Hopkins is not untouchable. Pascal of all people proved that when he flailed him down a few times. Hopkins was a naturally bigger guy used to taking middle weight punches. Add to that they worked over Tito before the fight. Naseem richardson and the hand wrap controversy, the squabbles at the press conferences, the flag throwing issue. It was all done intentionally to wear Tito down. Tito was raging..and had the pressure of a whole island on his shoulders.

Did they need that to beat Tito? probably not Tito is a fairly straight ahead fighter and hopkins is going to work over a fighter like that with fouling, talking and smothering and working a kid like Tito (who needs room to punch) over on the inside. So it wasn't necessary but good insurance. The deck was stacked against Tito by the time the bell range for round 1 but the promotion made things seem much more even.