Hopkins needs to get over himself

[daggum]

In his second title fight against Segundo Mercado when he fought over in Ecuador I believe. But that was due to flying over the night before the fight and suffering from jet lag and not allowing his lungs the proper time become accustom to the climate. He was knocked down twice and came out with a draw, but he also did a lot of damage to mercado towards the end of the fight and stopped him in the rematch. Other than that I guess you could say Echols hurt him once or twice through dirty tactics, and although he dominated Pavlik with absolute ease from start to finish, he did finish that fight with a pretty bruised up cheek bone. I'd like to see him have one last payday. Either Calzaghe two, or possibly Dawson. He COULD fight Taylor just beat him easily for some small vendetta, but that wouldn't be a PPV fight or anything.

or because mercado punched him.

[Zocalo]

Um ok... cool.

[Spiegelo]

or because mercado punched him.

Conditioning plays a big part in your ability to avoid a clean punch, as well as your ability to take the punch. I'm not saying Mercado wasn't strong or skillful, I'm just playing into the known excuse for the knockdowns. Although I myself, believe it. Hopkins showed the ability to finish off Mercado early, and then seemed to lose his energy. He did however get a second wind at the end. Mercado even said he would have been knocked out in within 3 rounds if Hopkins was able to maintain the early attack he mounted in the first.