Reguardless of who you think won....

Both Guys deserve a ton of credit. Joe for fighting a determined fight. He made adjustments and after the fight was very honest in saying it was the hardest fight of his career. And Hopkins once again proved that even at his age he is still one of the best in the world and he knows all the tricks. He fought a very competitive fight against another great fighter of this generation. I think this fight ultimately furthered their legacys. Both ATG fighters without a doubt with some remarkable accomplishments.

Exactly my thoughts on the subject... If the fight had of continued down the same past they were heading through rounds 1, 2 & 3, Hopkins would have clearly had Joe's number... If you want to see an example of how Hopkins beats Joe, watch the first half of the fight... If you want to see an example of how Calzaghe beats Hopkins, watch the second half...

It's the middle rounds I believe where the judges had the fight go one way or another..

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Originally Posted by BoomBoom

Both Guys deserve a ton of credit. Joe for fighting a determined fight. He made adjustments and after the fight was very honest in saying it was the hardest fight of his career. And Hopkins once again proved that even at his age he is still one of the best in the world and he knows all the tricks. He fought a very competitive fight against another great fighter of this generation. I think this fight ultimately furthered their legacys. Both ATG fighters without a doubt with some remarkable accomplishments.

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Hopkins gave one of the best performances i've ever seen from 40+ fighter, that just shows you how good he is that he can take a fighter like Calzaghe who is in his prime all the way to a close razor thin decision. Calzaghe did look sloppy and ordinary at times IMO. I will give Calzaghe a lot of credit even though i think he lost, he still got up from that knockdown and fought on like a true champion.

I am gonna get grilled for this but I thought both could have looked a lot better. Both of them looked over the hill in there. I know Hopkins can make guys look bad but it was just so slappy and sloppy to me.

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Originally Posted by ICB

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Originally Posted by BoomBoom

Both Guys deserve a ton of credit. Joe for fighting a determined fight. He made adjustments and after the fight was very honest in saying it was the hardest fight of his career. And Hopkins once again proved that even at his age he is still one of the best in the world and he knows all the tricks. He fought a very competitive fight against another great fighter of this generation. I think this fight ultimately furthered their legacys. Both ATG fighters without a doubt with some remarkable accomplishments.

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Hopkins gave one of the best performances i've ever seen from 40+ fighter, that just shows you how good he is that he can take a fighter like Calzaghe who is in his prime all the way to a close razor thin decision. Calzaghe did look sloppy and ordinary at times IMO. I will give Calzaghe a lot of credit even though i think he lost, he still got up from that knockdown and fought on like a true champion.

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Absolutely, and I do think he fought his fight most of the rounds. Joe was just busier and outworked him slightly in some of the middle/latter rounds.

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Originally Posted by Dizaster

Exactly my thoughts on the subject... If the fight had of continued down the same past they were heading through rounds 1, 2 & 3, Hopkins would have clearly had Joe's number... If you want to see an example of how Hopkins beats Joe, watch the first half of the fight... If you want to see an example of how Calzaghe beats Hopkins, watch the second half...

It's the middle rounds I believe where the judges had the fight go one way or another..

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I agree 100% Extremely competitive fight on the elite level.

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Originally Posted by BoomBoom

Both Guys deserve a ton of credit. Joe for fighting a determined fight. He made adjustments and after the fight was very honest in saying it was the hardest fight of his career. And Hopkins once again proved that even at his age he is still one of the best in the world and he knows all the tricks. He fought a very competitive fight against another great fighter of this generation. I think this fight ultimately furthered their legacys. Both ATG fighters without a doubt with some remarkable accomplishments.

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Well said... I agree

It is, my fight of the year, and I doubt if we'll ever see a fight with this p4p talent in a long time.

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Originally Posted by JLAQ

It is, my fight of the year, and I doubt if we'll ever see a fight with this p4p talent in a long time.

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Are you serious? Fight of the year?

Haven't we already had Marquez vs Vazquez, Pac vs JM Marquez, not to mention coming up Cotto vs Margarito.

I thought it was an ok fight, but like most B Hop fights it gets a bit boring. I don't see this one as a fight I'll be watching again.

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Originally Posted by ICB

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Originally Posted by BoomBoom

Both Guys deserve a ton of credit. Joe for fighting a determined fight. He made adjustments and after the fight was very honest in saying it was the hardest fight of his career. And Hopkins once again proved that even at his age he is still one of the best in the world and he knows all the tricks. He fought a very competitive fight against another great fighter of this generation. I think this fight ultimately furthered their legacys. Both ATG fighters without a doubt with some remarkable accomplishments.

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Hopkins gave one of the best performances i've ever seen from 40+ fighter, that just shows you how good he is that he can take a fighter like Calzaghe who is in his prime all the way to a close razor thin decision. Calzaghe did look sloppy and ordinary at times IMO. I will give Calzaghe a lot of credit even though i think he lost, he still got up from that knockdown and fought on like a true champion.

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Agree and disagree mate.

Disagree that calz is at his prime, hes 36, i dont think hes at his prime tbh. Not far over but past his best by a bit.

Id say though that i agree with you about hopkins, definately a great fighter, hall of famer. Hopkins took calzaghe all the way and knocked him on the floor in round 1, outclassed him with classic counter punching there.

But i disagree that hopkins won, i had it 115,113 to calzaghe, bhop taking the first 3 rounds, but calz took the 4th (no one can deny that), and then took 6 rounds later in the fight aswell, giving joe 7 of the rounds, hopkins 4 rounds (and a 10,8 round) and a 1 drawn round meaning calz win the fight by 2 points.

I cant see how you can get a 114/113 to hopkins though, it means you are giving hopkins some of the rounds that i thought clazaghe clearly won?

No doubt bhop won the first 3 and the 9th but the rest of the fight joe did enough.

Both great fighters but in the end it was the true champ joe calzaghe who played bernard at his own game and proved why he is now the winner and ring mag light heavy champ!:)

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Originally Posted by Deanrw

I am gonna get grilled for this but I thought both could have looked a lot better. Both of them looked over the hill in there. I know Hopkins can make guys look bad but it was just so slappy and sloppy to me.

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Were you expecting jc to ko hopkins???

Is anything other than a ko not good enough?

We saw bhop against jones and taylor when he lost, they were also sloppy fights. You cant beat bhop with a ko or a clear cut schooling, the guy just has too much class and is too experienced and tough for that.

The most likely outcome ocured in the end. Joe won the fight in a scrappy fight, bhop put joe on the floor once but joe came back and started beating him at his own game, he figured out how to beat bhop, he adapted and although scrappy THATS THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN BEAT BHOP! His philly style defense and clinching is very very difficult to beat and be convincing...in the end despite being knocked down joe came back to start to show why he is champ, he pushed the fight and out mastered the master!

Both fighters showed that they truly are brilliant BOXING MINDS! They both showed their greatness (albeit i dislike hopkins dirty tactics a lot, uneccessary), and although bhop lost he did prove why he is a hall of famer, he has that philly style defense and awesome counter punching ability.

But in the end it wsa the work rate and determination i think that combined with calzaghes boxing mind to figure out how to beat bhop at his own game, something that he could not do earlier on.

Both are marvellous tacticians and boxing minds, on this occassion it was joe who out mastered the master:)

Edit... a lesser fighter would have crimbled against hopkins and not found a way back in the fight because although they might have the determination and stamina, they wont have the same ability to adapt and improvise in the situation to beat bhop at his own game...this is where the ring craft of joe calzaghe came into action, the combination of his stamina, dertermination and ring craft ability.

I tell you what though, if anything this fight has proved that hopkins is a hall of famer and can retire proud, he put on a great performance even though losing on the day by a slim margin.

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Originally Posted by BoomBoom

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Originally Posted by Dizaster

Exactly my thoughts on the subject... If the fight had of continued down the same past they were heading through rounds 1, 2 & 3, Hopkins would have clearly had Joe's number... If you want to see an example of how Hopkins beats Joe, watch the first half of the fight... If you want to see an example of how Calzaghe beats Hopkins, watch the second half...

It's the middle rounds I believe where the judges had the fight go one way or another..

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I agree 100% Extremely competitive fight on the elite level.

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Agree to that, worth staying up for :)

I agree and disagree. Joe made adjustments,and won imo. B Hop,for 43 years old,looked amazing. However,neither looked like a P4P top 3 fighter. Their styles didn't compliment each other well,so even though there were plus points,there were also some negatives too.

Some fights are a battle of physical fitness, strenth, speed, endurance, youth..
This was a battle of wits, tactics, will & gameplan...

You don't often get 2 guys that have had that much winning experience that both give it 100%, and I appreciated every minute of it.. Even when I was getting pissed that Calzaghe could only get off 2 shots before Hopkins grabbing him.. But it just meant Calzaghe had to adapt by backing out as quick as he went in and attacked before Hopkins could grab him... But Calzaghe never really did that until later in the fight. And still not really nail it 100%.. If he had of fought more off his toes, bouncing in and out, he could have truely looked like he was completely outworking Hopkins... The only real hold that pissed me off was the one just after the taps for 10 seconds left of the final round, and 5 seconds of it was calzaghe trying to pull his arm out of Hopkins Grip... The last 10 seconds of a fight should be toe to toe...
If Hopkins still had that KO killer instinct of his younger days, I think it still would have been just as even, as it would have allowed Calzaghe to get more shot off as well... Two craftsman at work, and Hopkins fought a brilliant fight that on certain days would have won him the fight.. If Calzaghe had loosened up even later in the fight than he did, I think more rounds would have had to go to Hopkins, and the win..
Calzaghe just didn't look himself for most of the fight, but in the end on the cards, he won the fight...
It wasn't as explosive or action packed as other fights this year and last year, but I appreciated every minute of it, and equally appreciated that both these guys set this fight up for us fans....

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Originally Posted by El Gamo

I agree and disagree. Joe made adjustments,and won imo. B Hop,for 43 years old,looked amazing. However,neither looked like a P4P top 3 fighter. Their styles didn't compliment each other well,so even though there were plus points,there were also some negatives too.

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Anyone hopkins fights doesnt look like a p4p top fighter.

Bhop has beaten trinidad, odlh, wright, tarver, johnson but hes not a p4p fighter?

Calz has beaten hopkins, kessler, lacy, eubank and reid and hes not a p4p fighter?

Jones didnt look like a p4p great when he squeezed a win against bhop either. Whenever nard fights its not a v exciting fight, thats his style.

The fact is, calzaghe now moves up the p4p list. He is 45,0,0 and just added a win against hopkins in las vegas to his record.

Not bad for the 'non straight punching, no power, slapping brawler' eh?:rolleyes:

Wont it be funny when the 'non straight punching, no power, slapping brawler' beats jones and pavlik aswell;)

both guys deserve credit. joe deserves credit for fighting in the states
and moving up in weight to fight bhop.