Round by Round Coverage; Hopkins vs. Calzaghe

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Rick Reeno - The stage is set at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. After cleaning out the super middleweight division and capturing every major title at the weight, Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs) finally moves up in weight to challenge the recognized light heavyweight champion, Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs). Between the two of them, they hold a combined 43 wins in championship fights, and they are both linear champions of their respective weight divisions.

“This will be Bernard’s last fight—I am going to be a legend after this fight. I’m going over there to win and you will see an awesome performance,” Calzaghe said. “I’ve trained like a challenger every single fight, that’s why I have been a champion for ten years. I’ll be in the best shape, enough to do 15, 20 rounds. You haven't seen Hopkins flat out on his back yet—you will on April 19.”

Hopkins ruled the middleweight division for a decade before making a move to light heavyweight in 2006. Calzaghe has ruled the super middleweight division for over a decade. After several years of wishful thinking, they are finally going to fight. [details]

[BetterthanSugar]

what

joe's legacy does not depend on winning this fight. coming up in weight for the first time. He could lose a close or split decision and in my book still be a hall of famer. hopkins has been a top ten p4p fighter for a decade. There is no shame losing a close decision to the modern day archie moore. and even if he loses a close one i'll bet he gets more done against hopkins in 12 rounds then taylor did in two 12 round fights. Which he won by highway robbery by the way.tayloy that is of coarse. joe is being called a 3 to 1 favorite by some retart bookmakers in vegas who no very little about the sport. In over 50 fight hopkins has lost only 1 lopsided decision and that was to roy jones in his prime. Way before hopkins reached the top of his game. so what makes joe a great fighter in his own right to be a bigger favorite then the best fighter of the last decade. who was facing an untested hopkins. in my mind this is an even money fight and with all that said i like joe by lopsided decision.

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

joe's legacy does not depend on winning this fight. coming up in weight for the first time. He could lose a close or split decision and in my book still be a hall of famer. hopkins has been a top ten p4p fighter for a decade. There is no shame losing a close decision to the modern day archie moore. and even if he loses a close one i'll bet he gets more done against hopkins in 12 rounds then taylor did in two 12 round fights. Which he won by highway robbery by the way.tayloy that is of coarse. joe is being called a 3 to 1 favorite by some retart bookmakers in vegas who no very little about the sport. In over 50 fight hopkins has lost only 1 lopsided decision and that was to roy jones in his prime. Way before hopkins reached the top of his game. so what makes joe a great fighter in his own right to be a bigger favorite then the best fighter of the last decade. who was facing an untested hopkins. in my mind this is an even money fight and with all that said i like joe by lopsided decision.

Hopkins looked like **** in his last fight. He was the modern day John Ruiz, not Archie Moore. If Calzaghe loses clean to a 43-year-old Hopkins, then his legacy will be stained with the "overprotected fighter who never left his country to fight the best in America."

[Mr. Philadel]

Hopkins looked like **** in his last fight. He was the modern day John Ruiz, not Archie Moore. If Calzaghe loses clean to a 43-year-old Hopkins, then his legacy will be stained with the "overprotected fighter who never left his country to fight the best in America."

i agree wit boss man! If Calz doesnt win this fight, everything he's accomplished would look really suspect!

[Vigilant3]

To me it doesn't really matter if he wins against Hopkins; the man is 43 years old and looked terrible in his last fight. He SHOULD NOT WIN THIS if Calzaghe really is even decent. If he loses it's definitely going to show him as an overprotected fighter that wasn't ever really any good. If he wins all it says is that Hopkins is old and well past his prime.

I really don't understand why Calzaghe took this fight, since it's a lose-lose situation for him.

[Ryn0]

To me it doesn't really matter if he wins against Hopkins; the man is 43 years old and looked terrible in his last fight. He SHOULD NOT WIN THIS if Calzaghe really is even decent. If he loses it's definitely going to show him as an overprotected fighter that wasn't ever really any good. If he wins all it says is that Hopkins is old and well past his prime.

I really don't understand why Calzaghe took this fight, since it's a lose-lose situation for him.

ermmm.. maybe he did it for money?

[FLY TY]

first of all, hopkins didn't look like **** in the last fight b/c of age, the fight looked like ****, but that was b/c you had 2 COUNTERPUNCHERS fighting, and neither really likes to press the action. it was a style matchup that was destined to be ugly from the start. real boxing fans know! with all that said, a real boxing fan would also appreciate just how hopkins was able to land clean, heavy shots against a fighter that many say has the best defense in the game in winky wright. ugly fight yes, but that was because of the styles of the fighters. in the fight with tarver, hopkins looked better than joe in his fight with kessler, so you wanna go there we can. your boy is in for an ass whippin 2nite. he will lose for the first time, and suffer his first ko at the same time, and i agree, joe will be labled as a protected fighter, who never had the balls to leave england. its unfair, but everything he has represented the last 10 years will come into question, but thats what's going to happen. especially, if joe is thinking like you guys, and looking at the winky wright fight and saying "hopkins doesn't have it anymore...." big mistake.

[FRKO]

Hopkins looked like **** in his last fight. He was the modern day John Ruiz, not Archie Moore. If Calzaghe loses clean to a 43-year-old Hopkins, then his legacy will be stained with the "overprotected fighter who never left his country to fight the best in America."

Big pops is correct. The fight with Winky was shocking.

132 clinches over 12 rounds @ 180 seconds per round = a clinch once every 16.36 seconds.

Legend? It's certainly debatable.

[FLY TY]

joe's legacy does not depend on winning this fight. coming up in weight for the first time. He could lose a close or split decision and in my book still be a hall of famer. hopkins has been a top ten p4p fighter for a decade. There is no shame losing a close decision to the modern day archie moore. and even if he loses a close one i'll bet he gets more done against hopkins in 12 rounds then taylor did in two 12 round fights. Which he won by highway robbery by the way.tayloy that is of coarse. joe is being called a 3 to 1 favorite by some retart bookmakers in vegas who no very little about the sport. In over 50 fight hopkins has lost only 1 lopsided decision and that was to roy jones in his prime. Way before hopkins reached the top of his game. so what makes joe a great fighter in his own right to be a bigger favorite then the best fighter of the last decade. who was facing an untested hopkins. in my mind this is an even money fight and with all that said i like joe by lopsided decision.

************************************
and i agree with everything you said (especially the taylor fights), but you lost me when you got to the end. i keep saying taylor had a jab that A) kept hopkinss at bay a lil bit and B) he used to set up punches, and he still had a hard enough time.....in fact, hopkins outlanded taylor in BOTH fights!

that being said, joe has no jab, and you gotta be crazy if you think you can just come in and outbox a bernard hopkins, throw a bunch of looping hooks, and beat him ot the punch everytime, just b/c u're a lil quicker. i keep saying "speed kills" but excellent timing neutralizes speed everytime. enough of my boxing lesson, ima let bernard teach everybody a lesson 2nite....................

[FRKO]

i agree wit boss man! If Calz doesnt win this fight, everything he's accomplished would look really suspect!

What if Calzaghe loses but very obviously gets robbed?

It's how he loses that will affect the way he is viewed.

As Pops said: "If Calzaghe loses clean to a 43-year-old Hopkins, then his legacy will be stained with the "overprotected fighter who never left his country to fight the best in America."