I'm sorry, but Calzaghe defeated Hopkins comfortably

[deanrw]

I had Calzaghe winning the fight by 1 point against a guy who was a shell of his former self.

From my own cloudy eyes, it looked like I was watching two fighters who got old in there. Calzaghe is no spring chicken himself and seemed to lost that oomph he used to have. Many will say it was because it was against Hopkins, but Bernard was prime for the taking that night.

I hope I am wrong about Joe. If he moves back down to 168 we might get one more good fight out of him. I just wish he would have made his move on American soil sooner as I think age has caught up to him.

Joe won the fight, but I think he is losing the fight against father time. His next fight should be at 168 I think. It may buy him more time.

[Vladimir303]

Fair enough, no-one here can be convinced away from their true opinions. The only thing i would try to say is that for a long time now Hopkins has had the benefit of seemingly always being able to box a tactical cagey, slow paced fight. Against Calzaghe (and to a lesser extent Taylor, to whom he also lost) he did not have that luxury and he lost. His inability to fight that type of fight was completely down to what Joe Calzaghe did. I really believe if you watch the fight again you will be a lot more impressed with Joe Calzaghe.

I have followed Hopkins's career for a long time.

Post-Trinidad.......he started getting more and more defensive and less offense.

That's what I see when I look at the 2002 version of Hopkins and the 2008 one.

The only guy I see fighting the same way as always was Joe Calzaghe. And it didn't look so good against his first great fighter that he faced.

[2501]

I was going for Hop because of the American thing, but I just want to say that I was dissapointed in Joe's preformance. I already know what to expect from Hop. Good counterpunching with smothering defense. But I didnt expect Joe to get so wild and slap as much as he did. I was expecting the same Joe who fought Kessler and it looked like we got the Joe who first put on a pair of gloves. While I wasnt thouroughly impressed with his preformance, I had Joe winning by 2 points I think? If Hop would have thrown more right and engaged more, I'm positive he would have knocked Joe down again. I actually think Hop was winning the exchanges when they would go toe 2 toe. But, maybe that was asking to much of a 44 year old dude.

[Undefeated]

Another thread of a fan of Calzaghe saying he won.

Hmmm....

He won off of workrate bro. Nothing special.

[abadger]

deanrw, vladimir and 2501, those are all good posts.

I too have my su****ions that Calzaghe looked a bit old, his hand and footspeed was not as good as against Kessler, but the early rounds was where he looked the worst and I think it might have bene because he was giving B-Hop more respect than he had to. He did step it up later.

B-Hop is not the same as he was in 2002, but I don't see that much difference between the Winky and Tarver era Hopkins and this one. I think in fact that those two were old and sluggish just like he was. Back in 2002 Hopkins fought differently, but IMO the clinching, big LHW Hopkins was the one with the best chance to beat Joe, if he tried to box him at SMW as he would have in 2002 he would have lost. You can see how calzaghe wanted to go to town and was doing his nut every time B-Hop grabbed him if you watch the fight again. He was itching to win it and never, ever in any serious trouble.

Joe's performance wasn't impressive by his standards, but then Hopkins did grab him every time he tried to start fighting. Joe went through about three different attacking and defensive style combinations trying to unlock Hopkins, and ultimately couldn't do so long term, but those changes in style were exactly what let him win, always giving him the edge for a few rounds, just not letting him win the way he wanted. I think its pretty encouraging he was able to keep changing up though.

At the end of the day I think we saw a not quite prime Calzaghe beat a not quite prime Hopkins in a fight where neither was really able to execute the fight they wanted, but where Calzaghe's switch ups consistently edged Hopkins. In the end it really wasn't that close, and I think it would be the same any time they fought.

[βetamax]

There was nothing impressive about it. I never like Joe's style. He looks like a ***** fighting his way out of spider webs even if it's effective. Hopkins made him look even more ugly. Had Bernard's old arms not worn out he would have beaten Joe.



That's your lil view and I disagree. Hopkins lost something and slided downhill further since the Tarver fight. Anybody who says differently is not gonna convince me no matter what they say.

Your right and I suspected this prior to the fight after reading a transcript between the media and trainers. Check out what Shilstone had to say when asked about Hopkins condition compared to the Tarver fight. He never answered the question and instead gave a bunch of irreverent information.

John Chavez: All right thanks Naazim. I had one real quick question for Mackie. You spoke, very recently about stating the truth and not having to hype up a fight. You worked with Bernard two years ago. Are you honestly stating that we will see a better physical specimen than the Antonio Tarver fight that you worked with him?

Mackie Shilstone: Well I really look at it this way. I don't like to compare one fight to another or one situation because they are totally different. The way I look at it is two men are going to get into a ring – which is a theater of operation very similar to combat – of course there are no heroes in boxing. And no one is defending their country for freedom. But it basically is war. And inside that 20 by 20 theater of operation two men are going to get together. And with all the benefits of Mr. Enzo Calzaghe who is a wonderful trainer and won Trainer of the Year and so forth and so on. And with the esteemed colleagues of mine – as I'm sure Brother Naazim will tell you. These two men are going to get in there and have to size each other up. And that's where it really starts. Bernard's going to go in there and do what he needs to do in a manner consistent that he surmises from seeing what the opponent is doing. And his body becomes relevant – if it becomes relevant – it is his mind, it is his inner drive, it is his instinct that will far out weigh anything to do with the body or what it looks like.

[abadger]

I have followed Hopkins's career for a long time.

Post-Trinidad.......he started getting more and more defensive and less offense.

That's what I see when I look at the 2002 version of Hopkins and the 2008 one.

The only guy I see fighting the same way as always was Joe Calzaghe. And it didn't look so good against his first great fighter that he faced.

Sorry, my opinion is that Calzaghe won the fight very impressively, the nature of the fight meant that it wasn't a wide points victory on the cards, but as I said, nobody else ever even successfully pressurised Hopkins really, but Calzaghe did and made him fight at a pace that was way to high for him, despite Bernard's best efforts. He threw more, landed more and dominated in general.

[Vladimir303]

deanrw, vladimir and 2501, those are all good posts.

I too have my su****ions that Calzaghe looked a bit old, his hand and footspeed was not as good as against Kessler, but the early rounds was where he looked the worst and I think it might have bene because he was giving B-Hop more respect than he had to. He did step it up later.

B-Hop is not the same as he was in 2002, but I don't see that much difference between the Winky and Tarver era Hopkins and this one. I think in fact that those two were old and sluggish just like he was. Back in 2002 Hopkins fought differently, but IMO the clinching, big LHW Hopkins was the one with the best chance to beat Joe, if he tried to box him at SMW as he would have in 2002 he would have lost. You can see how calzaghe wanted to go to town and was doing his nut every time B-Hop grabbed him if you watch the fight again. He was itching to win it and never, ever in any serious trouble.

Joe's performance wasn't impressive by his standards, but then Hopkins did grab him every time he tried to start fighting. Joe went through about three different attacking and defensive style combinations trying to unlock Hopkins, and ultimately couldn't do so long term, but those changes in style were exactly what let him win, always giving him the edge for a few rounds, just not letting him win the way he wanted. I think its pretty encouraging he was able to keep changing up though.

At the end of the day I think we saw a not quite prime Calzaghe beat a not quite prime Hopkins in a fight where neither was really able to execute the fight they wanted, but where Calzaghe's switch ups consistently edged Hopkins. In the end it really wasn't that close, and I think it would be the same any time they fought.

No way to know for sure. All we know is that a 36 year old fought a 44 year old and it was ugly and close and could have went either way because nothing clean landed for the majority of the fight.

And just looking at pure skill level......Hopkins is miles apart from Joe. To me this fight was a lighter weight version of Alexander Povetkin outworking Eddie Chambers a few months ago. Same exact thing. I picked Chambers to box his ears off but he just didn't let his hands go and covered up too much. And the lesser skilled guy won because he tried harder. Joe tried harder and he got the decision....nothing else to it.

[CraigM]

Sorry, my opinion is that Calzaghe won the fight very impressively, the nature of the fight meant that it wasn't a wide points victory on the cards, but as I said, nobody else ever even successfully pressurised Hopkins really, but Calzaghe did and made him fight at a pace that was way to high for him, despite Bernard's best efforts. He threw more, landed more and dominated in general.

Really? Hell i'm a Calzaghe fan who went over there and nobody thought it was comfortable in the slightest. We all knew that he was losing for a good portion of the fight.

[tyson]

Sorry, my opinion is that Calzaghe won the fight very impressively, the nature of the fight meant that it wasn't a wide points victory on the cards, but as I said, nobody else ever even successfully pressurised Hopkins really, but Calzaghe did and made him fight at a pace that was way to high for him, despite Bernard's best efforts. He threw more, landed more and dominated in general.

Where are you at in the Cotto-Marg fight?