I think it's possible that he beats Hagler, but I don't think he could beat Monzon. Monzon was just weird. He could box you to death or brawl like all hell. Most people underrate Hagler badly now though, cause most guys have only seen his major fights which came after his prime and peak years.
Monzon though: Funny fighter and quite similar to Hopkins and Hagler in that they all beat their biggest names who had come up lower divisions, while also beating all the top guys and some very underrated contenders of their day.
However, I think both Hagler and Monzon have slightly better competition at the top end than Hopkins. That's not to say that means they would win, but just in terms of resume. Possibly the most underrated of all the guys they all fought though, is one Rodrigo Valdez. That guy was a ****ing monster and din any other time, he would have dominated the division. Well ****, apart from Monzon he did!
The only guy to KO Bad Bennie...and what a KO! Man , he was a great fighter.
Yeah, I don't think Hopkins could beat Monzon.
Edit: Oh, and Hopkins is definitely an ATG.
I agree with everything. I think Monzon beats Hopkins also. I think people forget how great he really was.
He could beat Hagler. But, Hagler could beat him also..
And, yes Hop is an ATG. It really should not be debatable.
Finally!!! People only remember the older slower Hagler. People just cannot remember how much of a solid all around game he brought to the table.
Nobody could switch his stance as effortlessly as Marvin. He could box, or come forward and beat you down. He could do it all.
Hopkins could give any middleweight in history a tough night though. IMO he belongs with the elite. It is just hard to measure how great he was because of the era he was in.
Exactly,
I think cuz people just see highlights and remember his fight with Hearns. That they just think of him as a one dimensional fighter. But, like you mentioned he could do it all.
The first time he faced a middleweight with class, He got beat by roy jones jr.
The 2nd & 3rd time he beat a middleweight with class, He got beat by Jermaine Taylor. How can you call yourself a legendary fighter if you get outpointed by Jermaine freaking taylor?
All of his notable wins are against famous boxers from lower divisions. He beat oscar who is a career welterweight & was moving up from junior welterweight. He beat a undefeated felix trinidad who only had one fight at middleweight before facing hopkins.
People want to complain that pacquiao is a catchweight king when he only had one catchweight fight vs miguel cotto, well....
Bernard is the true king of catchweights,
catchweights vs oscar de la hoya, winky wright, & kelly pavlik. Even his other notable win vs a on his way to washed up antonio tarver has to be re evaluated. How great of a fighter will tarver end up? Not great at all. What were the circumstances surrounding the fight? Tarver had to lose so much weight after filming the crappiest rocky film of them all.
When bernard stepped up to fight his next classy opponent, he makes another fighter move up in weight joe calzaghe. What happend there?
He got slapped around & faked another one of his famous phantom injuries.
Beranard "Soapy" Hopkins, not as great as we think.
excellent, spot on analysis...btw hopkins is garbaaage
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