How Does Hopkins Beat Calzaghe?

[hookoutofhell]

theres been some really good, intelligent posts here (which is a nice change :P). theres a number of things that bernard ill do if he is to win against joe:

1) weight advantage: he will come in as the naturally bigger and stronger man, he'll be hoping to ruff up joe like bika did - difference bika is naturally stronger than b-hop.

2) joe volume of punches: see quintana vs williams you can neutralise volume of punches - hopkins is a slick operator so if quintana can manage it hopkins has probably already mastered it.

3) the straight counter right: a punch that joe has always been open to and the same punch that droppped (byron mitchell)

however bearing all this in mind i still think that joe will win he is to quick and too clever. he always uses the first few rounds to size up his opponents and after that he steps up a gear (vs kessler it was body shots, vs lacey it was jab move combo - and using the shoulder roll).

if theres one thing that really worries me its the weight thing - hopkins has made a name for himself by fighting fighters out of their comfort zone/weight e.g. trinidad, wright and de la hoya.

joe has said that he hasn't really changed his training which is slightly worrying as hes making a step up in weight - i can unerstand that he doesn't want to lose his speed so hasnt gone near the weights. i just hope we dont see a flabby joe calzaghe but he seems pretty confident about fighting at a new weight in which case im frettin over nothing.
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Vaporizer wholesaler

[scap]

theres been some really good, intelligent posts here (which is a nice change :P). theres a number of things that bernard ill do if he is to win against joe:

1) weight advantage: he will come in as the naturally bigger and stronger man, he'll be hoping to ruff up joe like bika did - difference bika is naturally stronger than b-hop.

2) joe volume of punches: see quintana vs williams you can neutralise volume of punches - hopkins is a slick operator so if quintana can manage it hopkins has probably already mastered it.

3) the straight counter right: a punch that joe has always been open to and the same punch that droppped (byron mitchell)

however bearing all this in mind i still think that joe will win he is to quick and too clever. he always uses the first few rounds to size up his opponents and after that he steps up a gear (vs kessler it was body shots, vs lacey it was jab move combo - and using the shoulder roll).

if theres one thing that really worries me its the weight thing - hopkins has made a name for himself by fighting fighters out of their comfort zone/weight e.g. trinidad, wright and de la hoya.

joe has said that he hasn't really changed his training which is slightly worrying as hes making a step up in weight - i can unerstand that he doesn't want to lose his speed so hasnt gone near the weights. i just hope we dont see a flabby joe calzaghe but he seems pretty confident about fighting at a new weight in which case im frettin over nothing.

Overall an excellent post.

Couple things to add... I dont believe Bernard is the naturally bigger fighter as you suggest...this is his second fight in a long long career at 175 pounds and as you mentioned Winky did not provide a real LT HW test and neither did Tarver because as we remember Toney T had to drain himself dead to make 175 because of his acting career-not too mention Tarver is really nothing special what so ever (we probably all can agree upon that).

Joe is a Super Middleweight that has walked arond at 190 for a decade...Bernard if Im not mistaken was a true middleweight meaning he would ALWAYS walk around in fighting shape near the 160 pound marker. I think one can make the case Joe is the bigger guy naturally although I dont think size will really matter in this one.

Bernard in my mind is in this one for the money-sure its not PPV but he is still making what 6 million? I can already see Larry Merchant asking Bernard after 12 rounds of action and a clear Loss if he made a mistake by fighting Joe and not retiring and Bernard is gonna say "Larry how is makin 6 million dollars a mistake, you tell me Larry did I make a mistake?"