Could Taylor beat this Hopkins?

[THE REAL NINJA]

Interesting that you would see Taylor stop Hopkins.

When Hopkins was never stopped

When Taylor could not stop Ouma, Spinks, Joppy and so on

Key word is 'could' anything can happen and Taylor at one time was getting ko's.
Is it the most likely outcome, NO But it could happen.

Tyson was never ko'd until Buster came along !

[wmute]

Key word is 'could' anything can happen and Taylor at one time was getting ko's.
Is it the most likely outcome, NO But it could happen.

Tyson was never ko'd until Buster came along !

true that anything can happen, but Tyson was stopped at 24, Hopkins has yet to be stopped at 42, hope you get my point...

[THE REAL NINJA]

true that anything can happen, but Tyson was stopped at 24, Hopkins has yet to be stopped at 42, hope you get my point...

Yeah I know but i always try to look at all possible outcomes.
It's not like Taylor is a soft puncher and Hopkins only has a few names on his rec that stand out as major power punchers so his chin may be given a little extra credit overall.
Anyone can be knocked out with the right punch anyone.

[Boxingwizard]

Yes he would, Hopkins wasn't in his prime until 95, 2 years after he lost to RJJ. I would give any version of Hopkins from 95-03 to beat Taylor. And Hopkins was probably past his prime in 05, because I noticed he started slipping during the Eastman fight, and during that year he lost twice to Taylor.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Upon looking at his record and assuming he was green and young, you'd think Taylor would beat him. Upon watching him fight, no way I see Taylor beating that guy. That was Hops in his physical(though not yet mental) prime. It all came together for him in the late 90's/early 2000's.

you see a green Hopkins beat down a bum with a 1-1 record and now you think he could beat Taylor? no way, i would pick the Hopkins that fought Tito over Taylor but not this green Hopkins on this footage. if Taylor hurt him, what would he do? how would he react to fighting in deep waters? you need experience to that and Hopkins was too green and inexperienced to compete with Taylor in this stage of his career.

[warp1432]

He took a lot more risks back then, is what I would say, which at times left him open to get hit (something that never happens these days). He's a much smarter fighter in the ring now in the sense that he only throws punches when the opportunity is there and never wastes anything. This of course has to do with adapting to his age. Obviously a younger Hopkins could afford to waste energy whereas a 40+ year old hopkins must conserve energy.

Yeah this is a better way to word it, but even with Trinidad and Echols he wouldn't waste shots, but was still highly agreesive. I think he could afford to waste shots in the trinidad and Echols fights too because he still had his legs.

He wasn't as crafty back then, and that's why I don't like the younger Hopkins as much.

Off topic: Natas when did you think Bernard started changing his style? Personally I think it was around the Glen Johnson fight, he became more of a boxer puncher and not a brawler.

[TopDawg]

Yes, he could.