Hate to say it but..Hopkins might do a number on Calzaghe!!!

[Fenster]

Swapped back to Hopkins again Smash?

Before the fight you'll be back on Calzaghe.. gauranteed.. then Hopkins, then Calzaghe....

Only problem I see for Joey boyo is the fight being in Vegas. He could get "robbed."

And even if not robbed, Hopkins will make the fight as boring and ugly as humanly possible.. so tough to score.

[Master]

I cannot see anything other than a Galzaghe win. Sure it is his first time at light heavy and it is away from home and it is against a spoiler who once was a great fighter in his own country. It will be exactly like the Bika fight and Joe will out point him 115-113.

[ono]

I think Hopkins style is one which Calzaghe will have trouble with. But i don't see a 43 year old Hopkins being active enough to take advantage of the trouble he will cause calzaghe.

Calzaghe sometimes loses his composure when he's in with a dirty fighter. He's also guilty of trying to impress too much and leaving himself open to straight rights.

I reckon Hopkins will get inside his head but i don't think he has the workrate or power to do anything other than make the fight a bit scrappy. Calzaghe should win on workrate alone.

UD calzaghe.....in a fight that will actually not really be that close but the judges will have it 115-113 ish.

[smashup]

Hopkins better be tip top fitness wise for this because JC will set off a fierce pace early on but i'm intruiged to see how the old master deals with it
Like i said i think he's got the experience to do it and force Joe to change his gameplan (which he will do) then back over to Hopkins to out think him in return.....
Can't wait for this one.

[Bomp]

At first I thought it would be an easy UD for Joe, but loads of writers seem to be making a case for B-hop and they're making me a little twitchy, but that happens every Joe C fight for me.

Though B-hop was at middle for a long time, he does seem to have more physicallity than JC. IUt's going to be tough for Joe, but IMO it's his fight to lose. If he boxes behind his jab early he can get rounds in the bank, forcing B-hop to take the initiative later on then he can be the counter puncher. As long as JC doesn't make the mistakes, I feel he should win comfortably. He should be experienced enough by now, I think the Kessler fight was a good warm up for this one since he also followed a strategy of countering Joe with straight rights, as long as Joe doesn't give too many opportunities he should be all right.

[Hulk]

Calzaghe will suffer the same fate all southpaws who have faced Bernard have. B-hop knows how to handle southpaws with that straight right. And he will slow even Calzaghe's workrate to a crawl. Hopkins by decision.

[Memphis]

Calzaghe to benefit greatly from the extra weight and tear Hopkins a new one.

[BIG H]

Calzaghe will suffer the same fate all southpaws who have faced Bernard have. B-hop knows how to handle southpaws with that straight right. And he will slow even Calzaghe's workrate to a crawl. Hopkins by decision.

......

[Tins06]

My opinion on the fight Joe In a fairly ugly probably borin UD...Im posting in regards to one two posts about the byron mitchell fight being a premature stoppage??

After about 20 unanswered punches Joe takes a second to speak to the ref while still connecting punch after punch without even looking after about 40 unanswered punches Byron stumbles to the ropes eyes glazed Joe bears down on him ready to reign in some more punches?? how can you call that pre mature

[Howlin Mad Missy]

Key issues I see are JC using speed and movement and those slaps to keep away from the past his prime Hopkins . If they get close that's when it could get interesting. I'm not picking it because I don't really care and too many variables to accurately pick. If it was a few years back, hell even two or three my answer would be Hopkins.

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

When I read the quote, "Enzo will have to be very brave for the fight to go the distance!"

That even intimidated me... Talking like his fathers gonna have to watch his son take a vicious beating.

He's always had a great mouth.

This fight is very intriguing to me. I see Calzaghe outworking hopkins but in another respect I can see Hopkins landing the straight right and grinding it down... I'm so effin torn and it gets worse as the fight approaches

[Dark Lord Al]

When I read the quote, "Enzo will have to be very brave for the fight to go the distance!"

That even intimidated me... Talking like his fathers gonna have to watch his son take a vicious beating.

He's always had a great mouth.

This fight is very intriguing to me. I see Calzaghe outworking hopkins but in another respect I can see Hopkins landing the straight right and grinding it down... I'm so effin torn and it gets worse as the fight approaches

Mike could you ask Jamie Clampitt how Elly May and grandma are doing i havent heared from them in a while

[LondonBB]

My thoughts are that calzaghe will almost SCHOOL hopkins. We will see moments of pure genius from him and he will win on ud by a huge majority, possibly almost every round.

I think that people dont realise just how great calzaghe REALLY IS because they dont realise how good a boxer kessler is either (who joe took a good victory albeit not schooling by any means, but sill a good victory over).

In terms of career fights, pavlik and taylor will do nothing for joes carreer. Joe will batter pavlik because pavlik is too clumsy for him and wont be able to defend against joe's attacks, combos and movement. The win against pavlik will be met by excuses saying 'but pavlik is too young, pavlik is too inexperienced and was moving up in weight.'

A win against taylor would do nothing as hes already been beaten by pavlik twice...and to be frank i think kessler would smash the crap out of taylor.

Only when calzaghe retires and kessler proves how great a boxer he is, will people realise what a true legend calzaghe is who shines above roy jones, hopkins etc. But for now it will not happen.

Of course i might have calzaghe wrong, there ar doubts there as he hasnt yet fought in america, BUT WHAT makes people think that fighting in america suddenly makes a fighter great? Calzaghe has fought and beaten every one of his opponents, hes beaten reid, mitchell, eubank, lacy and kessler so far...EVEN IF he adds hopkins, pavlik, dawson, tarver to the list of victories aswell THEN PEOPLE WILL STILL MAKE EXCUSES AND DISLIKE HIM.

Thats the way i see it...calzaghe to win decisively over hopkins!

This will be met with the excuse 'hopkins is past it'...let me remind everyone that he has said himself he is not past it, he recently beat wright, he also beat tarver at light heavy (demolished tarver).

If calzaghe loses then i will be the first to put my hand up and say that he is not who i thought he was...that he was not the champ i thought. I WILL NEVER MAKE AN EXCUSE!

But i have a feeling come april 19th he will beat bhop easily...AND then go on to batter every single american champ that he faces, wherever, whenever!

But i know that this will still be met with excuses anyway.

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

My thoughts are that calzaghe will almost SCHOOL hopkins. We will see moments of pure genius from him and he will win on ud by a huge majority, possibly almost every round.

I think that people dont realise just how great calzaghe REALLY IS because they dont realise how good a boxer kessler is either (who joe took a good victory albeit not schooling by any means, but sill a good victory over).

In terms of career fights, pavlik and taylor will do nothing for joes carreer. Joe will batter pavlik because pavlik is too clumsy for him and wont be able to defend against joe's attacks, combos and movement. The win against pavlik will be met by excuses saying 'but pavlik is too young, pavlik is too inexperienced and was moving up in weight.'

A win against taylor would do nothing as hes already been beaten by pavlik twice...and to be frank i think kessler would smash the crap out of taylor.

Only when calzaghe retires and kessler proves how great a boxer he is, will people realise what a true legend calzaghe is who shines above roy jones, hopkins etc. But for now it will not happen.

Of course i might have calzaghe wrong, there ar doubts there as he hasnt yet fought in america, BUT WHAT makes people think that fighting in america suddenly makes a fighter great? Calzaghe has fought and beaten every one of his opponents, hes beaten reid, mitchell, eubank, lacy and kessler so far...EVEN IF he adds hopkins, pavlik, dawson, tarver to the list of victories aswell THEN PEOPLE WILL STILL MAKE EXCUSES AND DISLIKE HIM.

Thats the way i see it...calzaghe to win decisively over hopkins!

This will be met with the excuse 'hopkins is past it'...let me remind everyone that he has said himself he is not past it, he recently beat wright, he also beat tarver at light heavy (demolished tarver).

If calzaghe loses then i will be the first to put my hand up and say that he is not who i thought he was...that he was not the champ i thought. I WILL NEVER MAKE AN EXCUSE!

But i have a feeling come april 19th he will beat bhop easily...AND then go on to batter every single american champ that he faces, wherever, whenever!

But i know that this will still be met with excuses anyway.

That's your oppinion and I respect it. I think as much as you say people underestimate Kessler(people on this site really don't) I think you're doing the same for Hopkins. Name someone who has beat Hopkins decisivly. It's never happened. He finds a way to grind the fight down to almost a hault and thats why many don't like to watch him or find him boring. I think you'll see a Joe Calzaghe who is not used to this type of fighter.

Early on when this fight was made I had some thoughts that Calzaghe may land three for every one of Bhop. But watch any fights where Bhop has been in with someone with large punch outputs. He drudges them down to potshoting.

I also respect the fact that you said if he loses you'll be the first to throw your hands up and say your wrong. I'm the same way.

So for me this fight is a toughy to pick. I can't hold to your views of a whitwash as it has never occured to hopkins nor do I think his style will allow it.

But to be clear I can't pick hopkins for this fight either cuz it has become in my head so close to call I would be doing myself a deservice to pick one of them.

I'm very excited for this fight.

And welcome to the forum!

[LondonBB]

My thoughts are that calzaghe will almost SCHOOL hopkins. We will see moments of pure genius from him and he will win on ud by a huge majority, possibly almost every round.

I think that people dont realise just how great calzaghe REALLY IS because they dont realise how good a boxer kessler is either (who joe took a good victory albeit not schooling by any means, but sill a good victory over).

In terms of career fights, pavlik and taylor will do nothing for joes carreer. Joe will batter pavlik because pavlik is too clumsy for him and wont be able to defend against joe's attacks, combos and movement. The win against pavlik will be met by excuses saying 'but pavlik is too young, pavlik is too inexperienced and was moving up in weight.'

A win against taylor would do nothing as hes already been beaten by pavlik twice...and to be frank i think kessler would smash the crap out of taylor.

Only when calzaghe retires and kessler proves how great a boxer he is, will people realise what a true legend calzaghe is who shines above roy jones, hopkins etc. But for now it will not happen.

Of course i might have calzaghe wrong, there ar doubts there as he hasnt yet fought in america, BUT WHAT makes people think that fighting in america suddenly makes a fighter great? Calzaghe has fought and beaten every one of his opponents, hes beaten reid, mitchell, eubank, lacy and kessler so far...EVEN IF he adds hopkins, pavlik, dawson, tarver to the list of victories aswell THEN PEOPLE WILL STILL MAKE EXCUSES AND DISLIKE HIM.

Thats the way i see it...calzaghe to win decisively over hopkins!

This will be met with the excuse 'hopkins is past it'...let me remind everyone that he has said himself he is not past it, he recently beat wright, he also beat tarver at light heavy (demolished tarver).

If calzaghe loses then i will be the first to put my hand up and say that he is not who i thought he was...that he was not the champ i thought. I WILL NEVER MAKE AN EXCUSE!

But i have a feeling come april 19th he will beat bhop easily...AND then go on to batter every single american champ that he faces, wherever, whenever!

But i know that this will still be met with excuses anyway.

That's your oppinion and I respect it. I think as much as you say people underestimate Kessler(people on this site really don't) I think you're doing the same for Hopkins. Name someone who has beat Hopkins decisivly. It's never happened. He finds a way to grind the fight down to almost a hault and thats why many don't like to watch him or find him boring. I think you'll see a Joe Calzaghe who is not used to this type of fighter.

Early on when this fight was made I had some thoughts that Calzaghe may land three for every one of Bhop. But watch any fights where Bhop has been in with someone with large punch outputs. He drudges them down to potshoting.

I also respect the fact that you said if he loses you'll be the first to throw your hands up and say your wrong. I'm the same way.

So for me this fight is a toughy to pick. I can't hold to your views of a whitwash as it has never occured to hopkins nor do I think his style will allow it.

But to be clear I can't pick hopkins for this fight either cuz it has become in my head so close to call I would be doing myself a deservice to pick one of them.

I'm very excited for this fight.

And welcome to the forum!

Thanx for your post pride of boston.

I know what you are saying bro, and i know that hopkins has 'that' style, lol every opponents worst nightmare because he can almost nullify his opponent. But i think calzaghe is too clever for this.

What im saying i guess is this...that this is the test for calzaghe. The lacy fight got him noticed, the kessler fight proved he is best at supermiddle and is undoubtably a great fighter, but this fight is a legacy fight...probably the first legacy fight out of maybe 3 he will now face as his final tests in the usa on the biggest stage.

So for me it is a v exciting fight, because i have a belief that calzaghe is who he says he is, the best boxer out there BAR NONE. Now, this is based on what ive seen over the last 6 years of him. HOWEVER he could be chatting sh*t lol and thats what is important for me to see, i feel that this fight is the milestone in his career where either:

1. He gets dragged into an ugly fight with bhop (the master at doing that) and either loses by close decission/split/majority etc or he wins in the same way.

2. He proves that he is EXACTLY what he has been saying all along (since he beat eubank) that he is the best fighter out there, bar none. For this to be the case, then he needs to school hopkins.

So, as ive been watching joe for the last 6 years i believe what he says as i believe hes backed it up...BUT if he fails to back it up this time and really PROVE BEYOND ANY DOUBT that he is the best and what he says he is...then i will be the first to say...''Look joe, you are a great fighter and champ BUT not the best im afraid, there are others out there better than you and you dont deserve the p4p number 1, this fight proved that you were protected by warren and also avoided america.''

I will be the first to come out with that statement!

But for now, i take calzaghe on his word because besides any of the 'doubt factors', i think hes telling the truth about himself.

If he totally smashes hopkins silly, schooling...like the lacy fight THEN SURELY PEOPLE CANT START MAKING MORE EXCUSES ABOUT HIM? Surely if he does school hopkins (im not saying it will happen)...but some of the doubters will then actually come out and say 'you know what, i think joe calzaghe is the best actually'...

I personally believe he can decisively beat bhop and school pavlik or tko/ko pavlik...then go on to beat tarver/woods/dawson/johnson whoever is the winner out of that eliminator battle.

Should he do that then i think he has claim to saying he is better than roy jones was and higher on the all time rankings than jones, because quite simply his achievements will have been higher.

For all the 'calslappy' comments i see and everytime i see people saying that he'll get beaten...he always comes through. So to me until i see him get beaten, this whole 'he doesnt throw straight punches' or 'he slaps' mallarky means nothing...because people are basically trying to make out hes not a good boxer...well if calzaghe is not a good boxer yet has beaten eubank, lacy and kessler decisively...then what does that make them?

If he then goes on to school pavlik, beat bhop decisively and batter dawson or tarver...what does this say about those fighters aswell.

If calzaghe does that and beats his forthcoming american opponents, and is still called calslappy or a slapper who is weak, no power etc...then it means that kessler, lacy, eubank, tarver, hopkins, pavlik, dawson etc must be total bums then right? Afterall how could anyone lose to a slapper with no power who only knows to scrap and not fight a clean fight or counter correctly?

If calzaghe wants to prove he is the best then by schooling hopkins (if he can do it, possibly/probably not) then he proves it. Now is his chance...im looking forward to this fight to see just what class of fighter calzaghe is.

From what ive seen of him so far though, i cant have doubt over him and until lost i'll take his word he can do it.

BUT...I RESPECT ALL OPINIONS! There are great opinions on this board and i totally respect if someone disagrees with me...i even admit that i might be wrong...thats the beauty of this sport, this match up is a classic match which will prove a point. Is calzaghe really as good as he makes out to be? Was he avoiding america his carreer as he was scared? All these questions will be answered