A look into the fraudulent career of Bernard Hopkins

[Darth Sidious]

I hear this kinda talk all the time but my question has always been, who exactly was good enough in his division or super MW, or LHW to have challanged him during his prime?

Roy Jones Jr. for starters, but Hopkins refused to take a 60/40 split in Roy's favor which Roy deserved.

[Darth Sidious]

He was 40 when he foguht Taylor, how the hell was he prime? He wasn't even at his peak when he fougt Joppy let alone Taylor.

He was the number one rated fighter on planet earth when he lost to Taylor who I don't even think was ranked top ten p4p at the time. In fact I think Taylor was ranked number 5 or 6 as a MW while Hopkins was the RING champion.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Hes a great fighter but is often over-rated

Exactly!!!!!!!!!

[street bully]

He was the number one rated fighter on planet earth when he lost to Taylor who I don't even think was ranked top ten p4p at the time. In fact I think Taylor was ranked number 5 or 6 as a MW while Hopkins was the RING champion.

Ali was ranked number one fighter on the planet when he beat Foreman, was he prime? Also Hpkins got ripped off twice, Taylor didn't win the first, and the second fight wa s a blatent robbery.

[Darth Sidious]

Ali was ranked number one fighter on the planet when he beat Foreman, was he prime? Also Hpkins got ripped off twice, Taylor didn't win the first, and the second fight wa s a blatent robbery.

When he BEAT Foreman. Hopkins didn't beat Taylor. Also with no ranking system like RING in place back then you could have easily made a case for Foreman being the number 1 fighter at that time. Seeing as how he destroyed people that Ali struggled and lost to like Norton and Frazier.

[Mr. Philadel]

Middleweight has always been a division connecting WW to LHW, and all past great MW champs have had to fight former WW's who move up. Hagler did so, Monzon did so, and Hopkins did so. However, they are also supposed to fight lightheavyweights, and this is somethign Hagler never did, since he would never accept Michael Spinks numerous challenges to meet at a catchweight and make the fight happen.

I bet this post will not get a reply ....school these dudes bully!!

[pelonxsoldier28]

Hopkins= ATG

[MOTHER DUCKER]

Good post TS i also think its funny that most of Bhops losses he was old/past prime.. yet the majority his best wins came 35-42..

[southcentralcar]

Let's take a quick look at Bhop's greatest wins and some of his losses.

Key wins:

10.18.2008 Kelly Pavlik - Prior to fighting Bernard Hopkins at 170lbs, Kelly Pavlik was the best 160 pounder on the planet. 160 was his prime weight, however Hopkins fought him 10lbs above this weight.

07.21.2007 Winky Wright - Winky spent most of his career fighting at 154. He was coming off a great winning streak and had never fought over 159 pounds before fighting Bernard Hopkins. Again, Hopkins defeated Winky at a weight Winky was not comfortable at, 170lbs.

06.10.2006 Antonio Tarver - Bernard Hopkins wins a decision over Antonio Tarver who made a name for himself by beating a shot Roy Jones Jr. Bernard beats someone at their best weight. Too bad it was a C+ fighter.

09.18.2004 Oscar De La Hoya - Oscar De La Hoya who's prime weight was at 147 suffered a 9th round KO by Bernard Hopkins who had spent the last year at 160 and slimmed down four pounds to fight Oscar who by the way is 6-3 at fights above welterweight. 1 of those win being a robbery against Felix Sturm.

09.29.2001 Felix Trinidad - This sadly is the greatest win of Bernard Hopkins' career. Anyone who followed Trinidad knows that like Oscar, his best weight was 147. Bernard Hopkins beats Trinidad at middleweight, which is two classes above Trinidad's prime weight.


Key Losses:

4.19.2008 Joe Calzaghe - Joe Calzaghe moves up one weight class from Super Middleweight to Light Heavyweight. This time it backfires on Hopkins as Hopkins is dealt a schooling at the hands of Calzaghe after saying he'd never lose to a white boy.

12.03.2005 & 7.16.2005 Jermain Taylor - Jermain Taylor beats Hopkins twice in what Hopkins' fans called a robbery, x2. The truth is when Hopkins decides to fight elite fighters his size, Taylor has his number.

05.22.1993 Roy Jones Jr. - Roy Jones wins a very decisive decision over Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins' fans will tell you this was a green version of Hopkins, but fail to mention it was a green version of Jones who even admitted before the fight that Hopkins was his toughest opponent to date. The weird thing is while Hopkins was "green" he was older than RJJ. This is important because when Hopkins rematched Jones 17 years later his fans cry that Hopkins is older than Jones implying that it was even. So his age has nothing to do with being green against Jones, but it is a factor in the rematch? Which is it?

Bring out the gimp

shut the **** up about tarver.. c+ ?! no one said jones jr was shot before the fight. tarver ended jones.jr's career . read up till you wrote about tarver cuz i guess the rest is bs as well

[DeepSleep]

Good post TS i also think its funny that most of Bhops losses he was old/past prime.. yet the majority his best wins came 35-42..

I have never understood why people count B-Hop's losses to Calzaghe and Taylor so much... The guy was 40 - 43 years old in those fights, the fact that he could make them good fights is a testament to his skill level compared to them. It's like saying Roy Jones' Jr loss to Danny Green is a key loss...

It is true though that most of Hopkins best wins aren't against guys fighting in there natural weight class..