Proof that Hopkins's resume at middleweight is pathetic...

[TheGreatA]

Keith Holmes was a two-time middleweight champion.
Robert Allen was the interim middleweight champion.
Simon Brown was a former light middleweight champion who KO'd Terry Norris.
John Jackson was a former middleweight champion.
Carl Daniels was a former light middleweight champion.
William Joppy was a two-time middleweight champion.
Antwun Echols and Howard Eastman were worthy opponents because of their punching power. Echols was 22-2 (22 KO's), Eastman was 40-1 (34 KO's).

Not that those fighters were great but they were solid opposition.

Hopkins fought RJJ better than James Toney and most other fighters when he had only been 3 years active as a pro (of course RJJ wasn't at his best either). He also had those victories over DLH and Trinidad.

Hopkins isn't the best middleweight of all time, Monzon and Hagler are better but he is very good.

[HappyBoxingFan]

When he coming in to the ring against Oscar De La Hoya, HBO showed their graphic for notable wins on his record.

Notable Wins
Felix Trinidad TKO12
Robert TKO7, NC4, W12

Most fighters get three slots for their notable wins.

Most fighters have names on the notable wins that everyone would recognize.

Who is Robert Allen again?

Then to round out his middleweight record, he beats 130 pounder De La Hoya, B level Eastman (who lost to Joppy), and then dropped 2 to Taylor.

Sweet.

Best... Middleweight... Ever...

Allen was a name at the time. I agree with you to some degree...

[SkillspayBills]

Monzon Hagler would have been great. Monzon was a great champion, but his out of the ring personality left alot to be desired - if you were doing a top ten wife beaters poll, he'd come near the top. How his wife could have survived a beating off of him is unbelievable

is wife has a chin like Baldomir.

[Guest]

When he coming in to the ring against Oscar De La Hoya, HBO showed their graphic for notable wins on his record.

Notable Wins
Felix Trinidad TKO12
Robert TKO7, NC4, W12

Most fighters get three slots for their notable wins.

Most fighters have names on the notable wins that everyone would recognize.

Who is Robert Allen again?

Then to round out his middleweight record, he beats 130 pounder De La Hoya, B level Eastman (who lost to Joppy), and then dropped 2 to Taylor.

Sweet.

Best... Middleweight... Ever...

Hopkins is very overrated. His resume is worse than Calzaghe's.

[C'MONMANG']

When he coming in to the ring against Oscar De La Hoya, HBO showed their graphic for notable wins on his record.

Notable Wins
Felix Trinidad TKO12
Robert TKO7, NC4, W12

Most fighters get three slots for their notable wins.

Most fighters have names on the notable wins that everyone would recognize.

Who is Robert Allen again?

Then to round out his middleweight record, he beats 130 pounder De La Hoya, B level Eastman (who lost to Joppy), and then dropped 2 to Taylor.

Sweet.

Best... Middleweight... Ever...

this is funny coming from someone who has only been watching boxing for a year. who should Hopkins have fought at middle weight when he was making his 20 defenses that YOU would recognize?

[ИATAS]

this is funny coming from someone who has only been watching boxing for a year.

/thread

[HappyBoxingFan]

this is funny coming from someone who has only been watching boxing for a year. who should Hopkins have fought at middle weight when he was making his 20 defenses that YOU would recognize?

Let's not throw number of defenses up there as criteria of a great resume. I wouldn't call Hopkins middleweight career pathetic, but I wouldn't call it extraordinary either.

[bdevils]

this is funny coming from someone who has only been watching boxing for a year. who should Hopkins have fought at middle weight when he was making his 20 defenses that YOU would recognize?

Your as bad as "plain and basic common sense" for as much as you say that.

[Scott9945]

i have one of monzon's fights, him destroying a top 10 middleweight contender but i didn't say monzon because i think a prime hagler could beat him

Monzon was one of the best 15 round fighters ever. He kept getting stronger as the fight went on. In a 15 round fight I'd pick Monzon over Hagler, but if it were 12 I'd pick Marvin. One thing about Monzon that was deceptive was that he wasn't very thrilling to watch. But he always controlled the pace and wore down his opposition.

[ИATAS]

Like other people have mentioned, you can nitpick everyones resume and few will have extraordinary resumes:

Calzaghe - not impressive.
Hatton - not impressive.
Mayweather - not impressive.
Roy Jones - not impressive.
Mike Tyson - not impressive.

etc., etc., etc.

The thing though about both Calzaghe and Hopkins is their consecutive title defenses. Sure, there aren't many huge names (or names that you recognize), but so what? How many of those people were mandatory fights? Who was in the division at the time? Who was relevant during that time period and did they fight them? Did they constantly beat the #1 contenders? Did they unify the belts? etc.

Huge names or not, I don't care what anyone says, 20 title defenses is impressive and so is unifying the belts and both Hopkins and Calzaghe (or anyone else for that matter) should be given credit for their accomplishments.