Why Joe Calzaghe Should Fear Bernard Hopkins

[FLY TY]

So if he is just a name what is Joe? Just some hype or HOPE. He will be dominated in the fight he drops his hands and and leads with his chin. How can he beat Hopkiins dropping his hands. Didi you see Emmanuel Stewart hasve to hold back his laugh when Jim said last week he thought Joe would win. LOL ...

******************************
controversial??? i've heard a lot of comments about that fight, but CONTROVERSIAL wasn't one. that fight was clearly ALL hopkins. and ppl forget, winky and hopkins are both COUNTERPUNCHERS, it was destined to be a boring fight. what the CASUAL boxing fan didn't notice was hopkins' ability to bait wright and land some very clean stuff as the fight wore on. and that's saying alot considering the fact that many ppl say winky has the best defense in the game! joe will make the fight look interesting, b/c he will throw a lot of punches, but u must look at where the punches land. sum1 said, even if hopkins were to hold joe to 500 punches thrown for the fight, joe would still end up throwing 2 or 300 more than hopkins. i for one, actually agree.

but in the end, hopkins will end up LANDING as many shots as joe, if not more, and hopkins' punches will be cleaner, heavier, and indeed do more damage. its very important while watching this fight, ppl dont mistake joes habit of throwing a lot of shots for actually landing what he is throwing. that's the key in this fight.

reminds me of the taylor-hopkins fights in a sense. jt was throwing a lot, but many of the rounds they were giving taylor, it was hopkins landing the harder shots, it was jt's activity that gave him many rounds, and to educated fight fans, as well as judges, this should've been and should be obvious. hopkins clearly won the first fight, and the second fight jt was better than the first fight, so if u wanna say DRAW im okay with that. but there is no way in hell, taylor WON either fight. something else that ppl dont catch- jt is not as good as calzaghe, but he did have a jab that he used a lot, and used to set up other ****. calzaghe doesn't jab at all, and that's something else that will prove big in this fight, and nobody mentions it.

[Moon]

This is good story-telling, but the title seems detached from the text.

Nothing here justifies "why" Zaghe should fear Hops. Nothing.

[ИATAS]

@Neckodeemus,

Great article and great responses.

Also, just wanted to point out that there are a few members on this site that absolutely hate Bernard Hopkins and try extremely hard to discredit everything he has accomplished and everything he's been through. Saying Hopkins is from the suburbs of Philly by a 20-something year old kid who has no idea what Philly was like in the 70's/80's, let alone being stabbed at age 13 or spending 5 years in prison. It's ridiculous.

Keep up the good work though, I enjoy reading your work.

[FLY TY]

This is good story-telling, but the title seems detached from the text.

Nothing here justifies "why" Zaghe should fear Hops. Nothing.

**********************************
u must've didn't read the whole artice. i'll skip the prison, and stabbing stuff. the fact that calzaghe's biggest wins have come against 2 overrated boxers is 1 point. hopkins is the real deal, an opponent like none other calzaghe has ever faced. there is always an innate "fear" of the unknown, thats instilled in all of as as human beings. aside from that, this will undoubtedly be the biggest fight of his career. he's in vegas, the whole world watching, not just 50000 ppl in wales. he's fighting for his credibility, his country, his leagacy, and even more-his race. hopkins played the race card intentionally to A) sell the fight to casual boxing fans that probably wouldn't tune in noramally B) to get in joe's head and make him mad and C) to put more pressure on him, b/c there will be a lot of white ppl tuning in, pushing for joe b/c of what hopkins has said. if hopkins loses, those comments will make him look foolish yes, but he'll get more of a pass b/c he's 43 and he's "supposed" to lose. look at the betting odds- hopkins a 2.5 to 1 underdog?????

if joe loses, he'll let a lot of ppl down. questions about why he didn't come to america sooner to fight will be answered, and he will be looked at as another good EUROPEAN fighter, who perhaps couldn't fight with the best. forget the 21 defenses, the 10+ years as reigning supermiddleweight champion, forget the undefeated record. in one night, it could all come crashing down. at the hands of 1 man- BERNARD HOPKINS.

that's why he should fear him. he (bernard hopkins), in one night, could tarnish some 10 odd years of hard work.

[Neckodeemus]

And that shows. One of the oldest tactics to glorify someone is making their opponent seem dangerous, great and sharp even if they are 43 year old and came off a very controversial win where they looked exactly their age - slow and not with allot of power. Hopkins is just a name right now but the hype is incredible!

You make me sound devious and cunning there. I'm not smart enough to be either. I assure you guys I won't be on should Joe win saying 'Hopkins just defeated a living God!'.

Credit where due, we all know Hopkins is 'technical' (in the sense of being boring for some) so they fact he continues to garner this level of hype is testament to his power of promotion, more power to his elbow.

[Chase8400]

What?

I basically gave the writer no credit for anything he said after he wrote, and i quote : "Medics say the knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart, in truth his heart is probably so big and mean it scared that knife away". The
knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart? HAHAHA, and then you have the nerve to go on with this long drawn out article to state that Calzaghe should be scared of B-hop and will lose. I need to apply for a job where you work. I bet they would pay me twice as much as you and be impressed with what I write. HAHAHAHAHA, Calzaghe should be scared. Imagine that. HAHAHAHAHA!

[Neckodeemus]

@Neckodeemus,

Great article and great responses.

Also, just wanted to point out that there are a few members on this site that absolutely hate Bernard Hopkins and try extremely hard to discredit everything he has accomplished and everything he's been through. Saying Hopkins is from the suburbs of Philly by a 20-something year old kid who has no idea what Philly was like in the 70's/80's, let alone being stabbed at age 13 or spending 5 years in prison. It's ridiculous.

Keep up the good work though, I enjoy reading your work.

Cheers, and thanks for the heads-up. It is unrealistic not to say anyone of us likes one fighter or another but that does not necessitate going to extremes to downplay the other fighter.

I've been accused of being down on Tyson/Ali so I watch a lot of Tyson/Ali fights, have done for many years, in the hope of catching sight of what makes people put both so high in the rankings (although in Ali's case it is pretty clear, I'm just too big Liston/Louis fan I think). I think that is the best way we can be objective in boxing.

I'm offline now, thanks for any comments made by anyone on the thread, always good to get some perspective from the guys on the forums and it is always interesting to hear from other people.

Have a good weekend and enjoy the build-up to the fight, it may well be better than the fight itself!

[Neckodeemus]

I basically gave the writer no credit for anything he said after he wrote, and i quote : "Medics say the knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart, in truth his heart is probably so big and mean it scared that knife away". The
knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart? HAHAHA, and then you have the nerve to go on with this long drawn out article to state that Calzaghe should be scared of B-hop and will lose. I need to apply for a job where you work. I bet they would pay me twice as much as you and be impressed with what I write. HAHAHAHAHA, Calzaghe should be scared. Imagine that. HAHAHAHAHA!

Obviously that is pending a medical inquiry, you never know.

I work in a library so if you fancy some boring peace and quiet you could get a job there, alternatively you could listen to Joe's interviews

[Bizzle_LDN]

"Medics say the knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart, in truth his heart is probably so big and mean it scared that knife away."- Hopkins is not immortal... This doesn't deserve to called an article, it's too biased and unjustified. Another MaxBoxing.com editor I assume... Shame.

[Moon]

**********************************
u must've didn't read the whole artice.

I did read the whole article. I found the writing style entertaining, but the writer just didn't provide anything credible for Zaghe to fear from Hops specifically.

I respect you opinion, but many of the reasons you mention have hovered over several of Zaghe's fights and he's always prevailed. You mention nothing that he hasn't faced before, except that it's Hops. I love Hops man, he's a living legend who has an actually legacy, but he doesn't bring any new brand of fear for Zaghe.