ive not seen the coutdown, this is a difficult fight for me because i dont want hopkins to go out on a loss, but at the same time im aware of the magnitude of the task at hand...

hopkins is gonna be 41. 41 for christsakes!!! for a 41 year old pro fighter though you couldnt see anyone as in good a condition as hopkins.

hopkins is jumping up 2 divisions which is a lot and to be doing it against tarver is very risky. we dont know if hopkins will be ready for the power tarver can offer. heck, hopkins didnt want to be hit by taylor, so who knows how he will respond to the impact tarvers punching can make.

at the end of the day i will be supporting b hop because he's a fighter ive loved down the years. its a difficult fight but hopkins can win it. tarver himself is getting old and tarver hasnt been fighting all that regularly. jones jr last time out took tarver to the distance and even had tarver in trouble at one point in the fight. jones was a gun shy and past his best fighter that night. tarver cannot sustain a pace for 12 rounds. he does have stamina issues. so in terms of conditioning, even at the age of 41 hopkins has the edge. we mustnt forget that tarver also allowed himself to balloon to over 200 pounds for rocky 6. will having to come back down in a relatively short space of time be a detriment to tarver? possibly.

of course, hopkins himself cannot maintain a fast pace over 12 rounds. it took him several rounds to warm up both times against taylor. but by being slow on the draw he was able to make taylor pursue him and throw and miss. if b hop can do this for several rounds with tarver then tarver will definately tire. we all know that hopkins likes to make the championship rounds count. this is the crux of the fight for me. will hopkins be able to come on as he wishes without taking too much punishment from tarver? i think maybe he can....

a close and tricky fight, but hopkins can edge this....