Comments Thread For: Bernard Hopkins: Contender Emeritus?

[New Life 79]

Winky Wright, natural 154-pounder, Hopkins natural 160-pounder. Fought each other at 170 -pounds, Hopkins moved down 5 pounds and Wright gained 10 pounds from 160-pounds where he has fought the last couple of years.

Hopkins and Wright, was only 6 pounds from each other, in there prime weights.

Juan Manuel Marquez was not a natural lightweight, moving up 2 weight classes when he fought Mayweather.

And Hopkins was 42 when he fought Wright, a bit past his best but still a great fighter.

[ИATAS]

Youre twisting it and really grasping at straws.

Just man up and say you dont like Floyd and you love Hopkins if you wont acknowledge the similarities.

Defending one and looking for angles to discredit the other is biased as hell man.

The fuuck are you talking about? I've been a fan of Mayweather as long as I can remember and there hasn't been a single floyd fight, not one, where I wasn't cheering for Floyd. So stop with the I don't like Floyd **** right now.

I poke fun at floyd on this board at times cuz of the fanatics, and I'll criticize some of his career decisions here & there, but I've been a fan of his for life.

[crold1]

Good piece, Cliff, something I'd been thinking about when looking at rankings. I agree with you that Hopkins doesn't belong up top anymore. I'm not sure about Cloud, though. Should there be a point in some division's rankings where "what they've done" is balanced out by who you think is better? I tend to favor "what they've done," but I'm still not sold on Cloud.

What I like about Cloud is that he's got two good wins in being the only man to stop Gonzalez and the Woods win was quality. It's not some of the bigger names but I'll take those wins over leaving old men up top as an award for past performance and willingness to lose a ton of rounds to Dawson (minus the first time with Glen).

I see it, in this division, as needing a process of elimination with the title vacant in other words. Tarver and Johnson have had their shot and proven they're not in the running anymore. Hopkins doesn't care to be (which is fine; Hopkins can do what he wants and earned it. Rest of the world doesn't have to make believe he's serious at 175 anymore).

[djtmal]

The fuuck are you talking about? I've been a fan of Mayweather as long as I can remember and there hasn't been a single floyd fight, not one, where I wasn't cheering for Floyd. So stop with the I don't like Floyd **** right now.

I poke fun at floyd on this board at times cuz of the fanatics, and I'll criticize some of his career decisions here & there, but I've been a fan of his for life.

he's absolutely right here i must admit...biggest ballicker on here if you ask me...

[Tiozzo]

Actually Pavlik's fight against Taylor was at 166, so he had to go up just 4 pounds to face hopkins.

Also, I understand your points about hopkins, but don't discredit Calzaghe as NOT being a legitimate Light Heavyweight, because he clearly was and he later proved this by schooling roy jones and owning both SM & LH Ring Belts before retiring. Joe had been planning on moving to LH for some time long before hopkins was even possible since 168 was becoming extremely difficult for Joe to make. He was a natural light heavyweight by that time of his career, without question.

Sorry, but you're wrong. Pavlik had to move up 10 pounds to fight Hopkins because he went back down to 160 to defend his titles against Gary Lockett after he had rematched Taylor at 166. So it was a 2 division jump. Period.

[Dave Rado]

What does that have to do with anything?

Absolutely everything. If Floyd fought the top available competition until he was in his 40s, and then coasted, no one would have any complaints whatsoever.

Hopkins doesn't care to be (which is fine; Hopkins can do what he wants and earned it. Rest of the world doesn't have to make believe he's serious at 175 anymore).

Exactly.

Hatton is pretty small for 147 whereas Calzaghe was a good size and natural for 175.

Plus Hatton did badly in his only previous foray at Welterweight, against Collazo, and said then that he realised as a result of that performance that he couldn't cut it at Welterweight and would never fight at that weight again. He only changed his mind because there was no other way to get a fight against Floyd (he had asked Floyd to fight him at catchweight but Floyd said no).

[Xcusemymood]

Absolutely everything. If Floyd fought the top available competition until he was in his 40s, and then coasted, no one would have any complaints whatsoever.



Exactly.



Plus Hatton did badly in his only previous foray at Welterweight, against Collazo, and said then that he realised as a result of that performance that he couldn't cut it at Welterweight and would never fight at that weight again. He only changed his mind because there was no other way to get a fight against Floyd (he had asked Floyd to fight him at catchweight but Floyd said no).

Are you ****ing kidding me?

So which one is it? Hopkins is coasting or Hopkins is a top 5 p4p fighter?

Hopkins won his first championship in 1994, Floyd in 1998. How is it that you give Hopkins credit for his run but not Floyd? When in fact Floyd never lost any of his fights? Its ok for Hopkins to pick his spots but not Floyd even though they have been fighting the top comp for roughly the same time frame?

You always want to say Hatton did badly in his fight against Collazo. Is Collazo a bum? Was he not the champion? Did he not just lose a close fight to Berto? Quit using that as an excuse. Hatton was a legitimate fight.

If Hatton gets credit for being a p4p fighter at the time, he can fight one division up, the division he was a champion at.

[Xcusemymood]

The fuuck are you talking about? I've been a fan of Mayweather as long as I can remember and there hasn't been a single floyd fight, not one, where I wasn't cheering for Floyd. So stop with the I don't like Floyd **** right now.

I poke fun at floyd on this board at times cuz of the fanatics, and I'll criticize some of his career decisions here & there, but I've been a fan of his for life.

Then why cant you admit the similarities?

[BritishBoxing92]

By Cliff Rold - Atop most of the notable non-sanctioning body ratings at Light Heavyweight, two men occupy the top slots: Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson. *********, SecondsOut, and the U.K.-based Boxing Monthly have Hopkins currently at the number one spot; Ring Magazine and ESPN have Dawson up top.

One of them clearly belongs.

The other one signed for a rematch with Roy Jones Jr. earlier this month and warrants a closer look.

Thankfully for history buffs, and even they were among those who couldn’t get past the absurdity of Zsolt Erdei’s place as lineal champion, Erdei’s decision to return to the Light Heavyweight division after vacating his WBO belt to pursue Cruiserweight honors doesn’t undo the vacancy he left behind at 175 lbs. The sole link he had to the lineage of the crown, traced to Virgil Hill’s 1996 win over Henry Maske, was severed in November 2009.

The popular claim to Light Heavyweight supremacy was laid to rest even earlier last year. When he elected to retire, Joe Calzaghe took the Ring Magazine title with him. That was the claim linked to Roy Jones’s unification of the WBC, WBA and IBF belts from 1997-99. It was also, in terms of talent, always the superior line of champions. Jones, Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson, and Bernard Hopkins all took their turns. [Click Here To Read More]

excellent.....The Executioner FTW

[Mr. Philadel]

I'm sure hopkins at this point doesn't care about his ranking. I mean chad dawson's last three fights hasn't even sold 5,000 tickets. Good money elsewhere for old man hopkins

co-sign!!!......B.Hop gives a **** about the rankings!!.....he's one or two fights away from hangin' 'em up so where they rank him doesn't really matter......it's HOW they rank him when its all said and done is what counts to him and his LOYAL supporters like some of us who post here!!