Kell Brook will be ahead of him within a year as well. Far and away the best prospect out there IMO.
Oh and I'd have Khan in there somewhere. Certainly well before the likes of Skelton and Murray and I'd fancy him to beat Cook if they ever meet.
If you chuck 160 lbs of lard into a machine that produces the ideal opponent to make Calzaghe look good, it would spit out Moby. Horrible, horrible matchup for Pavlik.
The fact that it's Bunce calling him one does not in any way lessen the fact that Max Kellerman is complete and utter idiot.
It's a bit like two special needs kids having a fight, to be honest.
You guys crack me up sometimes why dont people look at some of dynamics involved instead of the in your face A beating B , the Bhop last night was all around a better machine than the 175 lb Bhop that fought Joe , much better condition faster more endurance , you could see it a mile away , Id like to see Bhop fight Joe again at 168 , or if Joe wants 175 so bad fight Dawson at 175 .
In this environment fighters are jumping all over the place as far as weight goes and some of them are going to come unstuck , its ironic that most of the biggest upsets or near upsets or just plain ol lack lustre performances involve somebody playing with weight .
I suspect his opponent had rather a lot to do with why Hopkins has looked so different in his last two fights. I didn't see any difference in his physical condition and it's a lot easier to last 12 rounds when you're the one controlling the pace.
Very similar situations.
99% of people who are now saying Lacy was untested were arguing the opposite before the Calzaghe fight. He was the betting favourite (which I know as I made a killing on a Calzaghe UD victory - thanks to the ref not stopping it earlier!) and pundits were queueing up to crown THE great American hope. Or Dope as it turned out.
Pavlik was in a very similar situation - relatively unproven (which he is - two bouts vs Taylor don't a proven fighter make) champion fighting against a veteran and made the heavy favourite by the bookies. Not quite as bad a beatdown but it'll be interesting to see whether it stalls Pavlik's career like Lacy's has been.
All it proves is that Hopkins and Calzaghe are ATG's and better than anything else around at the moment. Nothing we didn't already know of course.
The problem with this theory is that Hopkins could've easily potshotted Pavlik if he wanted to and still won. The fact that he didn't potshot and was commited to combination punching means Hopkins is looking to win decisively rather than looking to win narrowly.
Styles make fights and Hopkins fought the wrong style against Calzaghe. A combination punching Hopkins can beat Calzaghe.
Yes he could have but he didn't need to. He could dominate him comfortably, which he did.
The point you are missing is that Calzaghe would never have allowed that to happen and was the one who dictated the pace - which ultimately decided the fight as Hopkins couldn't cope with it.
A more aggressive Hopkins was simply never an option against Calzaghe - as someone with a modicum of boxing knowledge, like Hopkins, knew. The trick to beating Calzaghe is to make him come forward and Hopkins almost did it well enough to get the W. Almost.
Pavlik's obliteration by Hopkins doesn't mean Calzaghe would beat him.
The fact that Pavlik is a come-forward, straight lines, Plan A type fighter is why Calzaghe would beat him. If you lumped 170 pounds of meat, put it into the AutoBoxerCreator 2000 and made the ideal punchbag for him, it'd come out with Kelly Pavlik.
And I'm a Pavlik fan. I've always said he needs to stay at MW, clean out the division and stay the hell away from Calzaghe and SMW.
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.
am i the only one that thinks that pavlik could of beaten the hopkins that lost to calzaghe?
bernards performance was shockingly great.
i don't recall anyone that thought hopkins was going to win guessing he would win the way he did.
i feel hopkins could of beat anyone with that gameplan that night!
Yes. Yes you probably are.
In his previous three fights he has fought Tarver, Wright and Calzaghe. His performances in all three tell you about the quality of opponent in all three. Don't you think he would have liked to put on that kind of performance but, um, wasn't allowed to?
Pavlik isn't in their league. That's just the beginning, middle and end of it.
Even a few years past his prime Calzaghe is still better than anyone at 168-175.
Is true. He's still at least 5 years past his prime though.
A prime Calzaghe vs a prime Jones would have been the stuff of legends. Never an option sadly as their primes never really coincided.
Uhhhh... what?
Calzaghe is always the one coming forward and forcing the fight.
Really, that's how he dominated Lacy, got Kessler to panic, because he was making Kessler back up... Hopkins did real well because he is a terrific mover/counterpuncher, but... he came straight ahead the whole time against Jones too... or do you think Jones's back ended up on the ropes by accident?
Calzaghe definitely does not fight best off of his back foot, he is best coming forward.
Uhhhh ... what?
If his opponent doesn't come forward, then he's nowhere near as effective. Kessler and Jones came forward, and Calzaghe was much more effective. Where on earth did I say that Calzaghe would solely fight on the back foot?
Yeah it would be intresting though Johnson would be one of the few opponents who is stronger than Calzaghe and would be backing Joe up all night long, I think Joe would win due to his workrate but i dont think it would be one sided.
He'd have his moments but what needs to be remembered is that Calzaghe's better on the back foot - always has been. The main reason why Hopkins made him look like shit is because he was the one forcing the fight.
but Kessler or B-Hop can't get one......is it just coincidence that both Kessler and Hopkins would beat the Schnitzel outta Veit? :nonono:......I smell pussy and its comin' from Wales. :firedevil
I suspect it might have a little bit to do with Veit being the mandatory both times. Amazing what a bit of education on a subject before speaking can do ...
Anyway, as for Glencoffe, he'd be ideal for Calzaghe. Any come-forward fighter would be.
Lets get this out of the way first - Pavlik was not proven. Taylor had fallen by the wayside since the Hopkins fights and Miranda never was. The rest = not a lot.
It's a very accurate parallel IMO so it'll be interesting. He didn't take as bad a beating as Lacy but it was still a comprehensive schooling. It'll be interesting to see how he comes back.
Dawson is a massively bigger threat to Calzaghe than Pavlik is. I can't see how anyone could possibly disagree with that.
Maybe Pavlik sees his future in the 168-175 range? Him vs Dawson would be excellent until Dawson stops him. I'd also like to see Kessler fight him.
Lampley called Pavlik , "the centrepiece of American boxing".
Oh dear. :lol1:
In that case, their centrepiece is very much in the same condition as the one in my gran's house. And that's been torn down in the next few weeks ....
are you on drugs Enzo is a great trainer, he had 3 world champions at one point in a tiny town in Wales? he was even voted coach of the year (UK Sports Personality Awards) that was above all the big sports in our country like football, rugby etc
Indeed. The fact he's a bit of a mental doesn't take away the fact he's an excellent trainer and motivator. Also, it can't all be coincidence that his fighters are often tactically superior to their opponents.
For a trainer in a shed in the utterly depressing Gwent Valleys, that's a ****ing superb achievement and no mistake.
The funny thing, and this hasn't really been mentioned elsewhere, is that Roy was significantly better than many thought he would be and, Calzaghe apart, would more than likely have beaten anyone else at 175 on Saturday night apart from Hopkins and maybe Tarver.
He was only about 50% of the old Roy but that was still pretty good.
With a bit more stamina Bute can do to Kessler what Joe Calzaghe did to him. He has all the tools to outbox Kessler if he wants to.
Strangely enough I was just thinking the exact opposite.