Why did Hopkins duck Calzaghe in 2002?

[Explosions]

Because Calzaghe has a pain in the ass kind of style. The guy is as awkward as they come and he might not be the most skilled or dangerous fighter out there but he is definitely hard to figure out and that gives fighters problems.

That's why he retired undefeated, gotta give props where props are due. The man knew how to get it done even though he might have not looked "cute" doing it in the process. It's all about the result, not about how you get there. Ultimately, you get judged by the body of work you put out there ... not the road you took to it.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

AGREED

HOPKINS WAS CHASING A SUPERFIGHT WITH ROY JONES IN 2002, AND LATER DE LA HOYA IN 2003.....WHY SHOULD HE FIGHT 3 BUMS IN HAKKAR (MANDATORY), HARRY SIMON + JOE CALZAGHE FOR JUST $10.5m.......HE WOULD LIKELY TOP $30m FOR JONES + DE LA HOYA IN '02-03.

Hopkins priced himself out of the Jones fight too

[daggum]

whats the point of posting if you don't even have the story straight? the contract was a 3 fight deal on showtime. why would hopkins lock himself up when an oscar fight could happen at anytime and he made 15 million for that fight which is a lot more than 3 million. even with a possible oscar fight on the horizon hopkins still accepted the fight in wales but at a higher purse(not even close to an oscar purse btw) warren and calzaghe wanted the fight in wales so hopkins called their bluff and said ok if you pay more i'll go over there. warren refused and walked away. warren was just using hopkins name to secure calzaghe more bum fights on showtime. the old bait and switch move and it worked to perfection. remember warren is the same guy who said calzaghe was scared to fight top opposition and calzaghe is the same guy who said he couldn't fight in the usa because he was scared of flying!

[SincereDaGreat]

All this "duck" talk is getting annoying...if u break down every single fighter in history, there will be a story of who they didn't fight, they waited for this guy to slow down or move out the division blah blah blah!!! If there's 5 good guys and a fighter fights 3 out of those 5...he'll be called a duck no matter if that fighter moved on to bigger and better fighters.

Instead of sitting behind a keyboard talking ish about Pro fighters, why don't u guys go train, turn pro and show us how its supposed to be done?! Funny how people can tell u how to do it when they never was even close to putting their health on the line for someone else's entertainment.

[HEADBANGER]

PUERTO RICO HERALD

Trinidad Unmoved By Hopkins' Taunts

By Gabrielle Paese
"Tell Papa Trinidad to make the fight happen," Hopkins told the crowd of about 5,000. "I'm going to give him an opportunity to redeem himself whenever he wants but it's gotta be soon."

Don King, sounding as desperate as Hopkins, joined in the plea.

"Papa we need you. Papa please give Tito one last chance. Do it for Puerto Rico. Bernard has signed, let Tito sign too. We don't have to look for Bernard he's right here. Everything is ready for you guys."

Trinidad Sr., however, reiterated again that it will never happen.

While his son was absent, Trinidad Sr. was in the corner of his boxer, Alberto DeJesus Trinidad, who TKOd Catano's Rafael Sierra in the undercard.

"Tito's not coming out of retirement. That's not going to happen, no matter how much money he offers," said Trinidad Sr.

"The rematch is not going to happen," Trinidad Sr. told Hopkins after the fights. "You proved you're the super champion and the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. We wish you the best. We'll never look back. We have to be firm and not let Puerto Rico down."

The fight, by the way, took a backseat to the Don King-Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. drama going on on the sidelines (Hopkins was also at the fight to beg Roy Jones Jr. to fight him).

According to both King and Hopkins, the two worked out an agreement for Hopkins' next fight, no small accomplishment considering Hopkins spurned a $10.5 million three-fight Showtime offer made earlier this year that would have sent him into the ring to fight Morrade Hakkar, Joe Calzaghe and Harry Simon.

"He's desperate for a fight and he needs to fight me because he messed up his deal with Showtime," Jones Jr. said in the dressing room prior to Saturday's main event.

AGREED

HOPKINS WAS CHASING A SUPERFIGHT WITH ROY JONES IN 2002, AND LATER DE LA HOYA IN 2003.....WHY SHOULD HE FIGHT 3 BUMS IN HAKKAR (MANDATORY), HARRY SIMON + JOE CALZAGHE FOR JUST $10.5m.......HE WOULD LIKELY TOP $30m FOR JONES + DE LA HOYA IN '02-03.

what you talking about?

hopkins went on the fight hakkar, joppy and allan for about $2m combined.

hopkins would have never received $30M for fighting odly and jones in 02-03, what a crock of ****.

all bhop wanted to do was feast on welterweights.

[D4thincarnation]

Hopkins didn't want it he was quite happy beating blown up welters at middleweight.

Hopkins also didn't want to fight Toney or rematch Jones.

Hopkins has done far more in his career post Taylor than previous to that.

[Bring It On]

Calz wouldn't have had the confidence to go to the States and beat Hopkins back then.

Joe admitted himself that he "knew his limits" when talking about a potential fight with RJJ around the same time.

RJJ would've dominated Bhop in 2002 though.

[HEADBANGER]

whats the point of posting if you don't even have the story straight? the contract was a 3 fight deal on showtime. why would hopkins lock himself up when an oscar fight could happen at anytime and he made 15 million for that fight which is a lot more than 3 million. even with a possible oscar fight on the horizon hopkins still accepted the fight in wales but at a higher purse(not even close to an oscar purse btw) warren and calzaghe wanted the fight in wales so hopkins called their bluff and said ok if you pay more i'll go over there. warren refused and walked away. warren was just using hopkins name to secure calzaghe more bum fights on showtime. the old bait and switch move and it worked to perfection. remember warren is the same guy who said calzaghe was scared to fight top opposition and calzaghe is the same guy who said he couldn't fight in the usa because he was scared of flying!

no the facts are

the fight was offered in america

hopkins was offered a career high pay day

hopkins turned it down, purposely priced himself out of the fight

hopkins then fought hakkar, joppy, and allan over the next 2 years and earned less from those 3 fights than he would have earnt from 1 fight with joe calzaghe.

[HEADBANGER]

Hopkins didn't want it he was quite happy beating blown up welters at middleweight.

Hopkins also didn't want to fight Toney or rematch Jones.

Hopkins has done far more in his career post Taylor than previous to that.

more facts.

it just so happens that calzaghe beat hopkins sandwiched inbetween the best string of results in hopkins whole career of tarver, wright, pavlik, and pascal.

calzaghe did all this despite
- fighting in america
- fighting at hopkins chosen weight
- fighting with blatant cheat cortez as referee
- fighting with 3 american judges

[Dirk Diggler UK]

no the facts are

the fight was offered in america

hopkins was offered a career high pay day

hopkins turned it down, purposely priced himself out of the fight

hopkins then fought hakkar, joppy, and allan over the next 2 years and earned less from those 3 fights than he would have earnt from 1 fight with joe calzaghe.

Exactly. I love the "he was waiting for Oscar" excuse. He fought 3 or 4 times after the duck and before Oscar for less money.