My BOLD PREDICTION: Hopkins Will Shock the World

[rizkybizness]

What the fuck?

Fulcrum,

Yesterday I could've sworn you were a neo ****, now you're picking against your eastern european boy?

I don't get it

[Fulcrum29]

i can see where fulcrum is coming rom ut fulcrum id be willing to bet you all my points that pavlik doesn't get knocked out, hopkins will counter him and counter him sharply and accurately. if taylor can KD pavlik with an accumulation of punches that weren't really accurate then hopkins does have a chance as well. Hopkins doesn;t have taylors power but what he does have is better accuracy and he knows what punches to throw when you're opponentsin trouble.

he will hurt pavlik he may even put him down but KO him - no i just cant see that happening. pavlik has too big a heart and too sturdy a chin to b KO'ed by hopkins.

as for the fight the deciding factor in the fight will be the later rounds 8-12. i can't see the rounds see-sawing i think whoever is in control of the fight at rounds 8/9 will take the rest of the rounds as well. in every one of his fights hopkins has taken these rounds - tarver, wright, tito and he had a case for that in the tayor fight as well.

personally i think pavlik and his trainer aren't smart enough they think they can tire hopkins by fighting at a high pace well it doesn't alwsy work like that getting hopkins into that pace is hard enough and joe had to use all his nous and expertise to do it.

Hopkins will win by SD, he may take a rounds or two off and pavliks agressions might win him some points with the judges but like i said he will hurt and possibly drop pavlik once, and bernard is just too smart and pavlik is tailor made for him.

Yea well if it was any other circumstances like them fighting at 160 I might not make the same pick but you gotta remember Pavlik is coming up to Hopkins' world now. People are saying either that Pavlik hits harder or he has a stronger chin or this or that, well that's not what the record books state, so far it seems he didn't even hit that hard at 164 and that was only a 4-5 lbs difference than what he's used to and now he's going up even more you better believe he's in Hopkins domain now, that boy's in Hopkins realm. Look for Hopkins to neutralize his right hand and play his wiley tricks and score a brutal shot to the dome out of the clear blue to floor Pavlik a la Robert Allen.

[Fulcrum29]

What the fuck?

Fulcrum,

Yesterday I could've sworn you were a neo ****, now you're picking against your eastern european boy?

I don't get it

Pavlik is American you ****** not eastern european. And I don't like all eastern Europeans anyway just a few. Hopkins is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite fighter and I'll pick him over anyone. I was rooting for him over Calzaghe.

[MELLY-MEL...]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ric&id=3641114
5. What are the chances this will be Hopkins' last fight?

Hopkins told us last week, "My motivation is back pay."

For much of his career, he wasn't paid all that well, so making as much as he can while he still can apparently drives him.

The question coming out of the Pavlik fight, then, will be how much money can Hopkins still command?

If he gets brutally KO'd, not enough.

If he loses a close, controversial decision -- or at least close enough to make it controversial in his mind -- money won't even matter. Hopkins simply won't be willing to go out with "the system" getting the better of him.

And if he finds a way to win, don't get any delusions about Hopkins' going out on a high note. If he couldn't do it after beating Tarver, he won't be able to do it now -- especially if it really is all about the money.

If Hopkins beats Pavlik, there will be more than enough of that to see to it that this 43-year-old freak of nature is still fighting at 44.

[Fulcrum29]

Taylor is possibly a harder puncher than Hopkins at this point, and Hopkins didn't hurt Calzaghe, Calzaghe was off balance then got pushed by Hopkins as he was coming forward.

And sorry Taylor is not a harder puncher than Hopkins.

Taylor is 27 with 17 KO's this translates to 63% knockout percentage.

Hopkins who has fought better opposition and far more times is 48 wins with 32 KO's which makes for 66%.

Neither has a KO win recently but at least Hopkins 6 fights ago KO'd DLH an atg/hof'er, Taylor's last KO came 7 or 8 fights ago against some no name no one's heard of.
I would say Hopkins has the far greater punching power.

[Silencers]

Doesn't matter if he truly hurt Hopkins, Calzaghe has a better chin than Pavlik period. Taylor rocked Pavlik's world in the first fight and Taylor never came close to hurting Hopkins.
Hopkins somehow manages to knock alot of guys down and almost out who have allegedly strong chins. He knocked both Tarver and Calzaghe down and both haven't been down or out in ages if EVER.

In this fight watch for Hopkins to brutally KNOCKOUT Pavlik.

The thing with Hopkins knocking his opponents down is because they are normally off balance from his defensive skills, he has a way of making his opponents off balance, same thing happened with Tarver, they weren't hurt enough to get knocked down but their balance was bad enough for them to have to go down because of Hopkins' defense and in Calzaghe case, with an assistance from a Hopkins push.

As evidenced in the Dawson fight that just happened last weekend, Tarver gets off balance, it just depends on how well his opponents can take advantage of it.

[Fulcrum29]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ric&id=3641114
5. What are the chances this will be Hopkins' last fight?

Hopkins told us last week, "My motivation is back pay."

For much of his career, he wasn't paid all that well, so making as much as he can while he still can apparently drives him.

The question coming out of the Pavlik fight, then, will be how much money can Hopkins still command?

If he gets brutally KO'd, not enough.

If he loses a close, controversial decision -- or at least close enough to make it controversial in his mind -- money won't even matter. Hopkins simply won't be willing to go out with "the system" getting the better of him.

And if he finds a way to win, don't get any delusions about Hopkins' going out on a high note. If he couldn't do it after beating Tarver, he won't be able to do it now -- especially if it really is all about the money.

If Hopkins beats Pavlik, there will be more than enough of that to see to it that this 43-year-old freak of nature is still fighting at 44.

That's just propaganda.

[Silencers]

And sorry Taylor is not a harder puncher than Hopkins.

Taylor is 27 with 17 KO's this translates to 63% knockout percentage.

Hopkins who has fought better opposition and far more times is 48 wins with 32 KO's which makes for 66%.

Neither has a KO win recently but at least Hopkins 6 fights ago KO'd DLH an atg/hof'er, Taylor's last KO came 7 or 8 fights ago against some no name no one's heard of.
I would say Hopkins has the far greater punching power.

Hopkins has faced better opposition but a lot of snap has gone out of his punches now, he mainly throws one shot and then clinches, and that one shot doesn't have much power behind it, it's a tactic to save energy. Knockout ratios don't mean much honestly, the only top guys that Hopkins really knocked out were DLH and Trinidad.

[rizkybizness]

Pavlik is American you ****** not eastern european. And I don't like all eastern Europeans anyway just a few. Hopkins is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite fighter and I'll pick him over anyone. I was rooting for him over Calzaghe.

******, his roots are eastern european.

I know he's from Youngstown, Ohio, ******.

[Fulcrum29]

Hopkins has faced better opposition but a lot of snap has gone out of his punches now, he mainly throws one shot and then clinches, and that one shot doesn't have much power behind it, it's a tactic to save energy. Knockout ratios don't mean much honestly, the only top guys that Hopkins really knocked out were DLH and Trinidad.

Unlike Taylor, Hopkins has always had 1 shot power though. He always rocks people with 1 shot. Just look at Robert Allen fight, 1 brutal KO punch.