Hopkins legacy, as strong as people say?

**Mr. Ryan** · 12-28-2004, 04:58 PM

Hopkins did what he did. Thats all that can really be said of his selection of opponents. This is who he's beaten in title fights:

Robert Allen
Carl Daniels
Morradde Hakkar
Antwun Echols
Keith Holmes
Simon Brown
Syd Vanderpool
John David Jackson
Joe Lipsey

If beating these guys makes him the best of the best, I dunno. He ko'ed De La Hoya and Trinidad, 2 fighters who were at lower divisions and DLH was finished as a fighter. My brother worships the guy. One of my trainers told me Hopkins "is the luckiest man alive." He got the chance at immortality without beating a legitimate fighter. If he fought in the 50's, we wouldn't be talking about him now.

**Kimmy** · 12-28-2004, 07:11 PM

Its not just quality of opponents, its not that there were better fighters, t was that Bernard has been the most dominnant campion of the past 10 yrs. he has defeated everyone he has faced, all world title matches. You can`t blame Hopkins for the quality of opponent, i isn`t his fault. Look at it basically. Hopkins took on every worth while Middleweight and defeated them ( except Roy Jones, no shame in that ).
He is the most dominate champion we have today and not only has he defeated everyone he faced, not since the draw with Macadeo, no one has looked close to beating him. Does he deserve the praise of a great? Yes he does, lately he has beaten very good fighters in Oscar and tito. He beat up Glen Johnson, now acknowledged as the lightheavyweight king and some of his mandatories were decent. Echols wasn`t a bad fight, nor was Robert Allen. Simon Brown was a great champion. U can`t blame Hopkins for the middleweight division being weak. Just think, if Hopkins wasn`t the champion these mandatories he faced would have been and maybe they might have established themselves as world class, its just that Hopkins beat them so ruthlessly they apeared less than what they might have been!

**Mr. Violence** · 12-28-2004, 07:17 PM

yes his legacy is as strong as people say. 19 title defenses. dont really care that he never moved up in weight...that's not what it's all about. he dominated his weight division.PERIOD. His record speaks for itself. And he is a brilliant fighter with exceptional boxing skills.

**Xecutioner** · 12-28-2004, 07:19 PM

ive already responded to way too many "hopkins is overrated threads" so i just wanna make this point. jones saying his hand was broken was bullshiet. when did he stop throwing either hand in the fight? answer is never. he was throwing his rights and lefts hard the whole night. did he have surgery on it? he was just making excuses imo because he didnt look that great against hopkins and he couldnt hurt him . he also fought his next fight less than 3 months after his hand was hurt, whatever. hopkins learned a lot from the jones fight, mostly he learned from jones the art of hitting and not getting ch.

**elveiel** · 12-28-2004, 07:30 PM

Originally posted by Ranger2408

Hopkins legacy is based on dominating the 160 pound division but yet all he has fought are mandatories.
He has never moved up in weight staying at the 160 pound limit except for his first pro fight, which he lost.
He beat up DLH who gained 30 pounds from his starting division and now ring magazine are talking about immortality.
He beat up tito (pretty bad yeah) who was also from the lower weight classes.
Now he is a legend, he has beaten noone of any significance.
Roy Jones who is constantly slammed for fight cops and Garbage men fought the mandatories has fought at Heavyweight and he dominated ruiz after round 1.
He also beat Hopkins with a broken hand.
I dont think Hopkins deserves any of the praise lavished on him today.

I give Hopkins the credit he deserves, he's beaten all the mandatorys and dominated the middle's for years!!

The only beef i have with Hopkins is that he called a lot of the champions from heavier weights like Toney, Calzaghe, Jones etc out and then refused to negotiate. But he was more than happy to negotiate with the smaller champions like DLH and Tito.

IMO Hopkins is a great champ at middle but i'll alway remember him for talking his way out of fights with bigger men.

**Truth** · 12-28-2004, 07:34 PM

Bernard Hopkins is great fighter and great story, he went from thug to inmate to million dollar prize fighter. Hopkins turned his life around made a great amount of money and has boxing hall of fame credentials. Like Pedro Fernandez from ring talk.com said 20 defenses against grandmother is impressive.

**elveiel** · 12-28-2004, 07:36 PM

Its hard to believe that Nard got beat by Clinton Mitchell!!

Click here for Clinton Mitchell's fight record

**Ivansmamma** · 12-28-2004, 07:54 PM

It's ****ing crap that people praise Hopkins and says Jones fought nobody. Jones got belt's in four divisions. Hopkins stayed at supermiddel. Roy beat Hopkins, toney, hill, tarver easily. Hopkins beat De la hoya. Hopkins legacy should be nothing compared to Jones.

**m00ks** · 12-28-2004, 08:04 PM

Originally posted by johnny swift

yes his legacy is as strong as people say. 19 title defenses. dont really care that he never moved up in weight...that's not what it's all about. he dominated his weight division.PERIOD. His record speaks for itself. And he is a brilliant fighter with exceptional boxing skills.

Agreed. Its all about consistancy. Both DLH and Mosley moved up but look what they got out of it. Nothing (excpet for Oscar's 30 mil) They looked ****ty at a higher weight. Larry said it best that people should stick to their own weight class. Now we hear DLH is moving back down to 147. Moving up in weight should't be a prerequisite for carving your name in boxing history. Hopkins did what he had to do. Defended his title 19 times and hasn't lost in 11 years. He deserves respect.

Hopkins legacy, as strong as people say?