Put Your Eternal Soul On It

[Addition]

So why exactly must we put our eternal souls on the line?

[The Monk]

I hae watched the fight three times now and each time I have scored the fight 114 - 113 for Calzaghe. I simply do not see how you can give more than five rounds to Hopkins. I think it is clear to everyone that Hopkins was the fighter who was landing the harder, cleaner punches, but that is only one area for consideration when scoring a round.

With the category of ring generalship the only round that I think you could concievably say that Hopkins was the ring general was the first. Every other round Calzaghe was the boxer dominating the centre of the ring and keeping Hopkins backed up against the ropes. This fact would have no doubt have caught the judges eyes, as it did mine.

Now for what I believe may well be the most contentious category, effective aggression. For me, the first, second and ninth rounds were the only rounds where Hopkins could be favoured in this area. The word aggression and Hopkins should never be associated with each other. On Saturday night Hopkins gave us one of the most negative and defensive performances of recent years so I don't really understand how he expected he be awarded marks for effective aggression. Of course people will argue that Calzaghe was not effective in his aggression, but I would disagree. Calzaghe had Hopkins covering up and clinching throughout the fight and that for me was a sign of Joe's effectiveness.

In the area of defense, I felt both fighters showed plenty of skill. I came to the conclusion this area was pretty even, with both fighters showing good head movement and neat footwork to avoid potential punishment.

Now for clean punching. This is the area where Hopkins bossed it. No question about it that he landed the more telling blows. Hopkins dominance in this field is reflected in my scorecard as I gave him a couple of rounds (round 4 and round 7) just because of a couple of hard straight rights he landed, albeit in quiet rounds. But, this was not enough. Calzaghe was the fighter who was pushing the action and trying to engage and I felt he was rewarded with a throughly deserved win.

[Drunk Punch]

86% say Calzaghe so pretty conclusive results for you, Addison.

Perhaps now you can accept it and move on.

[Mickey Gomez]

I love ya Addy, but Joe won.