Tavoris Cloud vs. Bernard Hopkins - Saturday night chat/fight thread

[TitoFan]

Hopkins is near impossible to knock out, no matter how old he is. Also, he's a survivor and will resort to any tactics necessary to avoid a blowout. I hope I'm wrong, but a DQ wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Either way, expect an ugly fight.

[CFH]

Hopkins is near impossible to knock out, no matter how old he is. Also, he's a survivor and will resort to any tactics necessary to avoid a blowout. I hope I'm wrong, but a DQ wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Either way, expect an ugly fight.

I don't know. He was dropped a couple of times by Pascal, who is hardly a huge puncher. Could be a sign his chin is leaving him. We'll certainly find out against Cloud.

[TitoFan]

Hopkins is near impossible to knock out, no matter how old he is. Also, he's a survivor and will resort to any tactics necessary to avoid a blowout. I hope I'm wrong, but a DQ wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Either way, expect an ugly fight.

I don't know. He was dropped a couple of times by Pascal, who is hardly a huge puncher. Could be a sign his chin is leaving him. We'll certainly find out against Cloud.

Cloud's best chance at a TKO is to fight smart. Hopkins will try to rough house him, clinch, maybe a subtle foul here and there, in short.... frustrate the man. Hopkins knows he can't win the youth, power, and endurance battle. If Cloud just starts looking for the knockout, we're almost guaranteed an ugly-ass fight.

[IamInuit]

Hopkins is near impossible to knock out, no matter how old he is. Also, he's a survivor and will resort to any tactics necessary to avoid a blowout. I hope I'm wrong, but a DQ wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Either way, expect an ugly fight.

I don't know. He was dropped a couple of times by Pascal, who is hardly a huge puncher. Could be a sign his chin is leaving him. We'll certainly find out against Cloud.

Cloud's best chance at a TKO is to fight smart. Hopkins will try to rough house him, clinch, maybe a subtle foul here and there, in short.... frustrate the man. Hopkins knows he can't win the youth, power, and endurance battle. If Cloud just starts looking for the knockout, we're almost guaranteed an ugly-ass fight.

That is a tall order

I just cant see him out boxing or out smarting Hopkins. Cloud only seems to fight one way. This could be the evening when father time really makes his presence known but IF Hopkins is even 50% it could prove to be a long tutorial for Mr. Cloud.

I agree with you on Hops chin. Its titanium and he's really only been dropped about three times his entire career cleanly and has never from what I've seen been hurt. I also agree that Hop knows every trick in the book and with Clouds style I think Hop will take advantage of where the ref is all night. Clouds only hope imo is to blow his wad over the first six rounds cause he wont win a battle of attrition. Problem for Cloud is that Hopkins knows this. The boxing establishment would consider Hop winning an upset. I wouldn't. I have this feeling that this may be Bernards fight even if he wins unless he's trying to break Moores longevity record.

[Master]

Love him or hate him, you have to admire Hopkins to fight at his age against top opposition is frankly amazing.

[Spicoli]

Pascal was a ring general compared to Cloud who wears his intention on his sleeve. He had tempo and set up on his shots. Cloud has one gear from what I've seen and its very primal...jump on his chest with those straight punches and pretend its only a 6 round fight. Cloud is stronger...he shouldn't think outside of that, and that alone.

[ross]

Hopkins is near impossible to knock out, no matter how old he is. Also, he's a survivor and will resort to any tactics necessary to avoid a blowout. I hope I'm wrong, but a DQ wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Either way, expect an ugly fight.

I don't know. He was dropped a couple of times by Pascal, who is hardly a huge puncher. Could be a sign his chin is leaving him. We'll certainly find out against Cloud.

Id say he is a pretty good puncher. He dropped Hopkins legitimately, something Dawson couldnt do and he hurt Dawson a few times too.

[El Kabong]

Cloud has to win this fight 1 way, EFFECTIVE PRESSURE. Cloud has to hound Hopkins all night, hit with bad intentions wherever you can land, try to pary or slip as much from Hopkins as possible but never let him breathe, never let him clinch or tie up....keep the hands working and the head moving. Hopkins legs will leave him and you can corner the old man and once that happens throw the kitchen sink at him!

[Mars_ax]

Cloud has to win this fight 1 way, EFFECTIVE PRESSURE. Cloud has to hound Hopkins all night, hit with bad intentions wherever you can land, try to pary or slip as much from Hopkins as possible but never let him breathe, never let him clinch or tie up....keep the hands working and the head moving. Hopkins legs will leave him and you can corner the old man and once that happens throw the kitchen sink at him!

That's what i'm taking about, knock the old fart senseless, and put him in a retirement home. War Tavoris!

[El Kabong]

I don't know if Cloud will KO Hopkins just because Hopkins is a legend and he's just an extremely cagey fighter who has never ever been easy to fight...but I would like to see Hopkins get hammered into the canvas and Cloud has the strength to do that, does he have the ability? We will have to wait and see.

WAR CLOUD!!!

[Kirkland Laing]

Purses for Saturday night.

Hopkins $750k
Cloud $550k
Thurman $150k
Zaveck $25k plus his domestic TV rights.

[Spicoli]

Cloud has to win this fight 1 way, EFFECTIVE PRESSURE. Cloud has to hound Hopkins all night, hit with bad intentions wherever you can land, try to pary or slip as much from Hopkins as possible but never let him breathe, never let him clinch or tie up....keep the hands working and the head moving. Hopkins legs will leave him and you can corner the old man and once that happens throw the kitchen sink at him!

Sounds like a pefect plan. I just have to wonder with his heavy forward foot if Hopkins will feint him out of one boot or two before he counters

on a side note it just occured to me we'll have to sit and watch Don King parade around in that crusty blue denim jacket and his rats nest of a hairdo. Wonderful

[Mars_ax]

Cloud has to win this fight 1 way, EFFECTIVE PRESSURE. Cloud has to hound Hopkins all night, hit with bad intentions wherever you can land, try to pary or slip as much from Hopkins as possible but never let him breathe, never let him clinch or tie up....keep the hands working and the head moving. Hopkins legs will leave him and you can corner the old man and once that happens throw the kitchen sink at him!

Sounds like a pefect plan. I just have to wonder with his heavy forward foot if Hopkins will feint him out of one boot or two before he counters

on a side note it just occured to me we'll have to sit and watch Don King parade around in that crusty blue denim jacket and his rats nest of a hairdo. Wonderful

It'll be interesting to watch Hops' expressions when his old promoter DK starts parading around the ring, i'm sure there's no love lost between these 2 ex-cons.

[El Kabong]

Hopkins 174.4 - Cloud 173.8

Last 2 fights Hopkins weighed 173 & 1/2

Last 3 fights Cloud has weighed 175...looks like Abel Sanchez at the very least has made Tavoris work hard in training camp

[armin]

Would love to see zaveck spring the upset, saddly its over within 6 in thurmans favor probably.