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A few months ago, both Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins were talking about engaging in a high octane fight against each other. Such a conflict would have been Joe’s twentieth defense of his super middleweight title. Hopkins sounded as if he might be on a quasi-religious crusade when he declared that he did not want the Welshman to tie his record for title defenses.
Bernard said that he would bravely step forward against the super-fast Calzaghe, protect his dubious non-existent record, and thrash the upstart Welshman (Joe Louis holds the record for championship defenses with twenty-five, which is significantly different and historically more important than alphabet title defenses).
Alas, Hopkins turned tail and ran from what might have been a monumental night of fisticuffs, and he instead chose to engage in a likely slow waltz with lots of hugging against Winky Wright in July.
Hopkins' coming battle with the naturally smaller Wright may be even more unappetizing to fight fans than the two excessively boring slow dances Hopkins engaged in with Jermain Taylor.
What fight fans in their right minds want to watch Hopkins take on Wright in a bout in which each may be lucky to land five punches a round? And maybe not even throw that many.
This isn’t intended to cast aspersions on the skills of these two worthy warriors. There isn’t even a tiny sliver of doubt that Hopkins and Wright are among the top ten pound-for-pound-pugilists of today, and that’s really amazing considering that Bernard is over forty years old and Winky is no longer a spring chicken. Nonetheless, these two great warriors should not do battle with other in spite of their achievements. [details]
Bernard said that he would bravely step forward against the super-fast Calzaghe, protect his dubious non-existent record, and thrash the upstart Welshman (Joe Louis holds the record for championship defenses with twenty-five, which is significantly different and historically more important than alphabet title defenses).
Alas, Hopkins turned tail and ran from what might have been a monumental night of fisticuffs, and he instead chose to engage in a likely slow waltz with lots of hugging against Winky Wright in July.
Hopkins' coming battle with the naturally smaller Wright may be even more unappetizing to fight fans than the two excessively boring slow dances Hopkins engaged in with Jermain Taylor.
What fight fans in their right minds want to watch Hopkins take on Wright in a bout in which each may be lucky to land five punches a round? And maybe not even throw that many.
This isn’t intended to cast aspersions on the skills of these two worthy warriors. There isn’t even a tiny sliver of doubt that Hopkins and Wright are among the top ten pound-for-pound-pugilists of today, and that’s really amazing considering that Bernard is over forty years old and Winky is no longer a spring chicken. Nonetheless, these two great warriors should not do battle with other in spite of their achievements. [details]
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