Who won Calzaghe or Hopkins? Vote here.

[Gandalf]

Hopkins won the fight Calzaghe got a decision he did not deserve. Punches count not illegal slaps. Proof in the puddin was Slappy Joe was offered a rematch at home in wales in front of the supporters that had stood by him all his career. What a way to repay your fans that the bow out with a legitimate win over an ATG & Living Legend BUT
Calzaghe took the cowards way out & instead retired to a life of drink & debauchery.
In my opinion Calzaghe KNEW he could not legitimately beat Hopkins

Oooh in the heart of Dixie.

Fag!!

[Rantcatrat]

Hopkins won the fight Calzaghe got a decision he did not deserve. Punches count not illegal slaps. Proof in the puddin was Slappy Joe was offered a rematch at home in wales in front of the supporters that had stood by him all his career. What a way to repay your fans that the bow out with a legitimate win over an ATG & Living Legend BUT
Calzaghe took the cowards way out & instead retired to a life of drink & debauchery.
In my opinion Calzaghe KNEW he could not legitimately beat Hopkins

Maybe you missed the way Bernard disrespected Calzaghe up until the fight? Why would you do someone like Bernard a favor after he treated you that way? Also, Calzaghe retired after his next fight.

[Pugilistic]

i said earlier in his carear calazaghi didnt get put down, as his carear went on he started to go down a bit more

mitchell was the first to knock him over

IMO a younger hopkins may have faired better in their bout, also a younger calazaghi may have

Also IMO calazaghi may have settled earlier if the fight had been in britain and not given himself as much to do

However, hopkins has had some of his best wins around the time and since the calazaghi fight so he was definately not showing his age

I'm fully aware that Calzaghe had the ability to cause Hopkins problems. I just think a prime Hopkins would outbox him through 12 rounds.

Hopkins may of had good wins in his career at 40+ and was still in good for but It doesn't change the fact he was old and not as good as he used to be.

Hopkins performances over 40 have been up and down.

He looked great against Tarver, Pavlik and Pascal but looked terrible against Wright, Calzaghe and Jones.

Pugilistic - I believe the thing you are not taking into consideration is that a prime Bernard Hopkins was a middleweight. A prime Joe Calzaghe was a super middleweight. Hopkins' best wins in his prime were against smaller men. The Tito and Oscar fights were at 158 and 156 or are you referring to earlier? Maybe you are referring to p4p, which is all subjective anyway. Was Hopkins in his prime when RJJ beat him? My opinion is that between prime Roy/Bernard/Joe, on any given day, any of them could beat eachother. To be fair, it's a blemish on their records that they didn't face eachother in their primes. Scoreboard though: after the dust settled, only Joe is 2 & 0, Roy is 1 & 2, and Bernard is 1 & 2.

In regards to the Joe/Bernard fight, if Joe's punches were slaps, why didn't Bernard walk through them and control the pace?

I'm fully aware that both fighters dominated different weight classes. Hopkins was a big middleweight though, he could of easily have fitted in super middleweight without any problems.

Having watched loads of Hopkins fights, Hopkins prime began around 1997 and came to an end around 2003.

I appreciate your opinion regarding Calzaghe/Hopkins/Jones and i don't disagree with you. That's your opinion just like mine is Hopkins and Jones beat Joe and Jones beats Hopkins. At the end of the day, all those guys are ATG's and how people see their fights going is their opinion.

Bringing up how things ended up is irrelevant though considering Jones hadn't been the same since he beat Ruiz at heavyweight and Hopkins was good but not his best anymore. Joe wasn't a young guy himself age wise but he was close to his prime physically and mentally, more than both Jones and Hopkins anyway.

Regarding the Hopkins/Calzaghe fight, i never said Joe just slapped. He actually mixed in hard punches as well. I think those that say Joe slapped his way to a win are delusional. I remember Joe landing some good left hands down the stretch.

Exactly and a very important point. Hopkins best wins are over a bunch of tiny men who didn't belong anywhere near middleweight and then beyond more men who didn't belong at LHW. Hopkins is a lot of smoke and mirrors and he is canny and aware of that. He rarely chooses an opponent lightly.

Calzaghe was always bigger and only once Hopkins had moved up and adjusted was Calzaghe called upon and Hopkins was forced to resort to laying down to buy time against the workrate. The only thing I give Hopkins in his prime is more chance of being hurt and less laying on the canvas.

Trinidad and Oscar were not tiny men. These guys were fighting at 154 before the tried their luck at middleweight.

That's one weight division and only 6 pounds. your exaggerating on how small they are.

Trinidad proved he was a good middleweight by KOing Joppy something which Hopkins couldn't do even though he really tried too.

Trinidad was the favourite by about 6-1 and was supposed to KO Hopkins. Once Hopkins whipped his ass and sent him into retirement then people brought up the "weight" issue.

Oscar isn't a good win for Hopkins imo. he was simply a big money fight for Hopkins and Hopkins would of never turned that down, no fighter would.

Pavlik was a good win considering Hopkins was a big underdog and Pavlik was like Trinidad was supposed to KO Bhop.

Pavlik and Hopkins are basically the same size hence why only a year later Pavlik was struggling to make against Martinez.

Wright isn't a good win for Hopkins but a decent one considering Wright was the favourite.

Joe never had the power to hurt Hopkins. Hopkins hardly got hit let alone hurt. I can agree with the workrate to a certain extent but the power to hurt Hopkins is alot of doo doo.

Calzaghe had enough power to earn your respect but he never stopped anyone of any note similar to Hopkins.

[RohanKnight]

Hopkins won the fight Calzaghe got a decision he did not deserve. Punches count not illegal slaps. Proof in the puddin was Slappy Joe was offered a rematch at home in wales in front of the supporters that had stood by him all his career. What a way to repay your fans that the bow out with a legitimate win over an ATG & Living Legend BUT
Calzaghe took the cowards way out & instead retired to a life of drink & debauchery.

theres no way he won it. Prime, damn good champion (JC) versus ageing excellent champion, theres only one way it will go, the older guy hold his own and wins early rounds via better ability, the younger guy takes control later on through youthful fitness.

I think you USA guys should be happy that your fighter is definitely the better boxer and would have won prime 4 prime and likely would have knocked out Joe Calzaghe, but took the fight WAY too late in their career (ie when they should have been retired for at least half a decade) to win it.

I dont think you can call a boxer a coward for taking easy fights. Anyone who gets in the ring is not a coward, and anyone who puts in the training to keep winning, even agaisnt crap fighters for a whole decade the way Joe did, still deserves respect. Julio Cesar Chavez might have fought bums forever but he still but the graft in.

Sven Ottke ducked Joe for a long time, but I wouldnt call him a coward, merely he recognised his limitations, just like Joe knew RJJ was better than him. Mans gotta know his limitations, as the Spirit of the West once said. For that reason no one can legitemately call Sven Ottke or JC an ATG, but RJJ certainly is.

[Dia bando]

Mr Night 46 AND 0 O yes did Joe BEAT hopkins yes I think so?

[Master]

Joe won after coming from behind in a very boring fight that Joe had to initiate and Hopkins was faking a low blow to get some rest.

[RohanKnight]

Mr Night 46 AND 0 O yes did Joe BEAT hopkins yes I think so?

thats exactly what I said, Joe beat him.

Are you really trying to goad me by supporting my post? lol. let the bee out of your bonnet, mate.

[Dia bando]

That's the point with Hopkins faking and boring to watch it must be me I just cant see how people call him a ring great,I must need to more mind you I dont think i can drink that much ?

[Dia bando]

ME goad you never?

[RohanKnight]

That's the point with Hopkins faking and boring to watch it must be me I just cant see how people call him a ring great,I must need to more mind you I dont think i can drink that much ?

Oh, I see, you hate Hopkins. Thats understandable with the things he has said.

Nevertheless you cant ignore his level of skill. Herol Graham was the most skilled boxer I've seen in Europe at MW, and hes not exciting to watch but he was left you fully admiring his ability. The same can be said for Hopkins, he shocked me the way he kept unlocking Joe early on. JCs face would screw up all red in shock as he was thinking 'how the hell did he do that?' I wanted to know how he did it too!

I think I used to be like you, into exciting young fighters (young Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Nigel Benn, Dave McAuley, Terry Marsh) but as I have got older and my own lung power has dropped off, its fascinating seeing how someone older can make a monkey out of a younger man just through pure skill - mainly because its the only way an older guy can beat a younger man! That elicts a certain pride in your age to see Bhop outclassing Pascal and (for the first half of the fight) Calzaghe. I still need to see exciting fighters too, dont get me wrong, but a chessmatch isnt a bad watch to break up all the knockouts and wars.Its almost like watching boxing as tennis.

But I agree that hes a rotten loser and far from a gentleman. I must join you in your dislike for Bernard hes far from a decent representative of the human race.

[Dia bando]

Yes I do like Mr graham all way's have and would say Hopkins is not for me, a gent he is not this is not a gentlman's sport. Yes i do have a dislike for this person i get fed up of his trash tailking and I just think he is full of shit.

[Drago]

Calzaghe won!

i was there & I saw it with my own eyes haha

[Dia bando]

Great;

[ryanman]

Mr Night 46 AND 0 O yes did Joe BEAT hopkins yes I think so?

Nothing you say makes sense.

[Dia bando]

Joe's record 46 and 0 some people here think hopkins beat him,but the record book show's diffrent just remind 1 or 2 people but the TRUTH hurt's, Joe beat him that's it like it or not.