Hopkins vs Calzaghe prime

[BOLLOCKS]

Calzaghe pwned Hopkins.

[MARKBNLV]

Bernard had good power when he was younger,i think he might stop Calzaghe.

[SirTomJones]

When both were in their prime they weren't in the same weigh class.

At super-middle weight Calzaghe wins a UD.

[Barn]

Hopkins would win a unanimous decision.

The only real advantages Calzaghe had over Hopkins when they fought back in 2007 were workrate, and stamina.

And even then an older Hopkins managed to land all of the clean, effective punches, dictate the pace of the fight, and lure Calzaghe into traps all night long.

A younger version of Hopkins beats any version of Calzaghe.

I second this
B-Hop fights way to clever for Calzaghe's swarming.

[BigStereotype]

Power: Equal/B-hop by a good amount
Handspeed:Calzaghe/Calzaghe, but Hopkins had superior timing
Footspeed:Equal/Calzaghe
Footwork:Hopkins/Hopkins
Intangibles: Calzaghe/Equal, especially if you count Hopkins' notorious use of dirty tactics as an intangible. But Calzaghe's insane stamina really helps balance this out.
Skillset: Hopkins/There really can't be a doubt that this is Hopkins
Workrate: Calzaghe/Calzaghe's biggest advantage by far

I think that B-hop works him over. He was doing it the first six rounds of their fight and he just ran out of gas. I still scored it 114-113 for Hopkins (6-6 with the first round KD). He waits for Calzaghe to engage, counters with the right hand, then clinches and bangs away on the inside, headbutts and low-blows included. It was working really well until he faded.

[Joeyzagz]

Power: Calzaghe
Speed: Calzaghe
Defense: Hopkins
Chin: Hoplins
Skill: Calzaghe
Stamina: Equal

Calzaghe wins a Unanimous decision.

[dde91]

I am not a Calzaghe fan and dont really like him but one thing i could say is that he will not stop coming. And for a Prime Hopkins, he will eat u you up easily if you keep coming. Everybody that tried to go forward gets TKO'd by Prime Hopkins. Johnson, Trinidad, Echols, Brown, Allen, Lipsey, etc all got KO'd or TKO'd. And most of them went staright at Hopkins. You cant do that with a Prime Hopkins because he is a Great counterpuncher and will eat you with his over hand right all night.

[Left2body]

Power: Calzaghe
Speed: Calzaghe
Defense: Hopkins
Chin: Hoplins
Skill: Calzaghe
Stamina: Equal

Calzaghe wins a Unanimous decision.

??? I hope your not serious.

Speed: Calzaghe
Defense: Hopkins
Chin: Hopkins
Skill: Hopkins

Hopkins is much more skilled a crafty a fighter than Calzaghe and its not even close. Don't confuse talent with skill.

Stamina: I would say Calzaghe in that in his prime Calzaghe could keep a higher punch output than a prime Hopkins choose to put out. You can see this in his later fights where he doesn't pull the trigger early in fights to pace himself against higher work rate guys. JT and Calz both beat Hopkins on work rate.

However this all leads back to skill because a prime Hopkins would not give someone the opportunity to unload and make it a fast paced fight. Hopkins was great at dictating the pace of the fight.

He still had this attribute when he fought Calzaghe the difference is a prime Hopkins would've had pulled the trigger more. Basically Hopkins lost to both Calz and JT mostly based on workrate. A prime Hopkins takes that advantage away from/significantly narrows the margin and he dominates Calz.

[Toney616]

Calzaghe avoided Johnson 3 times... Yet Hopkins stopped Johnson

To tell the truth Johnson became a much better fighter at lhw, much better than the green contender who fought Hopkins

IMO Hopkins would have little trouble taking care of Calzaghe when in his prime,

I think Calzaghe was a great fighter, who tended to fight to the level of his competition. But I can see a motivated Calzaghe giving a lot of fighters a damn hard time

i was at the Calzaghe vs Eubank fight in Sheffield in 97 on the undercard of Hamed vs Badillo and it was a great fight yet Eubank was clearly not the same fighter i had seen 2yrs earlier in Ireland against Steve Collins...

I think Eubanks last great performances were during the Watson II fight, and
the Thompson fight. I agree he was clearly on the slide by the time of the Calzaghe fight, which he took on at 11 days notice

Hopkins who lost to Roy Jones in 93 was a very good fighter yet he was at the top of his game when beating Glen Johnson in 97

Hopkins (like Toney), tend to shine against limited come forward punchers like Barkley, Tito and Johnson. Calzaghe is the type of guw who keeps coming forward throws 70-100 punches per round and make adjustments during the fight as well. He tends to be a bit vunerable to the straight right during the early rounds but as the fight goes on he starts to slip it more frequently, like he started doing against Hopkins during their fight.

Off topic:They should of fought back in 2000-2002, when Warren offering Hopkins the fight

[Toney616]

Power: Calzaghe.

Calzaghe's punching power during his prime is often overlooked due to the whole brittle hand thing which he suffered during his career. Which made him resort to slapping as his career progressed. He must of been able to hit hard though, Eubank was never dropped before by a head shot, even when off balance.

Speed: Calzaghe.

Calzaghe doesnt just have fast hands like Taylor, but he also throws fast combinations as well. Style wise thats a bad matchup for any fighter who wants to play the role of counterpuncher. Very good footspeed as well, Eubank couldnt keep him off him.

Defense: Hopkins

I agree

Chin: Hopkins

I agree as well, but Calzaghe showed the ability to recover quickly even when hurt badly. I cant see either of them getting stopped in this fight

Skill: Calzaghe

Care to elaborate

Stamina: Equal.

I disagree, Calzaghe regularly threw up to 100 punches per round

Calzaghe wins a Unanimous decision.

I also tend to favour Calzaghe in this matchup as well. Calzaghe also is very adept at making adjustments in fights. Which means by around round 4 he knows what you are doing, but you no longer know what he is doing.