Is Hopkins the Greatest American Boxer.....

It's amazing how good his punch resistance still is, although he didn't get hit much clean on the chin, those shots on top and on the side of the head can still buzz you.

He puts cowards like Stevenson to shame by still fighting the most dangerous guys at nearly 50.

comment by John Locke (U1204)
posted 10 minutes ago
It's amazing how good his punch resistance still is, although he didn't get hit much clean on the chin, those shots on top and on the side of the head can still buzz you.

He puts cowards like Stevenson to shame by still fighting the most dangerous guys at nearly 50.
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To compete at that level at that age is remarkable.

I found it funny when Lockett was talking about staying up late as a 16 year old to watch Hopkins fight Jones for a world title. And Locket has retired and is fat and out of shape and Hopkins is still fighting.

Hopkins destroyed Calzaghe. He just should've finished it off to make sure. But he let it go to points where he got robbed IMO.

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Knocked him down 1st round if I recall and never looked hurt from any of Calzaghe's punches.

Hopkins dominated the early stages of the fight and Calzaghe only shared the latter rounds through workrate, grit and determination. It was embarrassing when he was awarded the match when his opponent looked like he'd completed a training session.

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Hopkins won the 1st 4 rounds, watch it again if you don't believe me. Calzaghe was like a lost boy in those rounds. I hate when people judge the fight in retrospect after the decision has been made. I judge the fight as I see it.

To be fair, I hated Hopkins comment before the fight about never losing to a ....you know the rest.

I also thought Hopkinswas pretty negative when in a commanding position and let Calzaghe get back into the match and be the "busier" fighter in the later rounds, but to say the knockdown in the first round did not affect Calzaghe is almost laughable, please watch the fight again. I thought Calzaghe lost, but even if he did, so what. He had a very good career regardless. He did look out of his class in the first 4 round though.

I think Hopkins won 8 rounds to 4 (or 7 rounds to 5 at worst).

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Here are my thoughts after watching the match:

Round 1 10/8 Hopkins

Round 2 10/9 Hopkins

Round 3 10/9 Hopkins

Round 4 10/9 Hopkins

Hopkins knocked him down with a beauty and was dominating the early stages of the fight and how. Calzaghe was always beaten to the punch at this point, getting countered and really taking a lot more shots than he would have liked. Hopkins was not coming forward much which I'm not the biggest fan of, but was just waiting for Calzaghe to move and countering very effectively. Joe had done nothing of note at this point

Round 5 10/9 Calzaghe

Better work from Calzaghe, I admit, his first decent punch was in this round, but never followed it up. Won the round on work rate

Round 6 10/9 Hopkins

Hopkins took this scrappy round, nothing special, just hit him with cleaner shots, the odd combination. Joe tried his utmost to flurry but just got pushed to the ground. British Commentators really worried at this point.

Round 7 10/9 Hopkins

This was easily Hopkins' round, he was the better fighter throughout the round, Calzaghe tried his utmost to try the old trick of doing his best work at the end of the round, but took a crushing right at the end of the round. Richie Woodhall was in complete denial at the end of the round...you could sense it in his voice.

Round 8 10/9 Calzaghe - and he can think himself lucky, he just worked a tad more, didn't land anything of note, Hopkins at the end, hit him, Joe tried to act cool, but he looked like a quiet kid trying too hard to prove he's the life of the party. Who does he think he's kidding?

Round 9 10/9 Calzaghe

Probably Calzaghe's best round, Hopkins wasn't up to much this round, Calzaghe put in the odd decent combo, even though most were slaps and didn't really hurt Hopkins

Round 10 10/9 Hopkins

After nothing happened in first 30 seconds, Calzaghe scandalously punched low and what in my opinion was worse, he jiggled behind him, an antic which really doesn't belong in the boxing ring. After that Hopkins controlled the round, hit him with a hard right in the middle of the ring and it looked like the same old story as the rounds 1-4.

Round 11 10/9 Calzaghe

Boring round, but have to give it to Calzaghe, just looked a bit fresher at this point. Although in no way did Hopkins look troubled.

Round 12 10/9 Calzaghe

Another tedious round which Calzaghe won through grit and determination, an awful spectacle but you had to give Joe credit for throwing more punches at the end, even though he landed very few meaningful blows.

Hopkins 115-112 Calzaghe

Amid all the chaos on this board last night, I actually thought that Joe maybe did better than he did, so I watched it again and realised just how deluded some JC fans really are.

Calzaghe made me feel ashamed to be British yesterday considering
the hype that has surrounded him. I almost feel apologetic after watching a performance like this from Joe.