Hopkins will KO wright.

[RAESAAD]

yea i agreee
Winky is not on the level of B-hop
he will get knocked out for sure

what you been smokin?

[Scottie2Hottie]

hopefully bernard is smart enough to know that he cant coast through this one.

[ben41193]

no doubt in my mind. hopkins will KO him. and after that i'm going to say , i told ya so.

ill put 30,000 on wright to win

[restless_438]

think about it , hes bigger. he dropped tarver . let winky cover up the punches will take his toll.

you make it sound like Winky is small or something////

[Kobe Bryant]

There's certain fighters that just don't get KOed. There just too good defensively to take that many clean shots. And Winky is in that category along with Mayweather, Hopkins, and James Toney.

All of those guys gameplan is based on defense first. Generally they counter punch so it's very difficult to score big blows on a guy that anticipates and wants you to throw first.

But to get to the point Hopkins will have to circle Wright and move around more so that he isn't scoring with his jab. I'm favoring Winky though I think his jab will be the most effective punch of the fight and Hopkins will be too selective.

[-EX-]

I'm picking Bernard for sure. I don't expect a KO though.

[-EX-]

Hopkins: I'm a late bloomer!

Like a villain from an 80's slasher film, you can never discount Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins was supposed to have officially retired from the ring after dethroning Antonio Tarver last June for the unofficial light heavyweight championship. Less than a year after that shocking win however Hopkins has now decided to leave his semi-retirement to take on former junior middleweight champion Ronald "Winky" Wright in a catch weight fight of 170 pounds. The 12-round bout, which will take place on July 21st at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada was announced two weeks ago with the first stop of the press tour taking place Tuesday in New York City.

"You're only as good as your last fight," the 42 year-old Hopkins explained when he came to the podium at the ESPN Zone in Times Square. "I'm a late bloomer. You're just starting to see a new Bernard Hopkins in a new body."

"A lot of people ask me why I chose (to fight) Bernard," Wright, 35, said. "I say I didn't chose Bernard, he chose me. The only thing left was Bernard. I run away from no challenge."

"The one thing you won't see is a boring fight." Chris Lighty, the CEO of Winky Promotions said in response to buzz that the fight would be too defensive oriented. "We had no problem giving a brutal beating to our friend (Jermain) Taylor and we're going to do the same thing to Hopkins."

"Bernard has all these crafty things he does but come July 21st I'm going to be on his ass from the first round," Wright, 51-3-1, 35 KO's, said. "I come to fight."

"I am numb to what Winky and his business partner says," Hopkins responded. "I'm a chameleon. I can do everything (in the ring). I'm undefeated with southpaws; ten and 0 with nine knockouts. And I love to beat up Florida boys because they're spoiled with the sun." The "Executioner", 47-4-1, 32 KO's even nicknamed his opponent "Winky the Twinky," squeezing the cake in his hand to show the damage he would do to his naturally smaller opponent. "I guarantee that you won't see Winky again after July 21st."

"It's a very interesting and intriguing fight," former Hopkins knockout victim turned Hopkins trainer John David Jackson said in his assessment of the fight. "A lot of people sleep on this young man (Wright) but he can fight. It's going to be a very, very good fight." Jackson will be co-training Hopkins with Freddie Roach, who was not in attendance for the press conference. ****m Richardson, Hopkin's former trainer, is still in recovery after suffering a minor stroke.

With or without Richardson is his corner however Hopkins remains the same confident fighter he always was regardless of the abbreviated retirement from the ring. "There's no puzzle in boxing that I can't figure out," he said. "My goal is to top last year with Tarver. He's going to say his thing, I'm going to do my thing and at the end of the day we'll see who's telling the truth."


Damn I didn't know Naazim had a stroke.

[amagnin]

I like Hopkins but by close decision. He did KD Tarver but I don't think he was really hurt...more stunned. Winky has good defense but Hopkins is quite experienced against southpaws and if he tries to be offensive minded it plays into Hopkins strategy.

[MaYaN_SuN]

watchin hopkins work over tarver was moving in its own way, that was fun to watch. if he can put winky on his ass or get the W in general. thats gonna be pretty ****in amazing to see.

[CaLLaHaN]

Im a huge fan of hopkins, but i think Winky wins in a blowout