eubank vs hopkins - prime for prime

[Mugwump]

He won the Western division GG in the US as well, but lost to a Philip Benson at National comp.. and now is back in UK training for London 2012.

Thanks for that. What's he like as a prospect?

[Testdead]

Hello? Skooter McFly? What are YOU talking about? I already explained that I was responding to a post where someone stated no one stops Eubank: So I provided the example of Eubank being stopped.

I wish Boxing Scene could only be used by actual boxing fans and not brain dead morons who can't read.

BTW, your hold on Eubank's nutsack is enough to KO him.

Poet

Moron.

Im more a Benn fan NO ONE STOPS EUBANK, NO-ONE.

[JAB5239]

The TKO loss to Carl Thompson is not a good indicator of Eubank's durability. He was at the end of his career fighting a highly-underrated and bigger opponent twenty-plus pounds outside of his natural weight division with his head still in pieces after inflicting brain damage on Michael Watson. His performance in both Thompson bouts was nothing short of miraculous and he was a hair's breadth away of reversing the results.

Prime Eubank (pre-Watson) vs prime Hopkins (as mentioned earlier picking Hopkins's prime isn't easy) would have been an interesting match-up. My money would be on a dour defensive struggle appreciated more by the purists than anybody else.

The Eubank that put Dos Santos away was probably the harder hitting of the two. Because of this I don't think Hopkins would have been as aggressive as he was during the 90s. The risk of getting tagged on the counter would be too great to ignore. Even in his early days Eubank wasn't noted for chasing an opponent and so I think the fight would be one where both opponents spent twelve rounds respecting each other's power. Potential for an explosive Hagler vs Hearns encounter - 0%.

As for the winner - difficult to pick. Both fighters had/ve excellent chins. The chances of a KO victory would be pretty slim. Early Hopkins could well win on greater workrate. But as mentioned earlier, he'd need to be careful not to walk on to one of Eubank's counters. Late Hopkins and the decision goes the other way - although the thought of Eubank winning a fight on workrate seems at odds with reason.

One other factor that LRR brought up which may be key is psychology: Bernard is an expert in getting under the skin of a fighter. These tactics have certainly played an important role in terminally undermining the confidence of his opponents (Trinidad is one obvious example). Eubank would need to stuff his ears full of cotton wool during the fight promotion. But then Eubank was a more than capable trash talker during his career. His psychological hatchet-job on Nigel Benn during the lead up to their grudge match had Benn close to meltdown. Without doubt it played a significant role in Benn's defeat. Perhaps both fighters would have killed each other before they made it to the ring!

It's a very tough fight to call - mainly because of the difficulties in identifying Hopkins's prime. I have Bernard as slight favourite. But it's a close fight. Two great fighters.

Nice post. Im so use to hearing biased posts from people talking about fighters they have in their avatars.....this was a breath of fresh air.

[dde91]

Hopkins would win a UD easy.

Everybody always says Hopkins has problems with faster fighters like JT and Calzaghe, but do they fail to realize he was 40+ years old. Those fights were close as hell. If he was younger in those fights, he would have pulled off easy wins, because he sure didn't look like he was Trouble like most are stating. He won JT first match in my opinion. He also beat Calzaghe in my opinion.
And the Roy Whooped Bernard with one are thing is ******. He ran the whole fight, and never hurt bernard once. it was the most boring fight ever, because Roy knew he wouldn't knock him out, so he danced the whole fight. Hopkins was way more green, because Roy was way more top elite fights prior to Jones-Hopkins. He was in the Olympics and such. Hopkins was in Prison.

[StarshipTrooper]

Moron.

Im more a Benn fan NO ONE STOPS EUBANK, NO-ONE.

Shvt for brains, he has a stoppage on his record so oviously SOMEone stopped him. The SOMEone in question being Thompson.

Poet

[Chrismart]

Very close poll.

[Testdead]

Shvt for brains, he has a stoppage on his record so oviously SOMEone stopped him. The SOMEone in question being Thompson.

Poet

Eubank was shot and had a closed eye coming into the fight.

We are talking primes bub. NO-ONE stops Eubank. He has a chin legends are made of.

Infact he took shots that Hopkins wouldnt have.

Why am i even replying you think Hopkins stops Chris Eubank that is pure farce.

[Abstraction]

Very close poll.

Very Dumb Poll.

[coghaugen]

Thanks for that. What's he like as a prospect?

Very raw material. But high ammount of natural talent, nimble feet and nice punch. Plenty of fire and a sort of overwhelming robustness.

Doesn't plant his feet like he should or set-up attacks.

He's a great prospect to be honest, considering he only started about a year and a half ago (!) and he's a teenager.

[MR.CHICANITO]

sorry mate i guess i should have mae it clearer that this is prime for prime

hopkins prime imo was probably the tito fight he still had the body of a man who was in his late twenties and still had alot of his phsyical attributes, he was still able to fight 12 rounds at a strong pace and had decent handspeed and output. i think from here onwards we strated to see him use his boxing nous to outfox his opponents.

bernard was very aggressive in his earlier days but as he developed he shunned the wrecking ball approach and became a counter punching boxer/puncher. thats the sort of fighter he was when he hit his prime,in fact these days when bernard is asked to come forwad against who he knows can counter him he looks sloppy and amateurish (see the taylor fights).

p.s. who voted eubank by KO??

bernard hopkins wipes his ass with chris eubank enough said chris was a great fighter but bernard hopkins would haved picked him part and retired him for good