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If you haven't recently, you should watch the Countdown to Hopkins-Wright again...
When I watched it the a couple of days ago (don't ask me why I pulled it out), it made me appreciate Hopkins even more. When they kind of went through his career, it just made me wonder... How has he done all of this?
Disappointments early, losing his opening bout, and then losing his first big fight against Jones. He worked in the trenches to get another shot... almost blew it again against Mercado the first time, and then won the rematch. Was a "protected" champ who never really defended his IBF strap against any superstar, top notch fighters (except Glen Johnson, who was unknown at the time, but... that is a win that is extremely underrated by everyone when it comes to Bernard Hopkins's resume) until the King unification tournament came along, where he beat a good fighter in Holmes and then crushed Trinidad (which is still, easily his biggest win IMO)... makes his trillions (exaggeration obviously) against Oscar and is on top of the world. Then his world comes crashing down against Taylor, not once, but twice... A lot of people thinks he is done, because he was so inactive both times, and really was expected to do better (performance wise, not result wise). A lot of people think he is done. Then he takes a fight he is a huge underdog in against Tarver 15 pounds north... dominates and retires.
That's a terrific career right there.
BUT, he comes back and beats a P4P elite Winky Wright (even if he was out of his proper weight area by a few pounds) as convincingly as anyone ever has... then takes on Joe Calzaghe. Basically a re-run of the Taylor fights. He has an argument that he won, although he did get outhustled in activity for the most part, leading people to think that he is done yet again, and then he goes on to surprise us again. He takes on Kelly Pavlik, the guy who is supposed to be the first to really crush Hopkins, and he fights in a brutal way, and just beats Pavlik up. Another terrific performance... When will it end?
There are not many fighters who have ridiculous achievements in his original weight class, like Hopkins did with his 20 middleweight defenses. There are no many fighters who do things like jump up two weight divisions directly to the linear king of the division and just wipe them out (Tarver). There are not many fighters who go on a 3-1 streak against P4P rated fighters like Hopkins did against Tarver, Wright, Calzaghe and Pavlik consecutively.
And there is almost no one who has accomplished all of those feats in one career.
Man, Bernard Hopkins is one special fighter...
To be 100% honest, the Pavlik win allows me to feel comfortable moving Hopkins above Jones in the ATG list.
When I watched it the a couple of days ago (don't ask me why I pulled it out), it made me appreciate Hopkins even more. When they kind of went through his career, it just made me wonder... How has he done all of this?
Disappointments early, losing his opening bout, and then losing his first big fight against Jones. He worked in the trenches to get another shot... almost blew it again against Mercado the first time, and then won the rematch. Was a "protected" champ who never really defended his IBF strap against any superstar, top notch fighters (except Glen Johnson, who was unknown at the time, but... that is a win that is extremely underrated by everyone when it comes to Bernard Hopkins's resume) until the King unification tournament came along, where he beat a good fighter in Holmes and then crushed Trinidad (which is still, easily his biggest win IMO)... makes his trillions (exaggeration obviously) against Oscar and is on top of the world. Then his world comes crashing down against Taylor, not once, but twice... A lot of people thinks he is done, because he was so inactive both times, and really was expected to do better (performance wise, not result wise). A lot of people think he is done. Then he takes a fight he is a huge underdog in against Tarver 15 pounds north... dominates and retires.
That's a terrific career right there.
BUT, he comes back and beats a P4P elite Winky Wright (even if he was out of his proper weight area by a few pounds) as convincingly as anyone ever has... then takes on Joe Calzaghe. Basically a re-run of the Taylor fights. He has an argument that he won, although he did get outhustled in activity for the most part, leading people to think that he is done yet again, and then he goes on to surprise us again. He takes on Kelly Pavlik, the guy who is supposed to be the first to really crush Hopkins, and he fights in a brutal way, and just beats Pavlik up. Another terrific performance... When will it end?
There are not many fighters who have ridiculous achievements in his original weight class, like Hopkins did with his 20 middleweight defenses. There are no many fighters who do things like jump up two weight divisions directly to the linear king of the division and just wipe them out (Tarver). There are not many fighters who go on a 3-1 streak against P4P rated fighters like Hopkins did against Tarver, Wright, Calzaghe and Pavlik consecutively.
And there is almost no one who has accomplished all of those feats in one career.
Man, Bernard Hopkins is one special fighter...
To be 100% honest, the Pavlik win allows me to feel comfortable moving Hopkins above Jones in the ATG list.
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