B- Hop is top 5 at middleweight

[-Antonio-]

The only two top natural middleweights he faced beat him. No matter how you look at it, that hurts him. The Tito win looked a lot better before the Winky massacre too.

[brownpimp88]

I don't think he compares with Robinson, Graziano, Hagler, Ketchel, Monzon, Greb, Basilio, Fullmer, Turpin etc. And he isn't called **** Tiger. So no, top five of all time? Only if you have a selective memory.

Why doesnt he compare with turpin and the overrated graziano. When the **** did they defend the belt 20 times, when did they win the linear light heavyweight championship.

[Liaison]

Nard isn’t nor ever been lineal at LHW.

[brownpimp88]

Nard isn’t nor ever been lineal at LHW.

yeah he is, the ring has him as thier champ.

[-EX-]

I think he could get into someone's top 10 but top 5 would be top. He has consistency but hasn't beat the best.

[Liaison]

yeah he is, the ring has him as thier champ.

Ring Championship isn’t lineal. It’s just who they consider the very best at that weight (though how the **** can one say Nard is the very best @ 175 by beating Mason ****ing Dixon?). By how lineal works (beat the man who beat the man), Zsolt Erdei would be the lineal champ.

[scap]

For my money there is no way Bernard Hopkins is one of the 5 best middleweights to ever live.

People like to say he was in a weak division all those years and he was, but do you know why? Because the real middleweights were all moving up and fighting North of 160-the action and caliber of fighters was out of this world! (why wasnt the junkyard dog interested?)

Nard fought Roy and was easily kept at bay from the outside-he then went on a historic run of beatings so so fighters...

Lets lkook at some of the guiys he could have fought that he didnt shall we...

Gerlad McClellan
Roy Jones Jr (rematch)
Lamar Parks
Mike McCallum
James Toney
Michael Nunn
Julian Jackson
Nigel Benn
Chris Eubank
Herol Grahm
Michael Watson
Steve Collins

But no, he didnt fight any of these guys did he? He chose to fight the Joe Lipsey's and J.D. Jackson's of the world when the above mention fighters were all right there in front of him. Hell at this time in the sport Oscar Delahoya was campaigning at 135 pound and Tito was a Welterweight.

Bernard Hopkins is a great fighter and one that I used to really enjoy watching fight however his losses are huge for me, what happended against the two best middleweigts Bernard Hopkins fought? What the **** happended? He failed to fight, he didnt fight Jones he sat back and was happy with losing close (happy to lets Roy's handpseed win the fight-was never interested in doing a thing about it) and how about the young green Taylor? He had a dead man in front of him in their first fight yet the all time great top 5 of all time look like an accountant with his punches, he got a chance to avenge his enormous mistake and basically repeated the exact same offense-Benjamin Franklin calls repeating the same action over again and expecting a different result as ******ITY(thats what happended against Taylor and was anyone really that surpised he didnt press the action?).

Dont get me wrong here folks Im not calling Bernard ******, but his fights with real middleweights like Taylor twice and Jones are fights that stand out to me more then his fights with Glenn Johnson nad Antwun Echols...let me clarify Nard aint no dummy but he sure as hell aint no top 5...you dig?

[oldgringo]

For my money there is no way Bernard Hopkins is one of the 5 best middleweights to ever live.

People like to say he was in a weak division all those years and he was, but do you know why? Because the real middleweights were all moving up and fighting North of 160-the action and caliber of fighters was out of this world! (why wasnt the junkyard dog interested?)

Nard fought Roy and was easily kept at bay from the outside-he then went on a historic run of beatings so so fighters...

Lets lkook at some of the guiys he could have fought that he didnt shall we...

Gerlad McClellan
Roy Jones Jr (rematch)
Lamar Parks
Mike McCallum
James Toney
Michael Nunn
Julian Jackson
Nigel Benn
Chris Eubank
Herol Grahm
Michael Watson
Steve Collins

But no, he didnt fight any of these guys did he? He chose to fight the Joe Lipsey's and J.D. Jackson's of the world when the above mention fighters were all right there in front of him. Hell at this time in the sport Oscar Delahoya was campaigning at 135 pound and Tito was a Welterweight.

Bernard Hopkins is a great fighter and one that I used to really enjoy watching fight however his losses are huge for me, what happended against the two best middleweigts Bernard Hopkins fought? What the **** happended? He failed to fight, he didnt fight Jones he sat back and was happy with losing close (happy to lets Roy's handpseed win the fight-was never interested in doing a thing about it) and how about the young green Taylor? He had a dead man in front of him in their first fight yet the all time great top 5 of all time look like an accountant with his punches, he got a chance to avenge his enormous mistake and basically repeated the exact same offense-Benjamin Franklin calls repeating the same action over again and expecting a different result as ******ITY(thats what happended against Taylor and was anyone really that surpised he didnt press the action?).

Dont get me wrong here folks Im not calling Bernard ******, but his fights with real middleweights like Taylor twice and Jones are fights that stand out to me more then his fights with Glenn Johnson nad Antwun Echols...let me clarify Nard aint no dummy but he sure as hell aint no top 5...you dig?

When ranking fighters, don't you evaluate them during their best years? Certainly you don't mean to tell me that Bernard was at his best in '93...or in 2005 when he was 40 years old. I can't envision the Nard that demolished Trinidad struggling so badly with Segundo Mercado like he did back in the day.

Hopkins of '99-'03 would **** Jermain Taylor and he'd certainly give Roy more of a rugged fight. I guess it comes down to how you want to remember fighters.

[GEOFFHAYES]

Hopkins was a nobody until the Trinidad fight, the likes of Toney in '92, McClellan and Reggie Johnson in '94 and Nigel Benn in '95 all turned down fights with Hopkins because he was too dangerous a fighter for too little reward. I mean, nobody knew who he was. It would of just been very random, and very risky.

[scap]

When ranking fighters, don't you evaluate them during their best years? Certainly you don't mean to tell me that Bernard was at his best in '93...or in 2005 when he was 40 years old. I can't envision the Nard that demolished Trinidad struggling so badly with Segundo Mercado like he did back in the day.

Hopkins of '99-'03 would **** Jermain Taylor and he'd certainly give Roy more of a rugged fight. I guess it comes down to how you want to remember fighters.

So Bernard's prime was between 1999 and 2003...I would say his physical prime was 96-99...he fought every oppoenent after Felix Trinidad as if they were Felix Trinidad...it made for some very gross Saturday nights.

The Post-Tito version of Hopkins (2001) wasnt going to **** anyone-he was interested in getting a "W" plain and simple and if he had to lull the crowd to sleap or stair at his oppenent bell after bell then thats what he would do.

Ask me to rate Nard against many of the fighters I named...Im talking about the Nard that beat Tito and I will tell you as a cult fan and with a straight face that he has a tougher time with just about everyone on that list then he did with Felix Trinidad, some may call me a ****ing idiot or even a ****....some may say Im Anorak but Im tellin you Nard against good strong middleweights is not in the top 5 of all time.

Would Bernard have beaten a guy like PArks...I dont know...would he have beaten McClellan-it would have been a life and death kinda a fight!

Imagine if Oscar decided to take the Joe Calzaghe/Bernard Hopkins path at Welterweight and fight meaningless mandatory after meaningless mandatory...Oscar would have had 50 title defenses.

To be top 5 you gotta dare to be great, am I missing something or did Nard push the nevelope and dare to be great...hmmm maybe I just missed it.