Calzaghe vs Hopkins poll

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Hopkins is almost taking a worse beating in this poll as he did against the great Sir Joseph Calzaghe

[-TRGB-]

you can get gassed just by moving around,throwing punches and playing defense. it's silly to believe the very few punches calzaghe landed made hopkins tired. pascal hit hopkins with a lot more punches and knocked him down twice and he wasn't tired.

This.


Even if Calzaghe wasn't landing, his extraordinary workrate alone would demand a lot of Hopkins to keep up with.

Hopkins, even as an old man, has a great enough engine to outlast many of the younger guns. But he has to condition his aging body to the very hilt for that. And that's one thing about Joe, his stamina/activity is very uncommon. It wasn't easy for Hopkins to find the breaks he usually finds and hold the fight at a pace that would have kept him fresh to the final bell.

[Lead Cenobite]

Hopkins is almost taking a worse beating in this poll as he did against the great Sir Joseph Calzaghe

imaginary beatings dont count

[TouchyAndalou]

...Hopkins wouldn't have tired so badly that he had to pretend to be seriously hurt by two phantom low blows in order to avoid a TKO.

Hopkins undoubtedly was tired, although to be fair, he was never, ever in danger of being TKO'd.

I thought Calzaghe won a close, ugly, low contact fight. Hopkins landed the better punches, but didn't land a great deal of them. Calzaghe landed more, but he was certainly reluctant to throw combinations and let his hands go. In the end, he really just conned his way through the fight better than Bernard did. That's no rub on Calzaghe; he showed after all that he was able to match wits with Hopkins in there. And despite a lot of holding, he never really got taken advantage of inside all that much, which is something Hopkins is certainly capable of doing to most of his opponents.

Incidentally, I love how whenever you have close fights like this, people start crying robbery and then score the fight by like a single round or two for their guy. Heh.

[-TRGB-]

In the end, he really just conned his way through the fight better than Bernard did. That's no rub on Calzaghe; he showed after all that he was able to match wits with Hopkins in there. And despite a lot of holding, he never really got taken advantage of inside all that much, which is something Hopkins is certainly capable of doing to most of his opponents.

Good observations, especially the bold.

[daggum]

Hopkins undoubtedly was tired, although to be fair, he was never, ever in danger of being TKO'd.

I thought Calzaghe won a close, ugly, low contact fight. Hopkins landed the better punches, but didn't land a great deal of them. Calzaghe landed more, but he was certainly reluctant to throw combinations and let his hands go. In the end, he really just conned his way through the fight better than Bernard did. That's no rub on Calzaghe; he showed after all that he was able to match wits with Hopkins in there. And despite a lot of holding, he never really got taken advantage of inside all that much, which is something Hopkins is certainly capable of doing to most of his opponents.

Incidentally, I love how whenever you have close fights like this, people start crying robbery and then score the fight by like a single round or two for their guy. Heh.

cortez didn't allow any inside fighting which helped calzaghe immensely. hopkins likes to work inside and take little breaks but that was taken away from him. on the inside when hopkins still had hands free cortez would still break them. what separates a good ref from a bad ref is knowing when to break the fighters and cortez just breaks them no matter what. he's terrible.

[Rome-By-Ko]

I had B-Hop winning by a rd or two,imo it was a good close fight I enjoyed..But no robbery,it could have went either way all depends on what ya was looking for..

[-TRGB-]

cortez didn't allow any inside fighting which helped calzaghe immensely. hopkins likes to work inside and take little breaks but that was taken away from him. on the inside when hopkins still had hands free cortez would still break them. what separates a good ref from a bad ref is knowing when to break the fighters and cortez just breaks them no matter what. he's terrible.

I don't have a memory of Cortez interfering so much in the fight. But, like I said, I only watched once, 3 years ago. I'll return with my verdict when I've had a chance to review the video (I like technical fights, but I'm not really looking forward to this).

[daggum]

I don't have a memory of Cortez interfering so much in the fight. But, like I said, I only watched once, 3 years ago. I'll return with my verdict when I've had a chance to review the video (I like technical fights, but I'm not really looking forward to this).

he definitely didn't allow hopkins to execute his usual inside game. some of the times calzaghe would be clinching and hopkins would be hitting him and he would still break them. just terrible. i don't know how big of an effect he had but sakio bika's inside game wore out joe and had him dead tired in the last couple rounds so i think a better ref would have favored hopkins.

[DreamFighter]

Hopkins was by far the most efective puncher, but he only did it for five rounds.

If you throw away the other 7 rounds then you dont deserve to win.


Cal didnt deserve to win it either, but he didnt lose it.

PS Obviously a younger hopkins would destroy Calzaghe.