Comments Thread For: Hopkins Makes History Again, Beats Cloud For IBF Title

[b Murphington]

While a 48 year old winning could be considered impressive I see much more than Hopkins skills at play here. Hopkins opponents have just as much to do, if not more so, with his winning the last few years.

If you look closely at the guys he's been fighting the last few years it should come as no surprise that a 40 something with excellent fundamentals is winning. Kelly Pavlik, Enrique Ornelas, Roy Jones, Jr., Jean Pascal, Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud all had their issue at the time Hopkins met them.

• Kelly Pavlik: Kelly was a very basic one/two puncher with some power. His boxing skills where average at best and when he moved up in weight to fight Hopkins he lost his power and was battling an alchohol problem. Even without the booze issues Pavlik was a B- C+ level fighter at his best.

• Enrique Ornelas: Huh who? Really?

• Roy Jones, Jr.: The Roy Jones Jr. that met with Hopkins wasn't the same guy who beat Hopkins earlier in their careers. This Jones was a faded shell of his former self.

• Jean Pascal: Pascal like Pavlik and Cloud is a one dimensional fighter. He's a little slicker than Pavlik or Cloud but his punch output is usually low and he hadn't beaten anyone of note up to that point. I thought Hopkins won the first fight and how could he not. Pascal is a hype job.

• Tavoris Cloud: Power aside, Kelly Pavlik was a better fighter than Tavoris Cloud is. Cloud is essentially the James Kirkland of the Light Heavyweight division albeit with a little bit more power. Cloud looked awful once he started stepping up the competition. His punch output dropped and he has poor foot work and head movement. Campillo, an average fighter himself, exposed Cloud for what he really is so why is anyone surprised that Hopkins schooled this guy? Cloud like Pavlik and Pascal where all moved very carefully.

While Hopkins mastery of basic boxing skills is impressive what I'm really impressed by is his mastery of picking fighters who look dangerous on paper and then coning the public into thinking he's done something phenomenal. Hopkins is beating opponents he knows are weak or of lesser quality.

Seriously dude, stop trying to make Hopkins look bad

every fighter has their flaws, everything that u said about those fighters that u mentioned in ur little term paper can be said about any other fighter in some way

I challenge u to pick a fighter who is absolutely PERFECT

u can't do it, no one can, so then who do u want Hopkins to fight then? any other 40 something yr old would have failed trying to do what Hopkins has done

so GTFO and shut up!

[razor.thin]

While a 48 year old winning could be considered impressive I see much more than Hopkins skills at play here. Hopkins opponents have just as much to do, if not more so, with his winning the last few years.

If you look closely at the guys he's been fighting the last few years it should come as no surprise that a 40 something with excellent fundamentals is winning. Kelly Pavlik, Enrique Ornelas, Roy Jones, Jr., Jean Pascal, Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud all had their issue at the time Hopkins met them.

• Kelly Pavlik: Kelly was a very basic one/two puncher with some power. His boxing skills where average at best and when he moved up in weight to fight Hopkins he lost his power and was battling an alchohol problem. Even without the booze issues Pavlik was a B- C+ level fighter at his best.

• Enrique Ornelas: Huh who? Really?

• Roy Jones, Jr.: The Roy Jones Jr. that met with Hopkins wasn't the same guy who beat Hopkins earlier in their careers. This Jones was a faded shell of his former self.

• Jean Pascal: Pascal like Pavlik and Cloud is a one dimensional fighter. He's a little slicker than Pavlik or Cloud but his punch output is usually low and he hadn't beaten anyone of note up to that point. I thought Hopkins won the first fight and how could he not. Pascal is a hype job.

• Tavoris Cloud: Power aside, Kelly Pavlik was a better fighter than Tavoris Cloud is. Cloud is essentially the James Kirkland of the Light Heavyweight division albeit with a little bit more power. Cloud looked awful once he started stepping up the competition. His punch output dropped and he has poor foot work and head movement. Campillo, an average fighter himself, exposed Cloud for what he really is so why is anyone surprised that Hopkins schooled this guy? Cloud like Pavlik and Pascal where all moved very carefully.

While Hopkins mastery of basic boxing skills is impressive what I'm really impressed by is his mastery of picking fighters who look dangerous on paper and then coning the public into thinking he's done something phenomenal. Hopkins is beating opponents he knows are weak or of lesser quality.

great post!!

i swear these guys are blinded by their false knowledge of boxing.. this is the kind of place which says bhop has a great resume

[Japanese Boxing]

I think B hop is boring as **** in 90% of his fights. I can't deny that man is a ring genius.

[PunchyPotorff]

Oh boy, here we go. Not a surprising outcome. I knew Cloud had zero chance of winning, just like he did against Campillo. What would have been interesting is if the TRUE winner of Cloud's last fight, Campillo, had correctly received the nod, and it would've been Hopkins vs Campillo. THAT would have been a great back and forth fight with two great boxers. But, yeah, hats off to BHop. He did the job alot of we old guys wish we could do.

[PunchyPotorff]

Seriously dude, stop trying to make Hopkins look bad

every fighter has their flaws, everything that u said about those fighters that u mentioned in ur little term paper can be said about any other fighter in some way

I challenge u to pick a fighter who is absolutely PERFECT

u can't do it, no one can, so then who do u want Hopkins to fight then? any other 40 something yr old would have failed trying to do what Hopkins has done

so GTFO and shut up!

Indeed you have it down pat. Term paper. HA! That was killer man, you're the man.

[PunchyPotorff]

Just stop now, it's not worth it in any aspect unless you're a huge BHop bumsniff. I was tricked into watching the entire thing on stream, horrible, boring fight.

I guess you could say it's kind of like a veteran guitarist nailing a tough piece of music. The nuances may bore the pedestrian fan, but the true fan will pick up on it and love every second of it. I'm no boxing expert, and I certainly wasn't one in my short amateur career, but wow did BHop do some great subtle moves to embarrass this kid.

[Light_Speed]

Kelly Pavlik: Kelly was a very basic one/two puncher with some power. His boxing skills where average at best and when he moved up in weight to fight Hopkins he lost his power and was battling an alchohol problem. Even without the booze issues Pavlik was a B- C+ level fighter at his best.

Well hindsight is 20/20. Easy to talk about Pavlik's flaws after they've been exposed. The question is, did YOU pick B-Hop to win the fight?

Jean Pascal: Pascal like Pavlik and Cloud is a one dimensional fighter. He's a little slicker than Pavlik or Cloud but his punch output is usually low and he hadn't beaten anyone of note up to that point. I thought Hopkins won the first fight and how could he not. Pascal is a hype job.

LOL who do you think he got his title from? Pascal hadn't beaten anyone of note LMAO good one! Next time you try to sound intelligent, try to avoid blunders like this.

[ricky1978]

wow, I am telling you, I know that BHop is 48, but they need to stop thinking that he is stepping stone!! well, at least not yet....