Why do people think that Bernard Hopkins is a WASHED-UP fighter?

Question

I know he's 43 but in his last 2 fights he fought top competiton (Winky & Tarver) and succeeded. Hopkins looked sloppy in the Wright fight but that's because of who he was fighting. Win or lose Wright would make anyone look sloppy. Wright have a DIFFICULT style to compete against. Anyhow, for the past 8 years (when he at age 36 beating Tito) people have been saying Hopkins is to old. But time and time Hopkins has proving he could fight at an old age. So why are people expecting Calzaghe (who is 36 himself) to run over Hopkins? I'm not saying who's going to win but don't be surprised if Hopkins is victorious. 36 isn't that young either. I know Hopkins was amazing at 36 but everyone ages different.

Anyways, there haven't been any proof of Hopkins being washed up so why are people saying that? Hopkins looked great in his last fights.

Answer 1

he is old for Calman. Calzaghe is a fresher boxer. mentally and physically. I can see Hopman using heat butts to try to discourage Calzaghe.

Calzaghe has all the tools to beat Hopman, and Hopman has old age.

Answer 2

He looked impressive against Tarver but Tarver is also getting old and is overrated. He looked bad against Winky (who is also showing his age). He made it an ugly fight cause he couldn't out box Winky.

I'm not even saying he is washed up but I am saying he's not at his peak and doesn't have enough left to beat Calzaghe.

Answer 3

Because he's gone from throwing 30 punches a round during his prime to 20 now as an older fighter.

Looked great?  How can you see what other fighters are doing (Mayweather, Pavlik, Cotto, Pac, Marquez, Margarito, etc.) and say he looked great?  Hopkins didn't look great against Taylor (even if you think he actually won), all you have to do is look at Pavlik's fights against Taylor to tell where Hopkins is in his career.  I guess if all you have to do is win ugly twice to look great, than sure, Hopkins has looked great.

And there is a difference between beating 3 guys who are all on the wrong side of 35 (Tarver, Wright and Calzaghe) and being able to justify some sort of ageless wonder tag.  I would hope boxing fans, of all people, could separate hype.  NO ONE GETS BETTER AT THAT AGE - Calzaghe is not better now than he was at 28 or 29 and neither is Hopkins.  

All these old guys are trying to make up for inactivity, poor performances, or whatever, by picking and choosing cherry situations to create some illusion of a legacy that they were just "underestimated or overlooked or not appreciated"

Why didn't these two guys fight 8 years ago?  Why didn't Hopkins go after the light heavyweight title when Roy held it?  Why hasn't Calzaghe fought a guy on the pound for pound list until now?

Answer 4

Washed up or not,  he's old.

Answer 5

Hopkins is certainly not washed up at all!  He really shows no signs of slowing down either and win or lose against Calzaghe, his record speaks for itself.  Remember Archie Moore was world lightheavyweight champion from the ages of 38 to 48 years old and nobody could say he was washed up.  Foreman beat Moore for the title at age 45 with a short right hand.  Some guys just get better it seems.

Answer 6

Hopkins is not washed up, he is just going to get spanked by a better fighter. Lots of guys were at their best at Hopkins age - Jersey Joe Walcott, Archie Moore, etc

Answer 7

A lot of the washed up talk about Bernard started when Taylor beat him twice. I've thought about this and I believe Hopkins got caught up in his consecutive title defense streak and was draining himself to stay at 160. He has looked sharp as a light heavy. Says a lot when when a world class boxer can eat! As Woody and others have stated Wright has made a few top flight championship level fighters look bad/awkward in his career.  Bernard is not washed up.

I honestly don't know who is going to win this fight. It's probably my lack of seeing more than just a handful of Calzaghe fights. Joe has the decided advantage in hand speed and Bernard really knows how to use that tight defense of his to create openings for his offense. Hopkins can win if he is successful in the pocket against Calzaghe. Meaning if he can step inside of Calzaghe's flurries (Joe in my mind doesn't punch in combination) and land clean, sharp counter punches he is definitely capable of winning this fight.

Can Bernard neutralize Joe's hand speed? That's the key to who wins this fight.

Answer 8

People are saying that Hopkins is washed up because he didn't look great against Wright, which is not fair. When does a fighter ever look good against Winky Wright? Besides, even if Hopkins was fighting someone else, he is entitled to having an off night, just like anyone else in the sport.

Many fear that age has something to do with his performance against Wright. That's just one fight though, so we really can't say for certain. Personally, I would need to see back-to-back (if not more) subpar performances before I can call Hopkins washed up.