. joppy, holmes, g.johnson, r.allen etc were all legitimate MWs and he beat em all. he only took on smaller men after he beat these guys to clean out the division. atleast he fought em all. the guys calzaghe took on were ppl who got knocked out by the likes of keith holmes and william joppy, ppl who couldnt cut it at MW so they moved up. and his best wins lacy and kessler are not as good as a glen johnson or a william joppy. guys hopkins get very little credit for. truth is he has a very solid resume.
Hopkins is an ATG. He got robbed both Taylor fights. Its clear to see. Got Robbed in the Calzaghe fight. and Jones ducked him for YEARS.
Won his title and fought and fought and fought when nobody wanted to fight him. Then got his chance with Tito and then from then on out Made a bigger legacy. You have to realize Hopkins prime is in the Late 90's. Everything from Tito to right now is a PAST PRIME Hopkins.
I have to disagree here... and I'm a guy who usually score effectivness highter then punch output or agressivness... so that should mean something *loooooooooooool*
Both Taylor fights were close so you can't call it a robbery...
And the Calzaghe fight wasn't even close IMO... Hopkins landed harder but if you land around 2 or 3 shots per around it is not enough to win the round if the other guys doubles or triples your punch output and lands more even though it wasn't the hardest shots...
Most IMO get caught up too much in the age thing... what he does in the ring at his age is remarkable... no doubt... but it can't be an judging critera... you simply can't say well, he is 40 and this dude is 28, in his prime... he has to beat him cleaner... if you fight it is a fair contest... both fighters have to work... and because of his age is clear that he doesn't throw as much... but he then has to live with the fact that he can get outhustled...
Like I said making guys look bad at the age 40 isn't enough for me to give him the fight... it has to be more...
I think that he would have beaten JT in his prime but Calzaghe would have given him problems in his prime... Hopkins had problems with guys who had footspeed or at least could match his footspeed/movement... but he could have pulled it out... in his prime he was a bad man no question about it... but that's all if's and when's
Hopkins is an ATG. He got robbed both Taylor fights. Its clear to see. Got Robbed in the Calzaghe fight. and Jones ducked him for YEARS.
Won his title and fought and fought and fought when nobody wanted to fight him. Then got his chance with Tito and then from then on out Made a bigger legacy. You have to realize Hopkins prime is in the Late 90's. Everything from Tito to right now is a PAST PRIME Hopkins.
I think that Bernard really did and reached a lot with his skill-set...
I wouldn't blame him for anything... in most cases he did what every other boxer would have done too.
His defenses at MW rank him high... you can't blame him for what wasn't there... he did what he had to do...
But of course his biggest wins were against guys who we're not natural MW's... you can't blame him that DLH came to MW and wanted to fight him... everybody would have taken it... but it also not changes the fact that DLH's best weight isn't MW.
Everybody would have taken the fight with Trinidad too... Trinidad was a hot ticket... and it was a beatiful display and a masterpiece of Hopkins... but of course it doesn't change the fact that MW isn't Trinidad's best weight...
He was the best MW for about 10 years... and nobody could beat him at this weight... before his reign started he lost to Roy... and it ended with JT... I think and that's what a bit tarnishing is that these two are the most skilled he fought at MW... the others were also contenders and good fighters but I think from his competition at MW Jones and JT are probably the best and he lost to both of them...
His other notable wins were against Winky, where he made him move up in weight (to a weight class where you will never see Winky again)...
Pavlik, also in a weight class were you will probably never see him again...
Lost to Calzaghe.
I mean it is what it is... he did what he had to do... I think and you have to respect a guy who can hold his title for 10 years... he will probably be in the top10 of MW's... but ATG? It is based on how you see it...
He would have given a lot of ATG's problems based on his style... but I don't think that he would have beaten them... make them look bad isn't enough to win IMO...
Tarver was at his natural weight...
Pavlik was 5 pounds heavier than when he beat JT the second time...
Glen Johnson was at his natural weight...
Trinidad had won 3 fights and a title at 154 and beat William Joppy at middleweight...
ok i get it lol.
Tarver was at his natural weight...
Pavlik was 5 pounds heavier than when he beat JT the second time...
Glen Johnson was at his natural weight...
Trinidad had won 3 fights and a title at 154 and beat William Joppy at middleweight...
I guess the 20 title defenses primarily against middleweights are irrelevant...
Its not Bernard's fault the middleweight division was weak...
Nobody forced Oscar to move up, and Tito had won a belt at 154 and 160 prior to fighting Bernard...
yeah hopkins-toney is a real fantasy fight for me too. if toney was at his best he would win imo, but that wasnt always the case. and hopkins isnt the guy to sleep on.
yeah calzaghe shouldve fought johnson, that guy just cant catch a break when it comes to politics. beating dawson wouldve made calzaghe an atg imo, i think its a pity he didnt make that fight. wouldve been very interesting to see it happen. now he falls short of legendary status in my book, one hell of a fighter though dont get me wrong.
It was a dream fight and what a lot of people of this forum don't seem to realize is that dream fights don't always happen . Like Bowe/Lewis, Holyfield/Tyson(in the 90's), Hagler/Leonard II etc so people shouldn't get their hopes up for May vs Pac definitely happening.
Toney was the man
The Toney vs Hopkins fight would of been a good fight, shame it didnt happen. Toney was the main man, so I would of favored Toney to win.
The reasons for the Hopkins fight not happening vary depending on who you talk to and when it finally did happen it was one of the worst fights I ever watched.
On the flip side Calzaghe should of made the Johnson fight happen, fought sooner in America and should of fought either Pavlik and/or Dawson.
yeah hopkins-toney is a real fantasy fight for me too. if toney was at his best he would win imo, but that wasnt always the case. and hopkins isnt the guy to sleep on.
yeah calzaghe shouldve fought johnson, that guy just cant catch a break when it comes to politics. beating dawson wouldve made calzaghe an atg imo, i think its a pity he didnt make that fight. wouldve been very interesting to see it happen. now he falls short of legendary status in my book, one hell of a fighter though dont get me wrong.
he fought lipsey back in the mid 90s when he only held the IBF title, and struggled to find anyone who wanted to fight him due to his choice not to do the politics thing. echols was a mandatory and he still hadnt unififed, he still wasnt much in other words and couldnt get any big fights yet. hakkar, yes i agree. but most champions have some meaningless easy defenses.
calzaghe was a nobody back then, and joe was the one who passed up on hopkins saying he was scared of flying. jones, i agree he shouldve rematched him.
hopkins did move up and fought tarver, i think he stayed at MW as long as he did bcuz he had so many defenses. he considered that his legacy, and he had like 5-8 defenses of THE MW title after he beat trinidad. not counting the paper ones when he only held the IBF.
its not like he lacks good fighters on his resume at MW eighter.. john david jackson, glen johnson, william joppy, keith holmes, carl daniels, felix trinidad (not a small MW). just to name a few.
The Toney vs Hopkins fight would of been a good fight, shame it didnt happen. Toney was the main man, so I would of favored Toney to win.
The reasons for the Hopkins fight not happening vary depending on who you talk to and when it finally did happen it was one of the worst fights I ever watched.
On the flip side Calzaghe should of made the Johnson fight happen, fought sooner in America and should of fought either Pavlik and/or Dawson.
1.Hagler had no business calling out Leonard, he also wasn't interested in fighting the bigger guys Qawi and Spinks.
2.In my opinion if your divison is lacking decent opponents, why not move up. He was offered a lot of money to fight Calzaghe, Jones and Toney (3m+)instead he stayed to fight guys like Hakkar, Lipsey and Echols for around 300K.
he fought lipsey back in the mid 90s when he only held the IBF title, and struggled to find anyone who wanted to fight him due to his choice not to do the politics thing. echols was a mandatory and he still hadnt unififed, he still wasnt much in other words and couldnt get any big fights yet. hakkar, yes i agree. but most champions have some meaningless easy defenses.
calzaghe was a nobody back then, and joe was the one who passed up on hopkins saying he was scared of flying. jones, i agree he shouldve rematched him.
hopkins did move up and fought tarver, i think he stayed at MW as long as he did bcuz he had so many defenses. he considered that his legacy, and he had like 5-8 defenses of THE MW title after he beat trinidad. not counting the paper ones when he only held the IBF.
its not like he lacks good fighters on his resume at MW eighter.. john david jackson, glen johnson, william joppy, keith holmes, carl daniels, felix trinidad (not a small MW). just to name a few.
just some questions to ppl on hopkins' case about fighting smaller guys..
1. do you blame hagler for doing the same thing?
2. what do you expect to happen when someone cleans out their division? hopkins cleaned up at MW, naturally smaller guys tried their luck and moved up. he also took on bigger guys, he took on everyone ffs.
1.Hagler had no business calling out Leonard, he also wasn't interested in fighting the bigger guys Qawi and Spinks.
2.In my opinion if your divison is lacking decent opponents, why not move up. He was offered a lot of money to fight Calzaghe, Jones and Toney (3m+)instead he stayed to fight guys like Hakkar, Lipsey and Echols for around 300K.
just some questions to ppl on hopkins' case about fighting smaller guys..
1. do you blame hagler for doing the same thing?
2. what do you expect to happen when someone cleans out their division? hopkins cleaned up at MW, naturally smaller guys tried their luck and moved up. he also took on bigger guys, he took on everyone ffs.
Did you mean 180 pounds because had it been 190 it would of been 30 pounds.
So he moved up to 175 3 years later, and dominated the best light heavyweight in the world.
Let me guess, Tarver was weight drained in your opinion :ugh:
on HBO's bernard hopkins greatest hit even they admit tarver was looking very sluggish from the beggining
if you've ever watched other tarver fights you can see he was drained
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