Bernard Hopkins, Enjoys Being Bernard Hopkins

[edgarg]

Ed, thanks for making some intelligent posts. It's refreshing to read these among the usual immature boxing forum garbage. By the way, I gave you an "excellent" rating. Not sure who voted you down to two stars but you didn't deserve it, in my opinion. Cheers.

FRKO- Just saw your post by accident, and again, thank you indeed. I DID think that the quality of letters on this site was going down a bit lately, but paid it little heed. It's still higher than many others as you probably have seen. I don't understand the bit about the 2 stars. I had a look and noticed them for the first time, but have no idea what they're about, nor who votes what. I don't really care anyway, but am curious. If someone is gunning for me I NEVER take it lying down, but have my own way of saying what I want to.

[FRKO]

FRKO- Just saw your post by accident, and again, thank you indeed. I DID think that the quality of letters on this site was going down a bit lately, but paid it little heed. It's still higher than many others as you probably have seen. I don't understand the bit about the 2 stars. I had a look and noticed them for the first time, but have no idea what they're about, nor who votes what. I don't really care anyway, but am curious. If someone is gunning for me I NEVER take it lying down, but have my own way of saying what I want to.

The maximum amount of stars is 5, supposedly meaning you're a highly rated member, but actually, because you had two (and now three) you probably pissed someone off because you disagreed with them! I think you have the right attitude, though, and to be honest, the member rating is quite meaningless. I disabled the ability for anyone to rate me. It's all a bit pointless and I don't care what people think of me.

Anyway, see you around. All the best.

[FRKO]

FRKO- Thank you very much. I appreciate your little note all the more since that effing XFOOLS seems to be hounding me. I have no idea why,-unless he resents intelligence which he'd like to have himself.

I've watched Hopkins for years and years on TV, and wouldn't pay 10 cents to go across the steet to actually see him. The considerable skill he has is more than taken away by his nasty mouth, for me anyway, and head butts leave me cold. I've been brought up to regard boxing as a sport, for sportsmen, but today it's just a big money business, and a boastful or foul mouth almost seem obligatory.

I actually prefer skilful, scientific boxing, a guy with full of skill but with no punch, who has to use his wits and reflexes to keep out of mischief, and fool the other guy into making errors. Like Emanuel Augustus. Malinaggi, for instance isn't bad, but he's been taking too much punishment in his last few fights. I don't think he's recovered from the Cotto fight. Zaheer Rahim for another. Although he fought a stinker against Freitas, he definitely beat Rocky Juarez and was robbed by the ref, which affected his career from then on. I like Roy Jones who can (or once could) do things in the ring I've never seen before, and has a 1 punch KO.

I only just noticed this post.

Like yourself, I've been following boxing for many years. 31 years, to be exact, when I first saw Ali on TV.

I'm in agreement with you -- I dislike Bernard's mouth. I understand that fighters need to build a little hype to sell tickets and keep people interested but Hopkins has crossed a few too many lines which shouldn't and needn't have been crossed; resorting to racist remarks, tearing up flags and insulting not only his opponents, but entire nations.

The head butts are just a low down thing to do. If he's as good as he claims, why does he feel the need to resort to such dirty tactics? I don't get it. In my opinion, he uses those tactics to make up for lack of ability in other areas. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the skills has, but he lets himself down by doing this sort of stuff. I just hope he gets disqualified if he tries it against Calzaghe. The worst thing is, people often praise him for it.

I think I don't score fights the way most other people do. A couple of recent examples being Taylor and Marquez who I had ahead by a couple of rounds against Pavlik and Pac respectively, and I honestly thought they deserved the nod. Both those guys showed superior all-round boxing skills, in my opinion, but it seems that superior defence, movement, footwork, and timing just isn't so important as sheer aggression to most people.

[edgarg]

Ed, thanks for making some intelligent posts. It's refreshing to read these among the usual immature boxing forum garbage. By the way, I gave you an "excellent" rating. Not sure who voted you down to two stars but you didn't deserve it, in my opinion. Cheers.

Thanks for posting that link to Youtube. I just saw it. Calzaghe was very impressive, showing that he's not only modest and moderate, but a thinking fighter. and a pleasure to listen to. Sounded in parts as if he was demonstrating tactics, which certainly helped my understanding of his style and methods. I was amused how at the beginning, he sounded English, and as it went on, and he became involved and excited, he sounded completely Welsh. The only thing which disturbed me was his constantly repeating ..."at the end of the day"... it reminded me of Naseem Hamed, one of the more self-adulatory boxers of recent years... although a fine and unorthodox fighter. (A Bernard Hopkins without the bully-language or headbutts). Of course it's just an English mannerism. He's expecting a good fight, and we can hope for the best.

[FRKO]

Hah! Yep, he has a bad habit of saying "listen" and "at the end of the day", he's well known for it. Sometimes he says both together -- "listen, at the end of the day..." and it cracks me up.

I think it'll be a great fight. Some people say it'll be a snoozefest but I just don't see it playing out like that. I haven't seen Joe in a boring fight yet, and I have them all on video.

Joe is pure class. I'll probably take some flak for saying that, but it's all good. I think he's got something special but many people haven't realized it yet.

OK people, feel free to flame away, I have my protective suit on.

[eubankths]

I couldn't resist registering after reading that article. Anyone that compliments it's author clearly knows **** about good writing. The author is either bored of the subject he is writing about and so relies on an excessive flow of words for his own entertainment (clearly not ours), or has a lack of faith in his own merit (unlikely) and so tries to batter the reader's mind into submission - in other words, if you are finding this article a bit too heavy..then you aren't worthy of it. Half way through reading it, I was thinking to myself "I wonder if anyone else is finding this narcolepsy-inducing?"

I take Joe to win by wide points decision. Too busy for BHop, whatever he counters Calzaghe with won't be enough to slow him down in my opinion.