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

[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.

......

[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!

[Wayne]

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.

I don't see Hopkins "robbing" anyone. He is one of the more disliked fighters in boxing and if anything he'll be the one getting "robbed" just to be giving him the finger. Hopkins is easy to dislike. Other than being from another country (which is major), Joe Calzaghe is an immensely likeable guy. He beat the schmidt out of Lacy, a guy I really liked, and now I like him.

[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.

I don't see Hopkins "robbing" anyone. He is one of the more disliked fighters in boxing and if anything he'll be the one getting "robbed" just to be giving him the finger. Hopkins is easy to dislike. Other than being from another country (which is major), Joe Calzaghe is an immensely likeable guy. He beat the schmidt out of Lacy, a guy I really liked, and now I like him.

Getting "robbed" hasn't got anything to do with how likeable you are it's about situations and connections.

1. This fight is a Golden Boy Promotion.. which favours Hopkins.

2. Calzaghe's a foreigner (as you stated ).

3. Hopkins has mentioned all through the making of this fight his motivation is AMERICA-vs-Britain.. this will only intensify when the promotion heats up nearer the off.

4. It's almost certain to be 3 American judges and a Hopkins freindly ref.

5. There's a strong chance Calzaghe's supporters will be as thick as Ricky Hatton's and boo the "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the off.. which will be the icing on the cake.

[Violent Demise]

Loves ruining a southpaw and is a classic counter puncher even at his age...
Vastly experienced and dirty with it plus Joe has NO experience at Light Heavy at all.
Just think he might have the awkward style to frustrate Cally and grind out a street war.
Just a gut feeling
Yours?

I agree. Hopkins is beating Calzaghe ass

[RP33]

Loves ruining a southpaw and is a classic counter puncher even at his age...
Vastly experienced and dirty with it plus Joe has NO experience at Light Heavy at all.
Just think he might have the awkward style to frustrate Cally and grind out a street war.
Just a gut feeling
Yours?

I agree. Hopkins is beating Calzaghe ass

one can only hope VD.

This fight is totally sneaking up on me.. i've been so busy with school work and stuff, the fight is right around the corner.. Def my most anticipated of the year til now..

I hope Hopkins makes it a dirty ass fight, and the vegas judges score a close fight which could go either way, a UD for Hopkins just like Joe has gotten some gifts in the past ..

[ICB]

Loves ruining a southpaw and is a classic counter puncher even at his age...
Vastly experienced and dirty with it plus Joe has NO experience at Light Heavy at all.
Just think he might have the awkward style to frustrate Cally and grind out a street war.
Just a gut feeling
Yours?

I agree. Hopkins is beating Calzaghe ass

one can only hope VD.

This fight is totally sneaking up on me.. i've been so busy with school work and stuff, the fight is right around the corner.. Def my most anticipated of the year til now..

I hope Hopkins makes it a dirty ass fight, and the vegas judges score a close fight which could go either way, a UD for Hopkins just like Joe has gotten some gifts in the past ..

Joe has gotten some *gifts* in the past ?? the only close fight he has ever had is against Robin Reid so i don't understand what you mean by *gifts*.

[Violent Demise]

I agree. Hopkins is beating Calzaghe ass

one can only hope VD.

This fight is totally sneaking up on me.. i've been so busy with school work and stuff, the fight is right around the corner.. Def my most anticipated of the year til now..

I hope Hopkins makes it a dirty ass fight, and the vegas judges score a close fight which could go either way, a UD for Hopkins just like Joe has gotten some gifts in the past ..

Joe has gotten some *gifts* in the past ?? the only close fight he has ever had is against Robin Reid so i don't understand what you mean by *gifts*.

Joe got a gift when the ref stopped his fight with Byron Mitchell prematurely. Even though Mitchell landed the last punch.

[Kev]

I think it will be a really tough fight for Joe. As ICE says traditionally the fighters Calzaghe has had the most trouble with are those who employ rough house tactics and try to turn the fight into a physical brawl with headbutts, elbows, clinches etc.

There is nobody better at that in the whole of boxing than the Nard so it is a worry.

When you factor in that he is something like 11-0 against southpaws or something crazy, and on home turf, you really must like the odds that are on Hopkins.

It wouldn't suprise me if Joe gets caught like he's never been caught before and even hits the deck.

I see B Hops withering shots becoming more and more of a factor as the fight goes on.

It won't be an easy win for Joe at all in my mind.


Tough fight, made even tougher by the fact that most uneducated fans feel he should win easily. He's on something of a hiding to nothing.

[RP33]

I agree. Hopkins is beating Calzaghe ass

one can only hope VD.

This fight is totally sneaking up on me.. i've been so busy with school work and stuff, the fight is right around the corner.. Def my most anticipated of the year til now..

I hope Hopkins makes it a dirty ass fight, and the vegas judges score a close fight which could go either way, a UD for Hopkins just like Joe has gotten some gifts in the past ..

Joe has gotten some *gifts* in the past ?? the only close fight he has ever had is against Robin Reid so i don't understand what you mean by *gifts*.

by "gifts" i don't mean gift decisions, or anything specifically to the extent that Calzaghe got a win that he didn't completely deserve.. With the exception of few fights, Calzaghe has clearly beaten his opposition, don't get me wrong..

what i'm saying is that he's constantly been fighting at home, with everything possible on his side.. The Robin Reid decision goes under this category, VD mentioned the Mitchell fight when Calzaghe first hit the deck, and there could have been controversy in that stoppage.. Even though Manfredo had no chance in hell to win their fight, but it was still one of, if not the worst stoppages i have seen.. He constantly has had this subconscious pampering.. that's all im saying.

[AdamGB]

Loves ruining a southpaw and is a classic counter puncher even at his age...
Vastly experienced and dirty with it plus Joe has NO experience at Light Heavy at all.
Just think he might have the awkward style to frustrate Cally and grind out a street war.
Just a gut feeling
Yours?

In all fairness though BHop has fought one real Light Heavy... Winky is out of his weight in the MW division... Joe's fought a lot of fighters with the strength and size of Light Heavys.