Boxeo- The BIG one! 2nd big fight of the year; Pac-man v. Hatton, reactions!

[Horus Ex Machina]

BJ, I've been thinking pretty much the same, and at those odds I'd say that it would be a pretty strong bet. Alot of people are pretty high on Calzaghe and they should be, but he's moving up in weight against a dangerous opponent who has fought the best in his weight class. The only thing that can be questioned about Hopkins going into this fight is how much he will be pushed and has been pushed in previous matchups. Throwing upwards of 1000 punches is nothing to Calzaghe, so Hopkins will have to adjust to it but his training is impeccable for a 43 yr old fighter. As for fighting in the US, if the Hattan fight is anything to go on, there will be a sizeable UK contingent present at the fight, so I'm not sure that that will play into it as much but we'll see. I would say take the bet at those odds, but I still haven't built up the courage to put the money down myself, so I can hardly push you to do it. I am also considering making a bet but I have to think on it some more. But my head says that Hopkins is a smart money bet.

[Paladin of Ice]

[quote]So I just found out that Hopkins is listed at +220 for tomorrow's fight with Calzaghe, which to be honest, shocked me. Granted, I haven't followed boxing as closely as I have in the past, but at those odds, am seriously thinking of laying some money down. Hop's always down well against southpaws, has a good chin, knows every trick in the book and is as tough as they come.[/quote]

I still think the odds are really against Hopkins... while his strengths have always been his defense, counterpunching, and wiles, I just keep going back to activity levels: if Hopkins keeps up his low activity level (say 20 punches per round) which has been the case with him for awhile now, and Calzaghe keeps his high activity level (100 punches per round) that gives Calzaghe a huge edge on the scorecards, because judges do get moved by seeing that much of a difference in work. And while Hopkins is a solid puncher, he's no KO star, while Calzaghe has proven himself to be tough and have a good chin.

Therefore it seems like the odds are against Hopkins both on getting a decision or scoring a KO. The real X factor, however, is whether Calzaghe will be affected at by going up in weight. That's always unpredictable, and lets be honest, Hopkins has feasted on more than a few great fighters who have moved up in weight to challenge him. (Trinidad, De La Hoya, Winky Wright, etc). If Calzaghe gets slowed down by that at all then Hopkins has a big opening he can exploit.

[Paladin of Ice]

Huh, I guess I never commented after the HBO doubleheader. Well a couple of quick thoughts:

Margarito look impressive, he really walked right through all of Cintron's stuff and gave him a pounding. I think that the HBO folks had a point when they said that Cintron should have boxed more, but he was used to knocking people out and tried to do it with Margarito, but Margarito was just too tough for it. The body shot that finished Cintron was nasty as hell... I swear that I could see his lower ribs moving inwards with the shot.

Cotto gave a really impressive schooling of Gomez. Not surprising, perhaps, but devastating to watch. There are still one or two unanswered questions about Cotto though, including whether his chin, (which has sometimes shown itself to have proverbial chinks) will really be better now that he's not trying to make weight quite as low as he previously was. (That is his camp's spin on why Cotto was sometimes affected by shots... I have my doubts).

Cotto-Margarito should be good, a tough fight to pick a winner. Both are good punchers, Margarito's activity level might give Cotto problems if Cotto elects to be smart and keep distance between them. I think Cotto would come out on top, but it should be tough.

[Analu]

[quote name='Horus - Spider Silva' post='1319769' date='Apr 18 2008, 11.00']The only thing that can be questioned about Hopkins going into this fight is how much he will be pushed and has been pushed in previous matchups. Throwing upwards of 1000 punches is nothing to Calzaghe, so Hopkins will have to adjust to it but his training is impeccable for a 43 yr old fighter[/quote]

[quote name='Paladin of Ice' post='1319800' date='Apr 18 2008, 11.22']I still think the odds are really against Hopkins... while his strengths have always been his defense, counterpunching, and wiles, I just keep going back to activity levels: if Hopkins keeps up his low activity level (say 20 punches per round) which has been the case with him for awhile now, and Calzaghe keeps his high activity level (100 punches per round) that gives Calzaghe a huge edge on the scorecards, because judges do get moved by seeing that much of a difference in work.[/quote]
Well, I laid down $50 on Hopkins. I understand the advantage Calzaghe has in his activity level, but believe that Hopkins' low activity level in his last couple fights was due to the style of fighters he was facing and think/hope that he'll adjust accordingly.

And with those odds and given that I've seen much more of Hopkins than I have of Calzaghe, I'm going with what I know. We'll see. I might have to work double-shifts to pay this off if I'm wrong, but I like B-Hops chances.

Go Executioner!

[lessthanluke]

[quote name='BJ Penn' post='1320297' date='Apr 19 2008, 07.25']Go Executioner![/quote]

Booooo!!!!!

I'm gonna be so tired tonight, the fight dosen't come on till after 3AM over here.

Calzaghe on points for me. Don't think the coming up in weight is gonna be a problem for Calzaghe he walk around at about 14stone so was always a big super middle.

[Horus Ex Machina]

BJ, did you bet online? I may have to get in on some of the action somewhere. I've been leaning towards placing a bet on B-Hop.

[lessthanluke]

I just watched the weigh in on youtube. I'm psyched up for this now!

[Horus Ex Machina]

This will be a great fight. Two straight weekends of good boxing now.

[Analu]

[quote name='LessThanLuke' post='1320523' date='Apr 19 2008, 06.10']Booooo!!!!![/quote]
I'm going to assume "Booooo" in South Wales is short for "I agree with you 100%" ;)


[quote name='Horus - Spider Silva' post='1320547' date='Apr 19 2008, 07.02']BJ, did you bet online?[/quote]
Nah I made it with one of my family members who's a bookie. But when I bet online, I usually do it thru bodog. They're pretty reliable.

[lessthanluke]

You would be wrong BJ lol. I'm so durnk right now lol, gonna be a lot of fun screaming at the t.v soon. Me, my father and my grandfather watching it :)

[lessthanluke]

O.K so before the scores come in I'll give my verdict. I score it 115-113 Calzaghe. I think there was only one man pushing that fight. All Hopkins did was hold and try to spoil he got away with murder. Calzaghe ftw!

[Paladin of Ice]

I didn't do a full scorecard, but I'd say Calzaghe won. Too many rounds where he spent too much time coming forward and throwing while Hopkins tried to hold on. Bernard put on a very good performance though, better than I expected. And watching his style in this fight it's obviously why he's had so much success against southpaws... he really loves using the straight right as a first punch, and that's the cornerstone to any fight against a leftie. The first hypothetical question that springs to mind is how would this fight have gone if Hopkins had been a few years younger? With that and a bit more activity I think he could have stolen it.

It was close enough that I'm sure some fans will go back and forth about it. Tough luck BJ, it's a hard fight to lose money on because there wasn't really a domination or decisive victory, but I think the judges made the right call on this one.

[lessthanluke]

[quote name='Paladin of Ice' post='1321126' date='Apr 20 2008, 04.29']The first hypothetical question that springs to mind is how would this fight have gone if Hopkins had been a few years younger? With that and a bit more activity I think he could have stolen it.

It was close enough that I'm sure some fans will go back and forth about it. Tough luck BJ, it's a hard fight to lose money on because there wasn't really a domination or decisive victory, but I think the judges made the right call on this one.[/quote]

In response to your first question you've got to remember that Calzaghe is not young he is 36 and is probably a few years past his prime himself.

Yeh I think even though it was a close one judges made the right call.

[dits]

That was a good, solid match. Calzaghe was the instigator nearly the whole match with Hopkins relying on defense *coughclinching* to get him through the fight. Too bad he didn't capitalize on that first round knockdown. He got some solid shots at Clazaghe but no follow through. Calzaghe had a good workrate going for him and seemed to tire out BHop by the last rounds. I scored it 116-112 same as the last judge I think.

Gotta give props to Cortez for some nice refereeing. I like that he tried not to penalize the fighters since some of the rounds were a bit close and basically allowed the fighters to win the fight on their own.

[EHK for Darwin]

Eh...personally if I were Cortez, I would have started deducting for clinching sometime around the 3rd round. I came to watch a fight, not a fucking hugfest. Nor did I pay (not that I paid anything, but you get the idea) to see some geriatric fuck take breathers in the corner whenever he got a bit winded. Can you deduct points for being a bitch? Because B-Hop certainly earned that honor several times tonight.

And all of the other adjectives that too often excuse bitchness in a fighter...he's scrappy, dirty, elusive, savvy, or even fucking 'experienced'? Is that what lunging in for the clinch every damned time a punch gets thrown (by either fighter) means? Is that what weeping in a corner after a grazing low blow (that he brought on himself by shoving the other guy's head down) means? Seriously, you'd think George Foreman landed flush with all of his might to B-hop's cupless nuts after that performance. He even tried it again after a phantom low blow, but when Cortez said you're not pussying out again, wow did he come back to life quickly!

Honestly, I thought it was a pretty ugly fight. And I blame B-Hop for most of that. And now I have this insane urge to see B-Hop in an MMA fight just see that fucker kneed in the head and slammed to the ground the next time he tries hugging early and often as his main defensive (and hell, offensive for that matter) strategy.

[Analu]

[quote name='Paladin of Ice' post='1321126' date='Apr 19 2008, 17.29']It was close enough that I'm sure some fans will go back and forth about it. Tough luck BJ, it's a hard fight to lose money on because there wasn't really a domination or decisive victory, but I think the judges made the right call on this one.[/quote]
Yeah, I don't really have any issues with the decision. His age seemed to have caught up with him in the later rounds.

None too happy about losing money, but I had him coming ahead on my makeshift napkin scorecard, too. Congrats to Calzaghe.


[quote name='L’éclaircissementHK' post='1321284' date='Apr 19 2008, 20.15']And all of the other adjectives that too often excuse bitchness in a fighter...he's scrappy, dirty, elusive, savvy, or even fucking 'experienced'? Is that what lunging in for the clinch every damned time a punch gets thrown (by either fighter) means? Is that what weeping in a corner after a grazing low blow (that he brought on himself by shoving the other guy's head down) means? Seriously, you'd think George Foreman landed flush with all of his might to B-hop's cupless nuts after that performance. He even tried it again after a phantom low blow, but when Cortez said you're not pussying out again, wow did he come back to life quickly![/quote]
Eh. To quote Deadwood, you're pretty free with your reprehending tone. It's not like you've said anything new about Hopkins and his style of fighting. He's never been an aesthetically pleasing fighter to watch.

His post-fight antics were a little classless, though. As was his "I'll never lose to a white man" pre-fight remarks. Well you just did, Bernard. I guess next up is Calzaghe vs RJJ. Don't know where the future lies for B-Hop.

[Mathis]

I thought Hopkins was unlucky to lose this fight. He controlled it from the word go and made Calzaghe scrap on the inside throughout. At the end of the program Setanta sports showed the final montage and I counted only one punch that caught B-Hop flush.

Its ugly, and the whiny cheating tactics leave a bad taste but IMO Hopkins edged it. I don't think he should be surprised though. If you fight this type of fight it can always come back to bite you on the scorecards, the same thing happened in his first loss to Taylor. Anyway, he deserves it for dodging Calzaghe six years ago.

I suppose it comes down to what you expect from a fight. I think judges should score a fight on quality of shots, not meaningless aggression or shots that slide off the head. When De La Hoya lost to Mayweather it was a split decision IIRC which I found flabbergasting. De La Hoya threw a hell of a lot more but Mayweather gave a masterclass.

Its a shame Calzaghe wasn't selected for the Olympics way back when. If he had won a medal his profile would have been bigger and we might have seen this fight ten years ago. Look at Amir Khan. Probably the third biggest fighter in terms of media and fan attention in Britain and he hasn't fought anyone good yet.

ETA: Heh, looking at the stats it seems that I'm way off. Joe threw 707 punches landing 33%, Hopkins threw 468 landing 27%. Guess I got no argument.

[The Black Mamba of Dorne]

Hopkins won the fight in a similar way to which Mayweather beat De La Hoya. Unfortunately there was no way he could get the decision because of boxing politics. When a fighter has an 0, decisions rarely go against him, and behind the scenes everyone was looking forward to making money of a potential Jones vs Calzaghe match. Money plays a big role in boxing and Hopkins after this fight had ran out of opponents, and was planning on retiring, meaning no money for the men who run boxing to line their pockets with.

People who complain about how he fought probably don't know much about boxing. At this moment in time there is, with the exception of Pretty-boy Floyd, no better master of the sweet science than B-Hop.
He controlled the pace of the fight throughout, never letting Calzaghe fight at the distance he was comfortable with. He landed the cleaner power-shots throughout, with Calzaghe relying on 'shoe-shining' to dazzle the judges, lots of nice looking flurries but absolutely useless in landing with any power.
Bernard forced him to chase the fight, making him come after him and then punishing by counter-punching through his very susceptible defence, with clean right straights and left hooks.

[The Black Mamba of Dorne]

And you shouldn't be too influenced by HBO commentary, with HBO having a lot of potential money to be made with a Jones vs Calzaghe match coming up. Just see Roy Jones Jr's comments before and after the fight. As soon as he said before the fight he wanted a match up with Calzaghe, I knew the odds for Hopkins winning the fight on the judges' scorecards had slimmed.

[Mathis]

[quote name='The Black Mamba of Dorne' post='1321705' date='Apr 20 2008, 19.06']People who complain about how he fought probably don't know much about boxing.[/quote]

Thats some accusation. A bloody stupid one, if I may be so bold.