Hopkins - Does he have any TRUE fans?

[Fenster]

Hopkins clearly isn't a big star. So they must have been banking on Calzaghe bringing even more support - but he's clearly not Hatton-level.

Bet the fight wouldn't have happened if they knew the interest would be so poor.

Wonder if Calzaghe would have done better against Roy, Tito or Tarver in the States? Probably

[Lance Uppercut]

Hopkins fans are on the east cost, staging the fight on the west cost is essentially placing it in neutral territory. If you wanted B-hops fans to come out, they should have had the fight at the Garden or Boardwalk Hall.

[OumaFan]

Hopkins fans are on the east cost, staging the fight on the west cost is essentially placing it in neutral territory. If you wanted B-hops fans to come out, they should have had the fight at the Garden or Boardwalk Hall.

yeah I didn't think about that but that's true, he was the clear crowd favorite against Tarver (maybe not saying much) when the fight was in Atlantic City I think.

[Fenster]

Remember originally Hopkins wanted the fight in Yankee Stadium.. but that idea was quicky killed.. I guess we now know why

[JLAQ]

Hopkins does have his share of fans. That's why we had all this controversy with the Nard-Taylor decisions when in fact there shouldn't be any as Nard ran the whole two nights long.

[Beanflicker]

Although I am a big Hopkins fan, I can see why he has such a small fan base. His style, as masterful as it is, just isn't crowd pleasing. Plus, I think he has hurt himself with the dispicable ways he choses to hype a fight. I think people can easily see through these acts and it just makes him look foolish.

Although I don't think he deserves all the blame. Maybe Joe Calzaghe isn't generating as much interest in the states as they figured he would.

Either way, this fight should have happened in Europe. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20

[CutMeMick]

Hopkins has fans but their are not hardcore fans that are willing to travel and pay the money to see him.

Add that to Joes super stardome here in the states and you've got the results...

[BoomBoom]

Im a huge B-Hop fan and if I could afford to go i would. But I think people know that they arent likely gonna see a war. Hop relies on his smarts and craftiness, even more now that hes older. Hes rarely in a fight of the year type fight, though i like to watch him .

[Mar]

Hopkins is mayweather-esqe in the way that you either hate him or love him as he constantly plays the role of the bad guy, difference is people pay to see mayweather loose since it's such a slim slim possibility, for hopkins it isn't. Also calzaghe is popular among boxing fans here in the u.s. but that's about it, at least going by my own personal experience, i'm hyped as hell for this fight while most of the people i know are much more interested in the nba playoffs. 8 out of 10 people i know don't even know who the hell joe is, and that's something he's done to himself being a sheltered fighter overseas. They were counting on more people showing up to see calzaghe and it just isn't happening.

[Fenster]

Hopkins is mayweather-esqe in the way that you either hate him or love him as he constantly plays the role of the bad guy, difference is people pay to see mayweather loose since it's such a slim slim possibility, for hopkins it isn't. Also calzaghe is popular among boxing fans here in the u.s. but that's about it, at least going by my own personal experience, i'm hyped as hell for this fight while most of the people i know are much more interested in the nba playoffs. 8 out of 10 people i know don't even know who the hell joe is, and that's something he's done to himself being a sheltered fighter overseas. They were counting on more people showing up to see calzaghe and it just isn't happening.

What exactly do you mean by that?

Judging by the "failure" of this fight in Vegas was there any reason for Calzaghe to have ever fought in the States?

He did just beat his main Supermiddle rival, right? In front of 50,000 odd people to boot....

[amat]

In front of 50 thousand but no one stateside cared to watch.

I think they should have had it in Yankee Stadium. The fans most definitely would have come out for that for a few reasons, first being that a lot of people would go just for the novelty of having it at Yankee stadium like the old days in that stadium's last year. And Hopkins fans are on the East Coast and with a hurting economy, it's not exactly easy to travel across the country to see a fight.

[Mar]

Hopkins is mayweather-esqe in the way that you either hate him or love him as he constantly plays the role of the bad guy, difference is people pay to see mayweather loose since it's such a slim slim possibility, for hopkins it isn't. Also calzaghe is popular among boxing fans here in the u.s. but that's about it, at least going by my own personal experience, i'm hyped as hell for this fight while most of the people i know are much more interested in the nba playoffs. 8 out of 10 people i know don't even know who the hell joe is, and that's something he's done to himself being a sheltered fighter overseas. They were counting on more people showing up to see calzaghe and it just isn't happening.

What exactly do you mean by that?

Judging by the "failure" of this fight in Vegas was there any reason for Calzaghe to have ever fought in the States?

He did just beat his main Supermiddle rival, right? In front of 50,000 odd people to boot....

I just meant in order for him to be popular over here, he needed to fight over here more. But to think he'd be able to pull a crowd here where he is a little more than an unknown isn't going to work. I highly doubt they were counting on b -hop to rake em in, so for a guy who hasn't fought here and another guy who isn't the most popular especially out west as mentioned selling half the arena doesn't seem half bad to me. Thier expectations were set way to high for the casual fan. One of the main knocks on the guy was that he was good over there but how would he fare here (for what that really matters) he choose to hold out and wait towards the end of his career to make this trip that he always knew he would have to make. Now to be dissappointed in a low turnout i belive is only himself and his advisors to blame if anyone. He can't expect the casual fan (who was more interested in the stupid match between floyd and the big show) to jump on board all of the sudden cause he finally wants to prove what we've been waiting for him to prove long ago. One thing that i fear of this fight is that joe wins impressively and still won't get his due as it may be a little to late to

[match]

I think Hopkins has true fans, but will simply never be a huge draw. Kind of like a Terry Norris or a Mike McCallum.

[The Fightfan]

Don't you think Hopkins lost alot of fans do to his ridiculous comments.I liked both fighters fighters until Hopkins opened his mouth.Call it silly if you will but Why would he do something like that.

[JT Rock]

Hopkins clearly isn't a big star. So they must have been banking on Calzaghe bringing even more support - but he's clearly not Hatton-level.

Bet the fight wouldn't have happened if they knew the interest would be so poor.

Wonder if Calzaghe would have done better against Roy, Tito or Tarver in the States? Probably

Thats the beauty of this for Calzaghe, here in the states outside us purists there isint much expectation for Calzaghe, when he whips Hopkins ass he will gain a measure of popularity, noteriaty so when he fights a Jones or Trinidad it will mean$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for Joe and maybe enjoy a measure of U.S appreciation like Hatton does in the states, Joe certainly deserves it at this point