Would Hopkins and Taylor ever fight again?

[Tam Seddon]

This fight in my mind could make sense...

Hopkins wants to avenge the two loses and by fighting Taylor ir would give him an even better chance of cementing his legacy

Taylor is coming off two loses to Pavlik but he needs to get himself back into the picture again. Hopkins' name at this present momment is a lot bigger than Taylors although hes already beaten him twice. So maybe Taylor offering Hopkins a third fight would in fact help get his name back into contention?

Taylor is now fighting at 168 and with Hopkins being at 175 they could easily arrange the fight.

Maybe im just seeing it wrong, but if I was Hopkins I would certainly think about it...

[hfahrenheit]

Any name fight for Taylor beyond the Lacy fight would be great for him; imagine if he dominated Lacy, and beat Hopkins a third time, he's then wide open for Pavlik or Calzaghe considerations, as well as Bute, Kessler, Miranda, Froch, or Pascal.

But, to answer your question, I don't see B-Hop ducking any big money. Jermain would have to generate a lot of hype with a convincing decision or knockout against Lacy in order to get the fight. I would like to see him and Kessler clear out the division and then go to war with one another, Juan Manuel Marquez v Manny Pacquiao style. But, I'm a fan so there's a lot of bias in that statement.

Above all, to stay relevant, JT needs some convincing wins to generate some buzz.

[Gandalf]

If Calzaghe wipes out Jones then it might well be a viable alternative for Hopkins. Calzaghe doesnt really want a rematch and a destroyed Jones Jr wont have any real currency for a Hopkins rematch.

Otherwise I cannot see it, and even then its probably a slim chance.

[Fenster]

Their two fights were SHIT. I highly doubt anyone would want to sell a 3rd one.

I think Hopkins would beat him now though.. no problem.

[Pugilistic]

I don't see the point in a rematch.

Even if it was to happen and Hopkins got the win the series would be 2-1 to Taylor.

Hopkins hasn't got any interest in fighting Taylor anyway, He wants Jones and Calzaghe now.

[Tam Seddon]

Any name fight for Taylor beyond the Lacy fight would be great for him; imagine if he dominated Lacy, and beat Hopkins a third time, he's then wide open for Pavlik or Calzaghe considerations, as well as Bute, Kessler, Miranda, Froch, or Pascal.

But, to answer your question, I don't see B-Hop ducking any big money. Jermain would have to generate a lot of hype with a convincing decision or knockout against Lacy in order to get the fight. I would like to see him and Kessler clear out the division and then go to war with one another, Juan Manuel Marquez v Manny Pacquiao style. But, I'm a fan so there's a lot of bias in that statement.

Above all, to stay relevant, JT needs some convincing wins to generate some buzz.

thats what I was thinking. At the end of the day I still consider JT a great threat to any fighter 160-175 IMO. But lets just hope he gets through Lacy and we can see some good fights materalise. I would of thought that Hopkins would been keen to fight Taylor if he gets a couple of good names under his belt

[littlerock]

Before the Hopkins/Pavlik fight, I was actually tossing around a far-fetched, three pronged hypothetical scenario that had Hopkins beating Pavlik, Calzaghe beating Jones, and Taylor beating Lacy in order to set up a Taylor/Hopkins trilogy (as someone else pointed out, Jones needs to lose in order for this to even be considered, otherwise he is Hopkins' first choice).

Now, with Hopkins' surprising showing against Pavlik, this scenario seems entirely plausible.

But I really can't see where either fighter would be interested in it.

Hopkins tried to solve the Taylor puzzle twice, and couldn't do it... at least not well enough to convince more than 1 out of 6 judges. Maybe at 170 lbs he would fair better and eek out a win, but Taylor's combination of speed, power, and awkwardness still present a match-up problem for Hopkins. Pavlik made BHOP look good, but the only time he looked that good against Taylor was when Taylor was gassed in the later rounds. And I would argue that the Taylor we saw in the rematch with Pavlik was a better fighter than the Taylor that beat Hopkins twice - calmer, more disciplined, stayed off the ropes, more accurate, etc, etc.

Also, Taylor has reason to shy away from Hopkins III because you could easily argue that the first two fights with Hopkins made him a different fighter, and not for the better. I think those fights significantly contributed to Jermain's diminished confidence in the ring. I feel we could finally see him restoring that bravado against Lacy in a few weeks... so putting it all on the line again so soon against Hopkins would be risking the rest of his career. Plus, if he loses to Hopkins in a third matchup, it SERIOUSLY puts the credibility of his first two controversial victories in question, even moreso than they already are after his two losses to Pavlik, who was dominated by Hopkins.

Besides, Taylors only motivation to fight Hopkins again would be to beat him DECISIVELY this time around, which nobody has done to Hopkins since Jones. So even by winning again, if it's a close victory like the others, he doesn't really gain anything. He'd have to do the impossible to make the fight worth his while.

So... as a fight fan I would actually like to see them go at it again, but I am predicting that neither guy wants to revisit that phase of their careers.