If Calzaghe beats Hopkins...................

Is it just going to be another bunch of arguments from everybody discrediting him? I can't see him getting any real credit, everybody will just say Hopkins, was Old and Shot and that Calzaghe would never have beaten him in his prime. For all we know Hopkins may well be better now than he ever has, I haven't seen any demise in his performances (o.k Taylor fights were muck) and he was very impressive against Tarver and Winky.

I can just see us all going round in circles again, the way we did after he beat Lacy (the fighter everybody said he must fight) Kessler (the guy everybody said he must fight)

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Originally Posted by BIG H

Is it just going to be another bunch of arguments from everybody discrediting him? I can't see him getting any real credit, everybody will just say Hopkins, was Old and Shot and that Calzaghe would never have beaten him in his prime. For all we know Hopkins may well be better now than he ever has, I haven't seen any demise in his performances (o.k Taylor fights were muck) and he was very impressive against Tarver and Winky.

I can just see us all going round in circles again, the way we did after he beat Lacy (the fighter everybody said he must fight) Kessler (the guy everybody said he must fight)

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Sorry but i have to disagree BIG H i didn't think Hopkins was that impressive against Wright, i thought the fight was rubbish and a dirty affair. Unfortunately for Calzaghe he come around at the wrong time, when there was no more Benn, Prime Eubank, Collins, Watson, and also fighters like Hopkins, Toney, Jones, were all at different weight classes. The Super Middleweight division has not had any stars in over a decade, and as for Hopkins vs Calzaghe i will give Calzaghe plenty of credit for the win. Hopkins is a top 3 P4P fighter and is one of the best fighters of the modern era, Hopkins isn't in his peak and i would be silly to say so, but Hopkins is still a good fighter and remember Hopkins peaked at a late age. It still doesn't get him into top 20 of all time like other people think, and i don't think he will move up in P4P rankings either because i have him at number 3 i believe, and he won't move up past Pacquiao or Mayweather.

And can i just say that i give Calzaghe all credit in the world for Kessler win, but sorry not the Lacy win. He was so overrated its not even funny, all these people that were picking Lacy had they even seen Lacy vs Vanderpool or Lacy vs Sheika ?? because if they had i find it hard to believe they would pick Lacy over very skilled fighter like Calzaghe, because Lacy struggled badly in those fights with mediocre fighters.

And one last thing i think Calzaghe should of moved up to Light Heavyweight years ago. He always talked about it because he had trouble making the Super Middleweight limit.

Yeh - agree with a fair bit of that mate

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Originally Posted by BIG H

Yeh - agree with a fair bit of that mate

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Me too. Although I think to beat Winky, he had to make it an ugly affair. He absolutely stuck to a game plan. The plan didn't involve moving around or keeping a distance as much as say when he was in with Eastman.

Hopkins looked good in the Tarver fight but that was because Traver's timing and sharpness had disappeared overnight never to return, so it’s hard for me to know exactly where Hopkins is at. He still looks sharp, quick and more than confident but have his legs gone? Does he have any punch resistance? Will he be totally over worked by Calzaghe?

That’s why I find this fight so intriguing. Hopkins has a lot of questions (or assumptions) hanging over his head yet he's taking his biggest fight in years.... A fight where he has no choice but to answer every single one of them!

I think at this point it’s just a case of ''wait and see'' because only once ive seen the fight will I then know exactly where Hopkins is at, simply because im pretty damn sure I know which Calzaghe will turn up.

personally i don't think hopkins should even be in the top 10 p4p, but he is...

Joe won get much from it. but he will retire hopkins, and he will do it in the states. its more of a where he done it rather than who he done it against.

he said it him self, kessler is the best boxer from middle to LHW he could of fought and he beat him. Veerything he does now is for money and to shut the fucking know nothings up.

Im not a Calzaghe fan i don't like him as a person either but as fighter i look at him like this 44-0 and only a handful of meaningful fights its not great really similar to Hatton 43-1 and only handful of meaningful fights.

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Originally Posted by BIG H

Is it just going to be another bunch of arguments from everybody discrediting him? I can't see him getting any real credit, everybody will just say Hopkins, was Old and Shot and that Calzaghe would never have beaten him in his prime.

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But that's all exactly right. The whole reason why I favor Calzaghe to win the fight now is that the current Old (though not "Shot") Hopkins doesn't throw any punches. See, for instance, Hopkins v. Taylor (I and II). Calzaghe will win based on pure output.

Now Calzaghe still would have thrown more than a vintage mid-to-late-90s Hopkins, but that Hopkins would have thrown enough (and would have thrown with a lot more power) to have made it a very different fight. And I definitely would have favored that version of Hopkins. No question.

I don't think this should be that big of a deal because Calzaghe should be clear favorite IMO. Hopkins looked pretty back against Wright, and the scorecards didn't give Wright even close to the justice he deserved... If Hopkins won half those rounds they gave him, he won them by a thread. Against Tarver, he didn't have to do all that much, like Tarver looked ever worse than he did against Jones the third fight. His feet looked like they were stuck in the quicksand, his handspeed looked like he was career twenty bound dumbells. Regardless of all Tarver would have, and can still beat almost anyone else at LHW, and HOpkins did have better movement, timing in that fight then against Wright. However, Calzaghe IMO didn't look super great against Kessler, he was getting countered by Kessler, and he basically outworked Kessler and fought at a pace Kessler couldn't keep up with. Well Hopkins is one of the few guys that can take that pace away, Hopkins will force you to fight at distances you don't want to, he is a better counter puncher than Kessler, he's far better defensively than Kessler, but I don't see how he can beat Calzaghe throwing 30 punches a round which Calzaghe's movement will more or less limit him to. Will Calzaghe dominate this fight? I doubt it, but he will win most rounds in perhaps the ugliest stylistic matchup of this millenium.

:coolclick: Big H unless it's a fight like the Hopkins Taylor fight calzaghe won't get much credit for a win because everyone will say it was because Hopkins was old.

It's an argument as old as boxing itself and a reality.Calzaghe not exactly young himself nor is Hopkins a "raggad" 43 and has perserved as a fine Cognac.
Anyone that does not Give prop's to Calzaghe IF he defeats Hopkins is a bias fanboy anyway as Joe deserves nothing but Respect in victory and Me personally....I'll stand and salute.
Whatever you think of Hopkins ,good or bad,like or dislike, He is an alltime great regardless and In my opinion is 5 times the smart and effective fighter he was at 33.He owned Wright by the second round has never pretended to be picture perfect crowed pleasing fighter (he thrives on the opposite ).
Calzaghe went in and Beat an overhyped and over produced Lacy like Jeff had insulted his mother.Met the best going in superb victory over Kessler and deserves this fight.Great match up and the winner gets nothing but respect.

Anybody counting out the old hound Hopkins is goddamn idiot.

Calzaghe is one of those fighters that will never get the respect he deserves. Who else has annihilated their 2 nearest rivals the way he did to Jeff and to a lesser extent,Kess?People are saying Bernard doesn't throw much etc etc and Joe will win on work rate,then how did B Hop beat WInky,who usually throws 60 punches per round and upwards? How did he beat Tarver who throws more than him? Why is B Hop P4P top 5? Facts are facts,Joe has taken some tough fights and this is another 1,against a fellow P4Per.A man ,no matter how old,manages to find a way to win.

And Joe isn't exactly young himself,is he?

I think Calzaghe is just the wrong type of guy for Hopkins, unless Calzaghe starts trying to exchange... Jermain Taylor doesn't get the credit he deserves in his fights with Hopkins, but he did well in the exchanges with Hopkins a lot of the time, he took Hopkins' hard right hands, and he didn't get lured into the fight Hopkins wanted. Say what you want but both fights were really close, and IMO Bernard Hopkins' fight with Winky was really close as well. People say he has been finding ways to win, but Taylor is no Calzaghe, and Winky is far from the guy he was at the lower weights, and still they gave Bernard all he could handle. Getting back to my first point Calzaghe in and out style when he is focused is a little too fast for Bernard at this point in his career... 5 years ago Calzaghe is getting countered by bombs, but at this stage Bernard will be forced to move away and way for an oppertunity to get inside which Calzaghe's high output will make difficult. However Calzaghe was having a hard enough time hitting Kessler a whole lot and he was getting countered by the Dane a lot which gives me some hope for Hopkins in that perhaps his great footwork will really limit Calzaghe's output and that Calzaghe is very easy opponent to counter punches because he doesn't fight fundamentally.

Also about the age... Its not that HOpkins is 43 its that he looked older against Winky than he did against Tarver, not that his opponent was better but he was slower and he was less sharp, and against Tarver he still looked slower than when he fought Taylor. While Calzaghe has still maintained most of his speed, and his always improving technically... I mean he is only a year or two older than Bernard was when he fought Tito and that was in 1999.