Hopkins vs Calzaghe II - Who Wins (poll)

[ATFsven]

I think the Hopkins (and i am a Hopkins fan) that gave Kelly a right good kicking on sat night was simply allowed to by Kelly. If Hopkins was fighting Joe sat night then it would have probably looked pretty much the same as the first fight!

I would love to see Roy fight Hopkins. But that has a big chance to be an absolute bore fest.

[ATFsven]

The poll says 4 people think Hopkins wins by KO??? WTF???

[Kris Silver]

I can't believe the idiocy of some people saying if Hopkins does aswell as he did the other night he'll win. Jesus that's dumb. Different fighters, different ball games, hence we saw the difference. Hopkins did not say nor did anyone else, that he had an off night against Calzaghe. Calzaghe has the lateral movement, reslience, tactics, feinting, speed, pace and accuracy to over come Hopkins, all things Pavlik does not and thus, did not do to win.

Calzaghes sussed the kinds of things Hopkins does in the ring in a few rounds. In a re match he'd be less likely to get caught and floored, would have the right tactics from the start, and run away with a UD. Just like the first one should have been, all be it close.

[Mushashi]

I love what Hops did against Pavlik, but he can't deal with Calzaghe's work-rate, angles and handspeed.

[Silencers]

I can't believe the idiocy of some people saying if Hopkins does aswell as he did the other night he'll win. Jesus that's dumb. Different fighters, different ball games, hence we saw the difference. Hopkins did not say nor did anyone else, that he had an off night against Calzaghe. Calzaghe has the lateral movement, reslience, tactics, feinting, speed, pace and accuracy to over come Hopkins, all things Pavlik does not and thus, did not do to win.

Calzaghes sussed the kinds of things Hopkins does in the ring in a few rounds. In a re match he'd be less likely to get caught and floored, would have the right tactics from the start, and run away with a UD. Just like the first one should have been, all be it close.

I don't find that ****** at all, if Hopkins can carry his workrate into a second fight with Calzaghe, I would give him a much better chance at winning than I would have prior to last weekend. If can throw more combinations than in the first fight, he would have a much better chance of winning, I didn't think he had that left in him but if he can keep up his workrate and stamina, I'd give him a very good chance at winning.

[Kris Silver]

I don't find that ****** at all, if Hopkins can carry his workrate into a second fight with Calzaghe, I would give him a much better chance at winning than I would have prior to last weekend. If can throw more combinations than in the first fight, he would have a much better chance of winning, I didn't think he had that left in him but if he can keep up his workrate and stamina, I'd give him a very good chance at winning.

I'm surprised you think that, I always respect your posts. I didn't mean ****** that's a silly thing to say, but I think it's easy to be fooled by the other nights performance and think it would change things if another fight was replayed.

You can't really look at the Hopkins in the Pavlik fight and just apply any significant amount of it over to a Calzaghe fight. Hopkins doesn't come in less and 90% or have bad nights, full credit to him. Calzaghe has said he under rated Nard, didn't train enough and clearly had bad performance. Nard had a better work rate with Kelly because he completely controlled the fight and pace to suite him, as well as movement, clinches, on the in side, jab, everything. He couldn't control any of those things to anywhere near that extent with Calzaghe (some the contrary) and couldn't in a re match. He was also having to move, roll, run when he didn't have to with Pavlik.

He said himself he was placing himself at closer to arms length with Kelly so he'd have to pull his slow arms back to punch even slower. So he rarely got hit. With Calzaghe he couldn't do that, he had to constantly put energy into avoiding Joe's numerous quick punches that could come from any angle. All these things add up to the reasons we didn't see the Hopkins we did against Kelly, that we did with Joe, and wouldn't if it was replayed.

Same goes with Kelly, we've never really seen him looking so bad. It too was largely due to the style match ups in the ring, tactics, speed, pace and movement his opponent can naturally force on him.

[BattlingNelson]

I don't find that ****** at all, if Hopkins can carry his workrate into a second fight with Calzaghe, I would give him a much better chance at winning than I would have prior to last weekend. If can throw more combinations than in the first fight, he would have a much better chance of winning, I didn't think he had that left in him but if he can keep up his workrate and stamina, I'd give him a very good chance at winning.

Hopkins spoiled Joe's style in the first fight. Hence the lower punch output. If Hopkins decided to punch more it would favor Joe IMO. I cannot remember the punchstat figure, but Joe likely didn't throw 1K punches as he normally does simply because of Hopkins spoiler tactics.

If Hopkins didn't spoil Joe would be more active. That would suit Joe better than Hopkins. That's my take.

[Silencers]

I'm surprised you think that, I always respect your posts. I didn't mean ****** that's a silly thing to say, but I think it's easy to be fooled by the other nights performance and think it would change things if another fight was replayed.

You can't really look at the Hopkins in the Pavlik fight and just apply any significant amount of it over to a Calzaghe fight. Hopkins doesn't come in less and 100% or have bad nights, full credit to him. He had a better work rate because he completely controlled the fight and pace to suite him, as well as movement, clinches, on the in side, jab, everything. He couldn't control any of those things to anywhere near that extent with Calzaghe (some the contrary) and couldn't in a re match. He was also having to move, roll, run when he didn't have to with Pavlik.

He said himself he was placing himself at closer to arms length with Kelly so he'd have to pull his slow arms back to punch even slower. So he rarely got hit. With Calzaghe he couldn't do that, he had to constantly put energy into avoiding Joe's numerous quick punches that could come from angle angle. All these things add up to the reasons we didn't see the Hopkins we did against Kelly, that we did with Joe, and wouldn't if it was replayed.

Same goes with Kelly, we've never really seen him looking so bad. It too was largely due to the style match ups in the ring, tactics, speed, pace and movement his opponent can naturally force on him.

He hasn't thrown 500+ punches in a long time, I don't think Pavlik's style really influenced his workrate and stamina, I mean Pavlik's style gave Hopkins more openings but he wouldn't have been able to take advantage of those openings had his stamina and workrate been as bad as it has been in the past couple of years, I actually believe him when he said he has been playing it safe because of his age.

His speed was also much better in the fight, maybe that was because of how slow Pavlik was but I don't think I've seen Hopkins' handspeed look that quick in a while.

Honestly, I think if Hopkins is able to do what he did in the first fight with Calzaghe but just more, meaning more combinations, more countershots, more of everything basically, he could win. Although it would be close, their styles would always make for close fights but I give him much more of a chance at winning than I did before.

Of course, I could be wrong and we could see Calzaghe just overwhelm him again down the stretch like he did in April, we won't know unless the fight actually happens, I doubt it happens though.

[Silencers]

Hopkins spoiled Joe's style in the first fight. Hence the lower punch output. If Hopkins decided to punch more it would favor Joe IMO. I cannot remember the punchstat figure, but Joe likely didn't throw 1K punches as he normally does simply because of Hopkins spoiler tactics.

If Hopkins didn't spoil Joe would be more active. That would suit Joe better than Hopkins. That's my take.

I really don't think so, if he is able to mix in his usual defense and rough tactics but work a bit more, I think it'd work for him.

[Genski]

People don't give enought credit to calzaghe how he turned the fight around!
Hopkins as we know is one of the hardest fighters to ajust to, hes different, frustrating and masterfully skilled at what he does.
From not having a clue in round 1 and 2, Calzaghe managed to figure him past 3 rounds. Now thats an accomplishment.

More aggresive hopkins i personally think plays into calzaghe hands. From what i saw the only thing that stopped calzaghe landing more blows was hopkins holding every few seconds. But we'll have to see.