Question about Hopkins and Hagler

[Thread Stealer]

Which set of fans are more annoying?

The ones who watch Hopkins at an old age and think that Hopkins was always a guy who waited until every Hailey's comet to throw a punch and then clinched?

Or the ones who watch Hagler against Hearns and go "Hagler was always a face-first slugger!!"?

[Ryn0]

Hagler fans are very quiet because he doesn't fight now, I'm a HUGE Hagler fan, he was robbed against Leonard!

[Thread Stealer]

Hagler fans are very quiet because he doesn't fight now, I'm a HUGE Hagler fan, he was robbed against Leonard!

With all the Hopkins/Hagler threads lately, I decided to go in a different direction in this thread.

[warp1432]

Both are, but I think Hagler is more underrated because he could really box. I love Hagler-Briscoe.

[DiegoFuego]

I don't like these newfound Hopkins fans that act like he's always been willing to take on big names. For most of his career, he was just like the Euro champs Kessler, Calzaghe and Sturm are, never taking a risk and racking up easy as **** defenses.

Hopkins didn't have a single fan on the planet back in 2003ish and now he has just as many as any other fighter.

[Benny Leonard]

I don't like these newfound Hopkins fans that act like he's always been willing to take on big names. For most of his career, he was just like the Euro champs Kessler, Calzaghe and Sturm are, never taking a risk and racking up easy as **** defenses.

Hopkins didn't have a single fan on the planet back in 2003ish and now he has just as many as any other fighter.

He fought who was there at 160, but true, he never moved up to challenge Calzaghe back in the day. But, there are reasons: Legacy at 160 and of course $$$$. He fought Tito...then waited...and got O$car. I thought he should have moved up after this fight and fought Calzaghe but he didn't. He would go on to fight Eastman, who many Euros said Hopkins was avoiding, and then Taylor, the young threat of the division.

Oh, and his battle with Echols was talked about...that was in 1999 and then again in 2000.

I also didn't like how he talked about Roy but never did anything about it: he could have moved up to where Roy was and got a fight...but he didn't move.

[Thread Stealer]

He fought who was there at 160, but true, he never moved up to challenge Calzaghe back in the day. But, there are reasons: Legacy at 160 and of course $$$$. He fought Tito...then waited...and got O$car. I thought he should have moved up after this fight and fought Calzaghe but he didn't.

Yeah, the fight was supposed to happen around 2002-03. Hopkins pulled out of a fight with Calzaghe, because he was unhappy with the money that King was going to take out of his purse. Hopkins wanted more money. In order to get the Tito fight, he had to sign with King, whom he avoided dealing with in the past, and was legally obligated under King for a couple years after the Tito fight. He had smaller fights under King after the Tito fight in Daniels (his only fight in 2002), Hakkar, and Joppy. He was widely criticized for his business decisions following the Trinidad fight. Once he was out of the King contract, he got the bigger fights once again.

In regards to the Calzaghe fight in 2002-03, I'm guessing that he, unlike a good deal of the public, knew that Calzaghe was a risk and if he was going to take a risk like Calzaghe (much better fighter than the likes of Daniels, Joppy, and Hakkar), that he might as well get paid a lot for it. I believe that Hopkins also pulled out of the Toney fight in 2003 at cruiserweight for monetary issues, as Toney at 190 was an even bigger risk than an 168 lb. Calzaghe.