Quote Originally Posted by miles View Post
Hopkins is a great fighter, but I have the same reservations. More so since he left the MW division because its been just as much about tactical matchmaking as tactics within the actual ring.

The only legitimate LHW fight Hopkins has won since moving up is against Tarver. It was a very significant win. Calzaghe beat him (the tactical matchmaking went wrong. Calzaghe was better than they expected). Wright and Pavlik were both fighting 2 divisions outside what they should have been. Perhaps Hopkins would have done the same to them both at MW but neither fighter had any business going up so high to face Hopkins who has grown into the bigger weight well.

I thought Hopkins did a great job against Pavlik and I dont really want to criticise it, but it is a fact that Pavlik was fighting at a much heavier weight than he should have been.
Well Hopkins fought at middleweight too for decades. How come he didn't suffer from the move up in weight? It's a bullshit excuse always made by those who lose.

It was Pavliks second fight aobve 160, once at 168 and once at 170.

Hopkins has only fought above 160 3 times, once at 175 against Tarver, at 170 against Winky and 175 against Joe. He lost the third fight, (presumably because he was fighting out of his weight class? ) and went in with a 2-1 record above 160 whilst Pavlik was 1-0.

If Pavlik would have won nobody on the site would have said it was because Hopkins was too small and was a natural 160 lber even though he spent 20 years fighting there, so why give Kelly all these excuses.

He lost the better man, that's why he lost.