Reality thread here "Bhop vs Calzaghe" No delusional post!!!

[Jim Jeffries]

his abilities yes, but the boxing wisdom he gains is what makes him a winner. He defines his own physics in that ring to make up for his loss of abilities..

Bernard is a genius when it comes to boxing. He fights a little dirty for my liking and I could do without the intentional headbutts. He's in phenominal shape for his age and like I've said, all of his biggest wins after come after he turned 36, so he's a late bloomer. I give him more than a little chance of pulling this one off, I just find it funny that most people are at the extreme. They either think Joe doesn't have a chance, and Bernard will outclass him, or Joe will outwork Hopkins like he's standing still. I see a tough, ugly, competitive fight, going the distance, where both men have to dig deep, edge going to Joe. May the best man win.

[FRKO]

Bernard is a genius when it comes to boxing. He fights a little dirty for my liking and I could do without the intentional headbutts. He's in phenominal shape for his age and like I've said, all of his biggest wins after come after he turned 36, so he's a late bloomer. I give him more than a little chance of pulling this one off, I just find it funny that most people are at the extreme. They either think Joe doesn't have a chance, and Bernard will outclass him, or Joe will outwork Hopkins like he's standing still. I see a tough, ugly, competitive fight, going the distance, where both men have to dig deep, edge going to Joe. May the best man win.

Same way I see it. Tough fight for both of 'em. As long as they don't end up damaged, it's all good.

[Mr. Philadel]

I've been sayin this since Hopkins called out Calz after the Winky fight, and I'll say it again!

Bernard Hopkins will beat Joe Calzaghe easily! I know Joe's 44-0 record and undisputed SMW crown looks good on paper, but in reality the guy has been in the ring with noone! A bunch of Nobodies tryin to become somebodies! He hasn't been takin to deep waters where his arena couldn't throw him a life line! If Joe Calz can swim in Ocean Hopkins away from the UK he deserves to win, but he won't! He'll drown with his 0 turned to a 1!

[RisAri0]

Calzaghe has a great chance of winning this fight, but again look who he's fighting on April 19. Joe is the favorite for a reason is because of him being a younger undefeated veteran champion of course and that says a whole lot. Hopkins is the underdog because of his age and his losses. I'm going with Bernard because to me he's a better fighter and I mean fighter in every word, he hurts ur spirit..


if Joe is able to put up with B-Hop's physicality, he'll win the fight...plain and simple...and thats all he has to do, let Joe be Joe that brought him to the dance....HOWEVER he HAS to be able to handle B-Hop's physicality especially in Light-Heavy, that is all to it...not saying he can't and he won't...just saying he has to..

[FRKO]

I've been sayin this since Hopkins called out Calz after the Winky fight, and I'll say it again!

Bernard Hopkins will beat Joe Calzaghe easily! I know Joe's 44-0 record and undisputed SMW crown looks good on paper, but in reality the guy has been in the ring with noone! A bunch of Nobodies tryin to become somebodies! He hasn't been takin to deep waters where his arena couldn't throw him a life line! If Joe Calz can swim in Ocean Hopkins away from the UK he deserves to win, but he won't! He'll drown with his 0 turned to a 1!

You will give Joe credit if he wins, though?

[Mr. Philadel]

You will give Joe credit if he wins, though?

Hell yea! If Joe wins, he's the new p4p king! Real Talk!!

[FRKO]

Hell yea! If Joe wins, he's the new p4p king! Real Talk!!

You're a good man.

[damian5000]

Anyone care to place a wager...

[deuce_drop]

Calzaghe Hopkins has the potential to actually be a decent fight, but I would say that it would be a decent fight for 12 if Hopkins had a better work rate, but he doesnt and hasnt in years.
Honestly lets look at Hopkins losses, all of which came to the hands of guys who had a high work rate good handspeed decent power and good boxing skills. Jones and Taylor had Hopkins puzzled with speed & good combonation punching.
While Hopkins for the most part is a counter puncher. fighters who throw combonations the way Jones did and Taylor did, those guys, give a counter puncher problems all night becuase a counter puncher is only effective when they is throwing one or two shots not three or four the way Calzaghe does and has done.
though Hopkins is undefeated against south paws none of them had what Joe does, Winky a cautious counter puncher himself was able to make the fight close enough to build a case for himself, the fight was close but damn Winky is also smaller and up there in age himself a lot of wear on them tires as ATLAS would say.
Tarver however was a good win for Nard but to be honest with you Tarver wasnt himself that night, that isnt Hopkins fault that is Antonios fault if he had trouble making weight he has no one to blame, and if this was the case which I beleive it was it might send a false sense of security to Bernard going into this fight.
I really dont see How Hopkins is going to win here, in all honesty Joe just seems to have ever tool needed to beat Hopkins. if Hopkins should find a way to win this will lable Hopkins IMO as the best middleweight ever but can we call him that if this fight is taking place at lt Heavy?
in order for Hopkins to win this fight I think he has to fight Joe the way he did Echols in their rematch, he has to make this a rough street fight, but can he get away with that? I mean we know he has the skills and know how in order to do so but does he still have it today? has he somehow slipped into his grandpa slippers and robe over night? a close win over Winky doesnt say much neither does beating a weight drained Tarver, in the mean time Joe has been busy with the younger guys lately and has dominated them all.
in all reality if you are a true fan of this sport you know that Hopkins is not the man expected to win here based on logic, however based on what he has been able to do in the past make him a live guy.
but no way going into this fight is Hopkins the favored to win, I dont see that and if so the only reason he is favored is due to biasedness which happens in the sport.
one more week and I beleive Hopkins announces his retirement!

hopkins already announced his retirement for after this fight, he said, win, lose, or draw.................he's retiring

[BennyST]

Wow! I just cannot wait to see this fight and get the outcome of it. Every fight Calzaghe has comes with some of the widest and most differing opinions I've seen in a long time.

Lacy was going to KO him in a couple of rounds according to nearly everyone, fans and experts alike. Kessler was the young and not overrated, like Lacy was, fighter who was going to break Calzaghe down as no one had ever done before.

Now, of course, there are those who believe that Calzaghe will win with only a high work rate and nothing else or that Hopkins will win by being more physical. The last time I checked Calzaghe could get pretty damn dirty, cagey and fight well on the inside as well with a great ability to spoil and an underrated defense all around.

If Hopkins could be beaten by simply a high work-rate then he would not be the great fighter he is today. His uncanny ability to keep a fight at his pace has worked for him his entire career and very few fighters have been able to change that. Even against Jones and Taylor, Hopkins brought that ability into play brilliantly and kept the work-rate of those guys down very low. They weren't particularly high to begin with but he made them much less than what was typical. The reason they were still able to win despite that is because they were able to beat him at his own game which was counter punching and out-boxing the counter puncher. If you have a great jab, great speed and good counter punching ability then it's going to be quite likely you could beat Hopkins who is an inside fighting counter puncher who needs to be close to be very effective.

This fight is going to be much, much closer than most people expect. No one today could beat Hopkins today easily. No one. At the same time, no one could beat Calzaghe easily. They both have factors that will work in their favour in this fight. They have some obvious ones, such as Calzaghe's speed, combination punching, work-rate, and his very underrated ability to spoil and use his tactical and defensive skills to great advantage. Hopkins of course also has the great ability to spoil a fighters game plan and make them fight a fight they don't even realise is falling into what he wants. His counter punching right hand will be a big factor as well as Calzaghe being open for those punches quite often when he can sometimes get a bit wild.

What I think will happen is that Hopkins is going to look really quite good while Calzaghe will not look as good as most think he should. It's going to be a very scrappy, horribly stop and start fight with sections of clinching and little fighting in which we will see Calzaghe getting frustrated at Hopkins not fighting and also sections in which Calzaghe sticks to a plan for parts in which he will out-box Hopkins with speed and in and out, angles etc.

Both guys have a very good chance of winning but neither has the ability to really beat the other guy. There is just no way this will be a one sided affair. Neither fighter has that much of an advantage over the other and it's really very hard to pick a winner...when you look at it objectively.

My actual pick constantly changes. It also depends on how good each guy still is. Hopkins is still nearly as good as he's ever been just dropping off in aggression with age whereas I actually believe Calzaghe has dropped further in terms of his ability due to age and wear than Hopkins has. I do think that will play a part in this fight. Most fighters, apart from Hopkins, aren't nearly at their fighting best in their mid to late thirties and can very suddenly drop off in one fight at any time, which quite often happens.

Either way, fantastic, if slightly boring/scrappy for casual fans wanting brawling action, fight that will go to the cards and quite possibly be very split down the middle.