When you think of Bernard Hopkins what's the first thing that comes to mind?

[JJRod]

The first thing that comes to mind is legend.
Dude who was willing to do absolutely anything to win.
Had a lot of dull fights, but some great fights as well.
Can't believe the dude is 50+ and still in the ring.

[Zaroku]

Beating Tito and de la Hoya.

[niceyboo3]

Greatest fighter of the 2000's.

This is highly laughable, I mean debatable.

[Combat Talk Radio]

"When you think of Bernard Hopkins what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

"Nine rounds to NOTHING..."

[SunSpace]

Cunning. He's the only fighter I've seen who, instead of being chastised, received credit for fighting dirty. He's a Slytherin and always found a way to stay in fights. His style/defense is better than Mayweather's, as his longevity testifies to.

Wow, there's so many terms that describe his key attributes that I'm not sure I could go with just one. As others have said, Hopkins' discipline was his strongest weapon. He certainly deserves many of the other designations others have given him in this thread, as well. Hopkins is a man of many, many main attributes, which were what made him such a fearsome opponent.

I never liked his racist antics, but it appears to be part of what fueled him as a person. Almost like a sort of Black Panther-esque response to the racist world around him, but in an equally racist manner.

What made no sense was his disrespect toward Puerto Ricans, because he must have realized at some point that they were Black, too. But I feel he kinda hyped that up on purpose to get inside Tito's head.

Nevertheless, if you were to be any fighter in boxing history, in any random match-up, I don't see how you could go wrong with picking Hopkins. No matter which fight, I can't ever imagine Hopkins being blown out. Even when he loses, it's like he didn't lose at all. As funny as that "Alien" nickname was, it fit his career well.

[robertzimmerman]

For me it damn sure ain't the MW title defense record. That's so far down the list I didn't even know he held the record until GGG fans started using it as an excuse for GGG not to move up. Hopkins is know for Oscar, Trinidad, moving up two weight classes & dominating. Moving down for a catchweight against Pavlik. Beating a young lion Pascal. Throwing the Puerto Rican flag on the ground twice, including once in Puerto Rico Beating Winky Wright. The middleweight defense record is never brought up unless it's being used as an excuse for GGG not to challenge himself. I remember calls for Hopkins to move up before the ODLH & Trinidad fights. There are no ODLH or Trinidad's currently at 154 & GGG is to old to wait out Spence who will eventually move up to MW. His style isn't conducive to a long career like Hopkins.

Oh look, another Gennady Golovkin thread.

Aren't we all blessed to have you here?

[Contra]

First off, nice bait and switch by the op. Start a thread about B-hop that is actually (surprise, surprise) a thread to disparage Gennady Golovkin.


Moving on...

When I think of Bernard Hopkins, a couple of things come to mind:

He showed that good boxing technique and dedication to training can allow a fighter to go well beyond his prime physical years, and he also showed that pugilism is as much a mental game as it is a physical one.


However, I also clearly remember how so many posters on nsb (you all know who you are) swore that he would expose Kovalev, drag him into deep waters and drown him, etc. And when Kovalev knocked him down, outboxed him, and won every round, all of the sudden he became Grandpa Hopkins, a 50 y.o. fighter that was bound to lose to Sergey.

That's not his fault, though. He showed a lot of balls and earned even more respect from me than he already had.