Hopkins - Calzaghe "signed by next week"

[helminth]

I really can't believe that most people here think Calzaghe is going to win this. Hopkins is going to hurt this guy. Didn't you see how open Calzaghe was leaving himself when he was trying to shut out worn out Lacy! Man if he does that with Hopkins he is going to get laid out flat. Hopkins will grind Calzaghe's punch out put down. I believe Calzahge's style is too flail like to beat Hopkins.

Dude....it's a totally different thing leaving yourself open against a guy who's been beat down for 10 rounds and you can see the punches coming seconds before they get anywhere near him.

As for Hopkins KOing Calzaghe...he has two KOs in the past five years, and against the naturally bigger man with a good chin, there's no way in my mind Hopkins even gets Calzaghe in trouble, maybe a flash knockdown as a worst-case scenario, but no way a KO.

As for which style wins...the boxer or the gutter-spoiler, I think that Calzaghe won't let himself get dragged into a roughhouse war like he did with Bika, and will pop Ol' Popkins from the outside.

Then again, I'm an unabashed Calzaghe fan, so maybe my view isn't 100% balanced.

Calzaghe has dragged himself into a roughhouse war already by agreeing to fight Hopkins.

[Cortez The Killer]

Hopkins plan will be to throw 10-15 punches max per round for the first half of the fight.

Then once Calzaghe becomes bored and tired of chasing him Bhop will land a head butt off the ropes and cause a cut over Calzaghe's eye in the 5th-7th round.

At this point Hopkins will then pick up his pace to 20-30 punches thrown a round and even make Calzaghe look bad a few times.

But none of this will matter because Calzaghe will be throwing 2-3 times as many punches as Hopkins does a round with a similar connect ratio.

Calzaghe will win a frustrating UD. He will probably win by at least 3 rounds on every card.

And Hopkins will say he was robbed and laugh all the way to the bank.


This is why I am thankful for sopcast. Paying to watch Hopkins is a waste of money!

[Tam Seddon]

i cant wait for this, i hope it can happen and JC can retire him. I think the name factor is huge, but Hopkins always can raise his game like the winky fight and make it better than we thought, lets hope so here too.

[NUCLEAR BULL]

i hope this fight suprises everyone and turns out to be much better then expected, the b-hop v winky fight was thought to be a borring one but they put on a really good show considering there styles, its possible this could be the same

1) they been talking about this one for years but for one reason or another its failed to happen

2) one guy likes to throw a zillion punch's and the others a counter puncher who roughs it up

3) its an important fight for both, lossing can effect b-hops legacy, a loss can ruin any chance of calzaghe even having a legacy

in the norm such things can work against a fight, it gets build up only to disapoint on the night, we think this could be borring, but they just might suporise us all

[ICB]

I cant wait for this!

to be honest im amazed ANYONE is picking BHOP in this fight..it just aint rational...Im having £500 on a calzaghe win and will look forward to collecting my winnings! Joe = too fast = too much heart = better foot work = way way better work rate = awesome chin. BHOP will try to spoil and thats his only hope...people talk abouts BHOPS defence..which is sort of a valid point..he's cagey no doubt..fact is joe will not stop punching..when they aint in the clinch BHOP will be getting hit...

I will not be picking Hopkins to win this fight, I think Joe takes it but Hopkins WILL make it an extremely difficult fight one way or another. What I bolded in your post is what many people seem to think, that Joe just throws so many punches compared to Hopkins, that he can't lose... The fact is that if Calzaghe plans to go in there and throw 1000 punches, he'll probably land about 50 of them. Hopkins is a defensive master, has superb ring generalship, movement and footwork. He will not allow Calzaghe to fight at the pace he has done against other fighters. I think even the biggest Calzaghe fan(with a functional brain) should expect Joe's output to drop considerably since Hopkins will need to fight at a slower pace in order to be at all effective. No doubt Joe will be busier than Hopkins, but I still think Hopkins will dictate the pace not vice versa. He has to. Also, as old as Hop is, if Calzaghe comes forward flurrying without measuring Hopkins and jabbing his way in, Hopkins could still KO him with a good right hand down the middle. I believe Hopkins may hit Calzaghe as hard as he's ever been. I dunno, maybe I'm giving Hopkins too much respect for his skills and not enough flack for his output.. What I dislike about this fight is that although I'm a big fan of Hopkins, in order for him to beat top fighters these days, he pretty much needs to turn fights into a snoozefest. I'd love to see Calzaghe turn the tables and make him fight at a higher pace than he'd like, I just think it's more likely to happen the other way.

Agreed im one of the people that thinks Calzaghe wins but it will be a very tough fight. Hopkins knows all the tricks in the book, and he can offset Calzaghes rhythm by clinching and using rough house tactics. Plus he can slow Calzaghe down by using the tactics i just mentioned. I have Calzaghe's career set and what i noticed is that in rough tough fights like with Reid, Bika, Salem, he seems to lose concentration and then he starts to play into his opponent's hands by fighting that kind of fight. Now some people may argue that he fought down to the level of his opposition, and Calzaghe has stated that he can't get himself motivated when he fights lesser opponent's. And some of that is true to an extent, but it is also due to Calzaghe losing his concentration. I think one of the keys for Calzaghe will be his jab, Taylor gave Hopkins hell with his jab. And Calzaghe has a pretty good solid/fast jab like you all see in Kessler fight. I actually think Calzaghe should use his jab pick his spots and outwork Hopkins. But not by throwing 100+ punches a round, say round about 50+ punches. Calzaghe can't get lured into a brawl with Hopkins because like i stated earlier, Hopkins is as tough as they come and he knows all the tricks in the books by clinching using rough house tactics to offset a fighters rhythm.

I see Calzaghe winning an ugly fight UD 115-113, 116-113, 115-113, somewhere around there.

[Kirkland Laing]

[quote=Ice Cold Boxing ]

I think one of the keys for Calzaghe will be his jab, Taylor gave Hopkins hell with his jab.

Yes. Joe can win the fight off his jab easily. This fight is as hard as he wants to make it for himself. Like the Kessler fight, he'll probably make a few attempts to end it early and get involved in the first few rounds. But if he wants to he can box Hopkins's head off all night and not let Bernard near him.

[Hulk]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

[boozeboxer]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

No way he loses to Hopkins. VD are you always against domestic fighters?

[Kirkland Laing]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

After Calzaghe wins he'll be telling us that he only won because Hopkins is 43 and that Calzaghe wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins.

[Hulk]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

After Calzaghe wins he'll be telling us that he only won because Hopkins is 43 and that Calzaghe wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins.

Obviously he wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins. And he won't beat a 43 year old B-hop either.

[superheavyrhun]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

After Calzaghe wins he'll be telling us that he only won because Hopkins is 43 and that Calzaghe wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins.

Obviously he wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins. And he won't beat a 43 year old B-hop either.

So you think Hopkins WILL pull out to fight the winner of RJJ v Tito then I assume?

[Trainer Monkey]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

After Calzaghe wins he'll be telling us that he only won because Hopkins is 43 and that Calzaghe wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins.

Obviously he wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins. And he won't beat a 43 year old B-hop either.

So you think Hopkins WILL pull out to fight the winner of RJJ v Tito then I assume?

Be interesting to see what happens in both fights
Because if Hopkins and Jones wins,Jones becomes a name again,and Bernard has allways has wanted to avenge that loss

[Kirkland Laing]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

After Calzaghe wins he'll be telling us that he only won because Hopkins is 43 and that Calzaghe wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins.

Obviously he wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins. And he won't beat a 43 year old B-hop either.

http://www.saddoboxing.com/boxing_fo...html#msg719968


And Calzaghe would have beaten Hopkins at any point in their careers. That's why Hopkins bottled out of fighting Calzaghe a few years ago.

[NorthSideX4]

Joe Calzaghe is the shit, I know that now, he has beat everyone put infront of him. but Hopkins isn't everyone! He knows how to win fights and seems to do so! Hopkins by SD

[Violent Demise]

I hope this fight gets made. That way Calzaghe can replace the 0 in his record with a 1 just like his buddy Hatton did.

Hell yeah thats what I'm talkin bout.

After Calzaghe wins he'll be telling us that he only won because Hopkins is 43 and that Calzaghe wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins.

Obviously he wouldn't have beaten a prime Hopkins. And he won't beat a 43 year old B-hop either.

http://www.saddoboxing.com/boxing_fo...html#msg719968


And Calzaghe would have beaten Hopkins at any point in their careers. That's why Hopkins bottled out of fighting Calzaghe a few years ago.

If that's the case than Calzaghe bottled it 3 times against Glen Johnson