Hopkins-Pavlik was worse than Calzaghe-Lacy.
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I think most people are forgetting the hype that surrounded Lacy before the Calzaghe fight. It was huge, even bigger than what Pavlik was beforehand! He had already defended his titles numerous times compared to Pavlik's once against Lockett. Lacy was even more revered because all the boxing gurus honestly thought he was the next Tyson. People forget that, and deliberately as well, because of the embarrassment after such a hideous beating. No one wants to own up to the hype they themselves had for Lacy. It will be much the same for Pavlik now. Everyone will start to say "Yeah, I knew it, he was too green and couldn't handle Hop's experience and ring savvy".
The simple fact is though that nearly everyone picked Lacy to murder Calzaghe. Not to get through by a volume punching decision win or anything even remotely like that. They expected him to steam-roll Calzaghe within two or three rounds by complete and utter brutalisation.
With Pavlik, people were wondering if he could be the first to KO Hopkins, not he would definitely do it and within a couple of rounds. Not many thought he could and many had their doubts as to whether he could win at all. If you look at most of the predictions everyone gave it was things like this: "I think Pavlik's youth and hunger will get him through and he may even be able to stop Hopkins but it's also very possible that Hopkins could take him to school and win through his experience. He's done it before when he was written off" etc etc.
People are doing their best to forget Lacy ever existed, but, the fact is that the hype surrounding him was a lot greater than it has been with Pavlik. A lot. Most folks were saying similar things about them. Stuff like "They are what's right with boxing", or "These young men are the future face of the sport" but Lacy was still more dominant a champ in the brief time he was and was expected to kill his comparative Hopkins in Calzaghe. Pavlik was just meant to win and it would have been really impressive if he could KO Hopkins who had only been down the same number of times as Calzonie. Calzaghe was thought of as over the hill, too old and shot. Even most of the British were saying that Calzaghe didn't have a chance.
I just hope that this fight doesn't do to Pavlik what the other fight did to Lacy. He's ****ed. That was a beating that he'll never get over. Pavlik got embarrassed, but he wasn't meant to literally kill Hopkins, just beat him by youth. Lacy very nearly ended up the way Calzaghe was supposed to, it just happened to be a twelve round sustained beat-down instead of three round, killer-beat-down KO.
Either way, they are both magical performances by guys that were considered done and big underdogs. I'm still stunned at what Hopkins had and what he was able to do. I even thought after the first six "Well, that was expected. Now he'll run out of gas and Pavlik might still win the decision", but he didn't! It was great! B-Hop is some fighter.Last edited by BennyST; 10-21-2008, 02:14 AM.Comment
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I think most people are forgetting the hype that surrounded Lacy before the Calzaghe fight. It was huge, even bigger than what Pavlik was beforehand! He had already defended his titles numerous times compared to Pavlik's once against Lockett. Lacy was even more revered because all the boxing gurus honestly thought he was the next Tyson. People forget that, and deliberately as well, because of the embarrassment after such a hideous beating. No one wants to own up to the hype they themselves had for Lacy. It will be much the same for Pavlik now. Everyone will start to say "Yeah, I knew it, he was too green and couldn't handle Hop's experience and ring savvy".
The simple fact is though that nearly everyone picked Lacy to murder Calzaghe. Not to get through by a volume punching decision win or anything even remotely like that. They expected him to steam-roll Calzaghe within two or three rounds by complete and utter brutalisation.
With Pavlik, people were wondering if he could be the first to KO Hopkins, not he would definitely do it and within a couple of rounds. Not many thought he could and many had their doubts as to whether he could win at all. If you look at most of the predictions everyone gave it was things like this: "I think Pavlik's youth and hunger will get him through and he may even be able to stop Hopkins but it's also very possible that Hopkins could take him to school and win through his experience. He's done it before when he was written off" etc etc.
People are doing their best to forget Lacy ever existed, but, the fact is that the hype surrounding him was a lot greater than it has been with Pavlik. A lot. Most folks were saying similar things about them. Stuff like "They are what's right with boxing", or "These young men are the future face of the sport" but Lacy was still more dominant a champ in the brief time he was and was expected to kill his comparative Hopkins in Calzaghe. Pavlik was just meant to win and it would have been really impressive if he could KO Calzaghe who had only been down the same number of times as Hopkins. Calzaghe was thought of as over the hill, too old and shot. Even most of the British were saying that Calzaghe didn't have a chance.
I just hope that this fight doesn't do to Pavlik what the other fight did to Lacy. He's ****ed. That was a beating that he'll never get over. Pavlik got embarrassed, but he wasn't meant to literally kill Hopkins, just beat him by youth. Lacy very nearly ended up the way Calzaghe was supposed to, it just happened to be a twelve round sustained beat-down instead of three round, killer-beat-down KO.
Either way, they are both magical performances by guys that were considered done and big underdogs. I'm still stunned at what Hopkins had and what he was able to do. I even thought after the first six "Well, that was expected. Now he'll run out of gas and Pavlik might still win the decision", but he didn't! It was great! B-Hop is some fighter.
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I dont care what you say and how you say it but there is NO Hopkins-pavlik was worse the Joe c/lacy, Even Lacy's own promoter begged his corner to stop the fight.
That was a 100% beatdown, That was like punching a punchbag for 12 rounds.Comment
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I agree. calzaghe vs. lacy was the most one sided fight i ever seen. it was even worse than mayweather vs gatti cause the fight went the whole 12 roundsComment
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Lacy took more of a beating. Hopkins was pretty much written off too though, and Pavlik was much more highly regarded in the boxing world than Lacy. I just think that this win was much more surprising. I was surprised with the Calzaghe-Lacy fight, but not as much was known about them compared to Hopkins and Pavlik. I found Hopkins' victory much more surprising.
Calzaghe-Lacy was much worse, virtually no one picked Calzaghe and Lacy wasn't coming up in weight (not taking away from B-hops win) Lacy was heralded as a monster and Calzaghe as a spent force most people had written him off because his last few performances were not good.Comment
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True.....Lacy's face was f****** mess!
Lacy got it far worst than Pavlik.......but I bet both will remember both of those whoopins as long as they live....2 unforgetable beat downs........I think Cotto got worst than Lacy thoughComment
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Great post BennyST.
Yeah I think both fights are comparible as they were essentially the old pro's teaching the younger guys a boxing lesson. Even though Calzaghe-Lacy was more of a beatdown, Pavlik had no answer whatsoever to an awesome Hopkins, same way Lacy was with Joe. I've watched the fight twice now and only remember one decent punch from Pavlik during the whole fight and that didn't even phase Hopkins.Comment
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I gave Moby round six, but he never mounted any momentum. But then again even if you split each round into minute long segments you couldn't even find a single minute to give to Lacy. And Calzaghe was basically written off before the fight, Lacy was considered the ****.Comment
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