Hopkins should move up to heavyweight

[Xplosivo]

I'm with you on that. I've been saying Hopkins was the better fighter for years, and with the Tarver, Wright, Calzaghe SD loss (which many thought he won), and Pavlik string he went on, he cemented it IMO.

Bernard continues to defy his age, while Roy continues to show his.

Roy lost nearly every round to one of the top P4P fighters at the moment, Hopkins fought the same guy and many people think Hopkins won and he got robbed, Hopkins again faced another top P4P Fighter who was undefeated and undisputed mw king, at the age of 43/almost 44 hopkins defied the odds and dominated him in 12 rounds.

also at this age and time lets compare their last 8 opponents

Jones (current age 39) :

Calzaghe - Lost every round, got dominated, bloodied and battered by slaps.

Trinidad - old like jones, past it but a natural welterweight/ 154'er fighting at 175, jones won by decision (116-110)

Hanshaw - jones won 114-113 according to one judge, if this was the jones jr of the past this fight wouldnt have went past the 4th round.

Prince Badi Ajamu - who? someone who lost to otis grant. whos otis grant? lmao

Tarver - lost

Johnson - lost/knocked out

Tarver - lost/knocked out

Tarver - won a close decision

Hopkins (current age nearly 44):



Kelly Pavlik - at the age of 43 dominated ANOTHER top p4p fighter who was the man at 160, hopkins nearly won every round and bruised up pavlik bad while he had no marks on his face. do notice at the age of 40+ hopkins faced wright, taylor, calzaghe, tarver and pavlik. thats a former undisputed 154 champion, two undisputed former/current 160 lbs champions in taylor and pavlik, linear 168 champ calzaghe, linear 175 lb champ in tarver, all of them p4p rankings, and all of this done at the age of a "old enough to be a grand dad"


Joe Calzaghe - faces yet another top guy in the p4p rankings, the man at 168, hopkins won this fight but didnt get the nod, calzaghe obviously wont face hm again for obvious reasons.

Ronald Wright - this guy was ranked no 2 in the p4p rankings, hopkins beat him clearly, and again this was a 50/50 fight with many unsure who will win.


Antonio Tarver - dominated a guy who was in the p4p rankings, light heavyweight linear champ, and who everyone wanted to see lose because of his big mouth and one hit wonder lucky punch. both were old but tarver was the fresher one out of the two due to less fights and rounds boxed, and was the favourite to win over hopkins, hopkins was coming off two close debated losses to taylor and a lot of people were writing him off moving up at light heavyweight + lost recent fights, they assumed he was done.

Jermain Taylor - Taylor does better in the rematch, but still people thought hopkins had the edge and won it, but not as bad as last time.

Jermain Taylor - Hopkins gives chance to a young lion and taylor wins in a close fight that most viewers thought Hopkins won and was robbed. most people wouldn't fight young talented guys, hopkins at age 40 did after 20 middleweight title defenses and an already built legacy.

Howard Eastman - boring fight

Oscar De La Hoya - yes a little guy, but lets not forget oscar hadnt been ko'd before and all his wins/losses were close and with this win hopkins beat the biggest name in boxing by ko and was the first man to unify all 4 titles (wbo, wbc, ibf, wba) i think or atleast after a long time

[slicksouthpaw16]

If that's your opinion, that's cool, I just don't see it.

In order for Valuev to set any kind of pace, he would need to establish the jab first and foremost. Against Hopkins, that's a very hard thing to do. I realize the 10 inch reach advantage would likely benefit Valuev in this department, and Hopkins would have his work cut out for him avoiding the jab if Valuev was able to establish it.

But Valuev is a huge guy, his punches are slow, and I mean slow. If Hopkins was a trim and lean 200lbs or so, he'd have no problem moving out of the way of any incoming shots.

The only problem I could see for Hopkins fighting Valuev, is he'd have to fight him either on the inside (which is risky considering the size advantage), or, wait on the outside, feint away from incoming shots, and tag his way in, then circle out of his range.

Bernard's style is most effective on opponents that are actually his size because he is strong enough to out muscle them and use his rough house tactics. That's why Taylor and Calzaghe both beat him, because they were physically strong enough to push Bernard off and stick to their game plan. We are talking about a 7'1 giant that's very strong and is not a soft puncher. I see a cautious confused Hopkins hesitating on getting inside. Its easier said then done. Someone on film could look slow but when you go up to heavyweight and give up a lot of size and is standing across the ring against someone that big, then all of that could change. Holyfield held his own on the inside against big skilled heavyweights like Riddock Bowe, Tyson( he actually pushed Tyson back) Douglas ect. Hes very strong.

[Xplosivo]

Lets not get too ahead of ourselves. Don't forget that Evander is a heavyweight( and can punch) and has been fighting at heavyweight for about 18 years. Bernard is not only a light heavyweight( and spent the majority of his career at middleweight) but he is past his prime. He wouldn't be able to keep up the heavyweight pace that Valuev would set and he wouldn't have the size, reach or punch to be effective.

Actually i would favor Adamek( at cruiser weight) over Hopkins. Everyone will not give him the respect that Pavlik gave him and he would run into problems with someone that has true boxing ability and the speed to get there and force him to fight.

lol i like adamek but hopkins would beat him down, i still cant believe people are writing him off after his domination over pavlik, i guess some people just dont get it.

btw Hopkins TKO a young Johnson

Dawson UD an old Johnson in a fight most thought Johnson won

[ATFsven]

Hopkins should fight Chaguev.. its winnable for him and better than trying to fight that hairy mammoth Valuev

[ßringer]

Roy lost nearly every round to one of the top P4P fighters at the moment, Hopkins fought the same guy and many people think Hopkins won and he got robbed, Hopkins again faced another top P4P Fighter who was undefeated and undisputed mw king, at the age of 43/almost 44 hopkins defied the odds and dominated him in 12 rounds.

also at this age and time lets compare their last 8 opponents

Jones (current age 39) :

Calzaghe - Lost every round, got dominated, bloodied and battered by slaps.

Trinidad - old like jones, past it but a natural welterweight/ 154'er fighting at 175, jones won by decision (116-110)

Hanshaw - jones won 114-113 according to one judge, if this was the jones jr of the past this fight wouldnt have went past the 4th round.

Prince Badi Ajamu - who? someone who lost to otis grant. whos otis grant? lmao

Tarver - lost

Johnson - lost/knocked out

Tarver - lost/knocked out

Tarver - won a close decision

Hopkins (current age nearly 44):



Kelly Pavlik - at the age of 43 dominated ANOTHER top p4p fighter who was the man at 160, hopkins nearly won every round and bruised up pavlik bad while he had no marks on his face. do notice at the age of 40+ hopkins faced wright, taylor, calzaghe, tarver and pavlik. thats a former undisputed 154 champion, two undisputed former/current 160 lbs champions in taylor and pavlik, linear 168 champ calzaghe, linear 175 lb champ in tarver, all of them p4p rankings, and all of this done at the age of a "old enough to be a grand dad"


Joe Calzaghe - faces yet another top guy in the p4p rankings, the man at 168, hopkins won this fight but didnt get the nod, calzaghe obviously wont face hm again for obvious reasons.

Ronald Wright - this guy was ranked no 2 in the p4p rankings, hopkins beat him clearly, and again this was a 50/50 fight with many unsure who will win.


Antonio Tarver - dominated a guy who was in the p4p rankings, light heavyweight linear champ, and who everyone wanted to see lose because of his big mouth and one hit wonder lucky punch. both were old but tarver was the fresher one out of the two due to less fights and rounds boxed, and was the favourite to win over hopkins, hopkins was coming off two close debated losses to taylor and a lot of people were writing him off moving up at light heavyweight + lost recent fights, they assumed he was done.

Jermain Taylor - Taylor does better in the rematch, but still people thought hopkins had the edge and won it, but not as bad as last time.

Jermain Taylor - Hopkins gives chance to a young lion and taylor wins in a close fight that most viewers thought Hopkins won and was robbed. most people wouldn't fight young talented guys, hopkins at age 40 did after 20 middleweight title defenses and an already built legacy.

Howard Eastman - boring fight

Oscar De La Hoya - yes a little guy, but lets not forget oscar hadnt been ko'd before and all his wins/losses were close and with this win hopkins beat the biggest name in boxing by ko and was the first man to unify all 4 titles (wbo, wbc, ibf, wba) i think or atleast after a long time

Good breakdown. The only thing I would add is that Roy won 1 round against Joe, the first, when he hit him with his forearm, lol.

Hopkins is the greatest over 40 fighter of all time, hands down. Who else fights guys at the level of Taylor, Tarver, Wright, Calzaghe, and Pavlik when they're that age?

Prime for prime I'm willing to admit that Jones has Hopkins' number.He was blessed with a much better skillset. But longevity is a skill in and of itself as well. But there's no way anybody can convince me that Jones has the better legacy.

[slicksouthpaw16]

lol i like adamek but hopkins would beat him down, i still cant believe people are writing him off after his domination over pavlik, i guess some people just dont get it.

btw Hopkins TKO a young Johnson

Dawson UD an old Johnson in a fight most thought Johnson won

Hopkins has never fought at cruiser weight, and Adamek is not Pavlik. He can counter punch, nothing stops him from coming forward and his speed is underrated. He is also very physically strong. Lets not think the Pavlik win somehow ''rejuvenated'' Hopkins. He will look his age again when he fight someone with speed such as Dawson, Calzaghe, Adamek ect.

As for people that thought Johnson won, that's on them. I actually pay attention to fights. I seen Johnson hurting Dawson in round 10 and 3, and that was the most notable thing he did throughout the fight. The fact that Dawson out boxed him in all of the other rounds doesn't matter.

[ßringer]

Bernard's style is most effective on opponents that are actually his size because he is strong enough to out muscle them and use his rough house tactics. That's why Taylor and Calzaghe both beat him, because they were physically strong enough to push Bernard off and stick to their game plan. We are talking about a 7'1 giant that's very strong and is not a soft puncher. I see a cautious confused Hopkins hesitating on getting inside. Its easier said then done. Someone on film could look slow but when you go up to heavyweight and give up a lot of size and is standing across the ring against someone that big, then all of that could change. Holyfield held his own on the inside against big skilled heavyweights like Riddock Bowe, Tyson( he actually pushed Tyson back) Douglas ect. Hes very strong.

No doubt Evander is a tough cookie.

But the Hopkins losses to Taylor and Calzaghe are all highly disputed, let's not overlook that. If anything, I'd say Bernard struggles with guys that are faster than him, not guys who are bigger than him. Tarver was much bigger than him in their fight.

[slicksouthpaw16]

btw Hopkins TKO a young Johnson

Oh and Johnson was no where near his true prime, and he didn't reach it until around the first Clinton Woods fight. He didn't have the style that he has today and he didn't fight anyone worthy up to that point( and the commentators stated it). Watch some of these fights. Take nothing away from Hopkins though, i rate it as his best performance and Johnson did however go on to be something special.

[ßringer]

Oh and Johnson was no where near his true prime, and he didn't reach it until around the first Clinton Woods fight. He didn't have the style that he has today and he didn't fight anyone worthy up to that point( and the commentators stated it). Watch some of these fights. Take nothing away from Hopkins though, i rate it as his best performance and Johnson did however go on to be something special.

On a side note, regardless of opinion, it's good to see someone say Johnson is special. He doesn't get a lot of fanfare around here, but he's a damned good fighter, and his record is no indication of it. Half of his losses were blatant robberies and hometown decisions.

He's like Emmanuel Augustus in that respect, only Emmanuel gets robbed much more frequently.

[slicksouthpaw16]

No doubt Evander is a tough cookie.

But the Hopkins losses to Taylor and Calzaghe are all highly disputed, let's not overlook that. If anything, I'd say Bernard struggles with guys that are faster than him, not guys who are bigger than him. Tarver was much bigger than him in their fight.

Tarver didn't have this kind of reach or size, and Hopkins was actually bigger than Tarver going into the fight( Lampley and Steward also said it). Valuev's reach is too long and hes too big for Bernard to clinch. When Bernard clinches, that's his way of pacing himself and getting a breather. I see Valuev not giving his those opportunities, and pushing off( which is more than strong enough to do) and going back to work. I just can't see how Bernard could keep him at bay.