Ali would dance around Holy all night, popping that jab with the occasional right hand following. If Ali got caught, well we all know how good Ali's chin was.
Roy's power seems to have come from his explosive movement. He'd literally leap at you to land his punches, but he hasn't been able to do that for years. After Roy lost his explosiveness, he started going to the ropes and letting people batter him.
Roy should have retired after he beat Ruiz. If he wanted to continue, he should have respected Tarver more, and prepared correctly. He would have taken a clearer decision, no naysayers, and he wouldn't have to rematch Tarver for ego purposes. Funny how things could have been prevented with one decision.
Anyways, YES he should retire. Roy, you were brilliant, and an amazing athlete, but those days are gone. Please retire while you're still sharp and healthy.
who here thinks he would ever root for a white guy?
He openly supported Gatti against Mayweather, after Floyd made a comment about Bhop being boring.
Anyways, I usually like Stewart but he really seemed biased toward Clottey, and at the same time, Lampley was sucking Cotto off the whole night. I wish Max didn't have a voice problem that night, because he's usually spot on with his assesments.
I agree, but thats not really a reason to suspect someone of cheating now is it, especially when hes in his absolute physical prime?
Athletes are supposed be more complete in their sport at that time in their life.
Manny simply gets crucified by it from a segment of fans,
while Bernard just gets over looked for being extraordinary at a much later age.
Its quite odd.
Yes sir, but when you do some physically amazing ****, it automatically becomes suspect. That's just how it goes, but nobody looks at Hopkins like "Holy ****, what an amazing display of speed and power and overall athletic ability!" lol. So yeah, I'm somewhat justifying people suspecting Manny over Hopkins, although I do recognize the double standard. It comes with the territory of being the best, lol.
P.S Also, let's acknowledge the likelihood of Mayweather bringing this whole thing up just for an advantage. I mean honestly, he had a 38 year old Shane Mosley go through this ****, not because Floyd thought it was absolutely necessary, but he wanted any mental advantage he could get.
Yeah Bernard is so muscular, crazy fast and throwing 1000 punches a round, must be roids.
I don't think Bernard is on anything, but you do realize there are different types of banned substances right? Toney took something illegal for his torn muscles/ligaments to be repaired...and scrawney distance runners get gaught for taking **** to increase their endurance. I'm NOT saying I think BHop is on this ****, but steroids arent only about looking ripped.
I don't think that he lost motivation. I think his fundamental flaws caught up with him. He has a tendency to pull straight back with his hands down. I've seen guys who aren't known for their power take advantage of this, Winky for example. He got in there with Pavlik, who has some power, and he managed to capitalize on Jermain's flaws. He managed to beat Hopkins by simply throwing more punches and being more aggressive, nevermind if they didn't land cleanly.
I'm just pointing out the double standard that exists.
Fans of a certain fighter are suspicious of a guy, who in his absolute physical prime, is doing incredible things in a boxing ring.
Wow. How can that be? I mean, the guy is dedicated to his lifes work, is never out of shape, has one of the best trainers in the world, and is at the top of his world.
My last paragraph could easily apply to both Manny and Bernard,
So, why does one catch flak, and the other praise?
When you're on top, people are gonna be hating on you. That's a fact of life. What Manny has done is amazing, even if his opponents have been somewhat cherry picked. Manny beats his opponents with more athletic ability, his speed and explosiveness, rather than the ring savviness that Hopkins uses. Considering the athletic component, and the fact he's the pound for pound #1, that's why he gets more flack.
Dont be foolish, no money in that fight
That's true too. I was somewhat surprised the Pascal fight even happened, considering how the Roy Jones 2 fight went.
It's a difference in style. Joe came to fight. He tends to smother his opponents with a high volume of punches, or even slaps. This high workrate was a problem for the older Hopkins. Pavlik likes to pick and place his shots, and Hopkins knew this, so he offset Kelly the whole night, to the point where he couldn't even get his shots off. Pascal came to run, like it was a track meet, and is lacking in boxing skill compared to Hopkins, so the old man was able to out box him. It's all style and perspective.
Vargas didn't knock out DLH.
Toney didn't knock out Ruiz.
Toney took a banned substance for tissue repair, because he tore his biceps and triceps muscle. Vargas, I dunno but you could look at his physique and see that he was on something. He had "***** tits" while being ripped at the same time, that was one sign.
Btw, I mentioned this in another tread but....ARCHIE MOORE. This dude was knocking people out at age 50..back in the 60's. I'm telling you that if you're dedicated to your training and living healthy...good nutrition..staying away from the drugs and alchohol...you can age much more gracefully than people who go to **** when they reach middle age. It's Hopkins SKILL that keeps him in the game, unlike Roy jones who relied on his athletic ability, so when that went downhill, so did his career.
I think at Hopkin's age nobody realistically expected him to dominate a division again. At his age, and all he's done in the sport, he's earned the right to cherry pick his opponent.
No, I want to see Hopkins either rematch Pascal in a few months and retire immediately after, or retire now. I don't want to see him keep pushing it, then eventually age catches up too much, and he ends up getting stopped. I was worried when Pascal scored those knockdowns, that **** wouldn't have happened if Bernard was even 5 years younger than he is now.
Nowadays athletes in all sports are more competitive at an older age. It's not only down to steroids, we know so much more about training, nutrition, and rehabilitation techniques than we did years ago. If you don't care to do any research on the topics, it's easy to to just say "Oh that ***** on steroids"...but that's pretty short sighted thinking.
Wasn't Archie Moore still beating people when he was like 50? This was back in the 50's or 60's too. Hopkins doesn't look that good when he's fought in the last few years, it's obvious he's fighting age in there, along with his opponent. His skills and ring smarts help keep him in there, and help neutralize the other opponents offense. He obviously conserves the amount of punches thrown, and looks visibly gassed at times. Not to mention he takes opportunities for rest, by faking low blows etc. I honestly don't think he's on anything...just hard work and determination.
Who was out there for him? Granted he did duck Raheem, but there was more money in a Morales rematch. He could have fought Shane earlier, before he looked like crap, too much risk for too little money. They tried to make the Floyd fight happen, but Floyd had to start making these testing demands, which basically ended the prospect for the fight. So there it is, they were open to a Floyd fight, as he was the best boxer in the world, but Floyd tried to take over the whole process and it went to ****. Blame Floyd for pulling these testing demands out of his ass, trying to get an advantage.
Yeah you can bet they're gonna milk that 2nd round vs Mayweather for all they can! Freddie Roach will definately be talking some **** too. As I say, I aint paying for this bull****, so they can do whatever they want, just get it over with and then try and get Mayweather.
I can't blame Shane for trying to get a payday, but that doesn't mean I have to like it or watch it. Too bad he didn't see this divorce coming, cause I sure did. As soon as I saw that sheisty, ice queen lookin b1tch on 24/7, I knew she was gonna take Shane to the cleaners. Unfortunately, Berto isn't making much of a cause for himself. He needs to get on some Ali **** and start showin up at wild card, or talking smack on HBO if he REALLY wants it, which I don't think he necessarily does right now.
Come on dude.
Cory Spinks went 12 rounds with a middleweight Jermain Taylor but was stopped in 9 rounds by a welterweight Zab Judah.
Hopkins getting dropped by Pascal doesn't mean anything. He was caught with a nice short left hook on the inside that he didn't see coming, he got up and recovered instantly. Its boxing, it happens.
Yes, and we all know damn well Bernard wouldn't have been caught with that **** years ago. To me, those knockdowns were a result of age. For example, we may see Shane go down against Pacman, but we've never really seen him go down before, except for against Forrest I think. A prime Mosley would give Pac hell, but now? He's basically a punching bag for Pac.
Gonna say the same about Oscar at welterweight? BTW, how old was Hopkins against Calzaghe? You can't tell me he was in his prime, I don't give a damn how many problems he gave Pascal. You're also forgetting the Pavlik fight, he's actually taller than Bernard. Yes he did have a physical advantage, and yes it's possible he wouldn't have been QUITE as successfull, but I don't agree with jumping to the conclusion that he would have been KO'd by now, his defense has always been too good for that.
Imagine if Roy had come into that first fight in better condition. He'd have won that decision in a much easier fashion, and a 2nd fight never would have happened. Who knows if Glen Johnson still would have gotten to him, but you could look at Roy's physique in that fight and see he wasn't in the same condition he was in his previous bouts. Moral of the story? Always prepare the best you can, and never sleep on anybody! lol.
Sometimes a very accurate punch can be worse than a really hard punch. If Mayweather see's openings, his punches are gonna be like lazers, and can leave people somewhat stagnant.