Should I be impressed with Joe Calzaghe after his performance against Hopkins? The guy that landed the harder?

Question

shots was Hopkins, that right hand tagged Joe hard several times, even knocked Joe down clean......................................

I always thought that Calzaghe could get a decision against Hopkins because whether Hopkins fans like to admit it or not his age started to show way back in the first fight with Taylor......

Hopkins got the Knock Down and made Calzaghe bleed, but Joe kept coming forward and landed alot of meaningless pitty-pat punches....................................

and as far as the work rate, he out worked Hopkins, but should I be impressed- I mean Hopkins does have a big mouth- but the guy is 43 years old!

Answer 1

Everything that you stated is basically my exact same thoughts about the fight.  I agree that Calzaghe won the fight, but he did not impress me at all.  Honestly, Hopkins impressed me more by knocking him down and making it a competitive fight with a volume puncher like Joe Calzaghe at the age of 43.  This fight only proved one thing to me- If Calzaghe crossed the pond and fought B-Hop in his prime, Hopkins would have won easily.  I think that the same holds true with the two Jermain Taylor fights- yes, Taylor did beat him twice, but just like with Calzaghe, it was ONLY because of his age.  I agree that a lot of Calzaghe's punches were meaningless "slapping punches" that he has been criticized for in the past, but at the end of the day, I still think that his workrate was just too much for Hopkins at this stage of his career.  I would like to see Calzaghe face Kelly Pavlik, but I know that won't happen because Kelly is too dangerous of an opponent for Joe, and he will most likely fight Roy Jones, Jr. next (they already have it penciled in for November 15, but its not a done deal yet).  And guess what?  He'll probably beat Jones in another fight that only proves that if he fought these guys (Jones and Hopkins) in their primes, he would have been beaten easily.

Pedritor- Beating bums for the majority of your career like Calzaghe did, and then only fighting top opponents towards the end does not impress most of us (maybe it does for you).  Roy beat Hopkins convincingly when they were BOTH in their primes.  Calzaghe hardly beat a faded, 43 year old Hopkins that was not as good as he once was.  If Calzaghe had crossed the pond when he first won the title and if he had faced EITHER Jones or Hopkins, or any other worthy opponent, he would not be undefeated today and he would not have had his title for that long- most of us are smart enough to realize that  Calzaghe won the fight, but Hopkins showed that no matter what happened, he is still the better legend and the better fighter in his prime.

Answer 2

Thumbs up to Mark Andrew M.   Calzaghe did enough to win.  That said, it wasn't what I would consider a significant fight for Hopkins.  Win or lose Bernard Hopkins's legacy was secure.  Had Calzaghe lost, it would have been much more devastating to Joe's creditability than the win was in promoting Joe.  It is hard to be impressed with a slapping arm puncher who piles up points like an armature.  

Calzaghe as a 45-0 record, that's impressive on paper until you look at who he fought, and at what stage of their careers he fought them.  Then Joe looks exactly like what he is, a protected fighter with an inflated record against lesser talent.

I am not easily impressed.

Answer 3

first of all, all bernard did was hold onto calzaghe... which made this fight so boring... if he was not going to let a white boy beat him, he should at least knock the white boy out... instead, he was just clinching most of the time... very boring fight...

Answer 4

He didn't knock Joe down clean. He PUSHED him down clean! Hopkins wouldn't even fight - he ran worse than Mayweather. Running and then an occasional pot-shot is the way cowards fight.

Answer 5

You're right.  Hopkins landed the better shots,  dropped him, and made him bleed.  Nuff said.

Answer 6

Hopkins exposed Calazaghe but he didn't win the fight. I honestly believe Hopkins thought he was ahead on the scorecards, so he didn't press. His corner was even telling him he was ahead, so he had no other reason to believe he wasn't. BHOP won in his eyes because he exposed Calazaghe from the start but anyone (including Ray Charles of a Jude) who knows boxing knows BHOP didn't win, didn't even really come close. I've seen voluminous amounts of bouts were the hardest hitter doesn't win, that is why its called the "sweet science" the strongest man doesn't always win.  Also, if BHOP would of stopped trying to intentionally headbutt Joe all through the fight, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't of been so tired.  The Headbutt was BHOP's X-factor that never got played out, and buying time -because he knew Cortez was going to be soft on him- was his second x-factor. He mastered the dirty tricks in the book but at the end of the night BHOP let a whiteboy beat him.

When Roy Jones fights Calazaghe and IF he throws his hands he will be Calazaghe, maybe even Knock Him Out.  That's right I wrote it.

Answer 7

I am more impressed with Hopkins than with Joe Calzaghe. Joe slap with his punch. He did landed more punches but he never did hurt the old man.

Answer 8

Still a entertaining and impressive fight

between legends.

Both held titles for 10+ years, dominated

they're division, Its passing of the torch.

Hopkins was supposed to lose.

Answer 9

What doesnt impress me is the lack of boxing knowledge in this room.  If someone beating a legend like Hopkins regardless of his age doesnt impress you, then you are impossible to please.  All Joe did was land more punches against BHop than anyone in recent memory.  Bernard has a great defense and to land that many punches is impressive.  If you think great punching power is a prerequisite to being a great boxer then you are a novice fan and not worth taking the time to explain this to.  I dont mean to go off but it seems every week people need to be educated in here about boxing and points/scoring and what makes a great fighter.  So what if Jermain Taylor didnt whip Hopkins?  So what if Joe didnt whip Hopkins?  Even Roy Jones at 25 yrs of age couldnt look impressive against Bernard so you think anyone could?  Roy for that matter gets a lot of criticism in this room and it makes me laugh that ten years ago you same people saw how devastating he was.  But the minute he becomes human and slows down and God forbid, loses a fight, you all seem to think he was overrated.  Please.

Answer 10

As a boxing purest I loved the fight there was a lot of thinking going on in that fight. I have to tip my hat to Calzaghe because I had Hopkins winning before the fight. It could have been a draw easily. But the judges got this one right. But what about Hopkins at 43 years old and fight like that is unbelievable a 43 year old man should not be able to go 12 rounds with a world champion boxer that is undefeated it just should not happen. every FIGHT Hopkins HAS EVER LOST he never got beat up and you can make a case in every fight except one and that was the Roy Jones fight that he won. Not taking anything away from Calzaghe but he is not in the same class as a 43 year old man.

Answer 11

Hopkins exposed him and made him look normal just like with Jose Luis Castillo and Floyd Mayweather when someone that we are used to see winning by a large margin pulls it out in a close fight we tend to believe that either they lost or weren't as good as before. I think that Hopkins wasn't beat convincingly Joe did the bare minimum to win a decision the fact that he landed more punches on Hopkins than a Prime Roy Jones and only got a split decision was a prime example of what i am talking about. I think in Clazaghe's last two fight Kessler and Hopkins he won the fight but both fights showed that he isn't this superman that the media tried to promote him as. In my own personal opinion Joe wasted to much time fighting nobodies and now his career is coming to an end and if he continues to fight the top notch guys he is going to suffer a loss soon.

Especially if he takes on guys like

Kelly Pavlik

Jermain Taylor

Roy Jones

Antonio Tarver

Chad Dawson

The 160 to 178 pound division are packed with talent and he could be beat soon. Its too bad he spent most of his time a Super Middleweight ( I think that division has the lest amount of talent)