giguer

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Rumbin

Horrible fight. Hopkins is finished and Calzaghe only gets hype because hes a Euro.

I wasted an hour watching this and for that I am pissed.

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FightFan76

I honestly do not believe B-hop has ever admitted to a loss, and you are right; he will probably fight Roy Jones next but I would much rather see him fight Pavolik.....

Kurtis636

Split decisions like that are hard to stomach. Is there any question in anyone's mind, other than B-Hop's, who won that fight? I think Hopkins only fought in 2 of the 12 rounds, the rest of the time he ran, ducked, and clinched. He pulled some BS on a low blow. Yes, it was below the belt, but it didn't look like a very solid shot that required that much time to recover, and then later on in the fight he tried to gain some time by claiming another.

Hopkins is done, Calzaghe won going away.

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jxl301

That's why boxing has the reputation it does, because of decisions like that. Max was talking about swing rounds being a factor in the fight... more like swing judges. No way Hopkins won that fight, not even close. I will agree with Benard on one thing... Joe didn't hurt him. That's probably my main complaint about Calzaghe in this fight. His punches (not all) seemed more like slaps than actual punches with force behind them, but a connect is a connect.

Congrats to Joe for the win and for landing more shots on B-Hop than any other fighter ever did... including RJJ.

Boxerboy

The fight was disappointing as a spectacle. I think everybody expected it to be messy,but with the hype and everything in the week leading up to the fight being so entertaining, I think maybe a few people (myself included) thought that it would live up to the build up. I thought the fight was enthralling, if not entertaining

I thought Hopkins won the fight, I felt he was landing the cleaner shots when Calzaghe was on the way in. I cant re-call Calzaghe landing a shot which had B-Hop in trouble. I also feel he was unfairly blamed for all the clinching. Joe was a culprit too. He seemed to throw combinations moving forward and if they missed or were blocked he ducked his head under Hopkins arms. Hopkin's clinching and holding tactics, while not pretty, were the clever thing for a 43 year old fighter to do. Joe's strength is his work-rate and quantity of punches. By holding, Hopkins slowed him down and frustrated him, and neutralised this threat.

I'd like to see referees being stricter on clinching,having said all that! At times, this fighthad a rhythm of 3 shot exchange, then hold. It was ridiculous! I think Joe Cortez was at fault. He had zero tolerence on holding in the Hatton fight, but seemed to allow it here.

Credit to Joe though for coming back off the floor and taking the fight to B-Hop. Big Respect! I'd like to see him fight Pavlik Next!

T-Bone

That clinching/holding/hugging made the fight annoying to watch. You really thought Hopkins won?

Someone probably had a conversation w/Cortez about that Hatton fight.

Kurtis636

How can you think that Hopkins won that fight when he got outlanded and outhrew Hopkins by a 2:1 margin? At some point in a boxing match don't you need to... oh, I don't know, BOX! Hopkins tried to fight about 30 seconds per round and stall the rest. It's very, very hard to win many rounds that way.

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1. Shogun
2. GSP
3. Rich Franklin
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Harms

Totally agree. I find it hard to believe that Joe did alot of the holding. Everytime Joe would go in, Hopkins would hold his right arm and I mean everytime. Hopkins did very little to win rounds except throw an occasional punch that would land once a minute.

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jxl301

You hit the nail on the head. I guess that was Benard's strategy, to disrupt Joe's rhythm.

As for Boxerboy's comment on the cleaner punches. Maybe Benard landed some cleaner shots, but not enough to win rounds. Like I said about Calzaghe's "slapping" punches, a connect is a connect and the refs saw that and awarded points accordingly. I think Benard was on an ego trip after that first round flash KD and thought in the end that would stand out in the judges eyes, I don't know, but oh my was he wrong.

Boxerboy

I can absolutely see why Calzaghe won the fight! Whatever way you look at it, it was close! Mind you Chuck Giampa giving it 116-111 was BS. It all depends on what you look for and want to see in a fight. I've never been a fan of Calzaghe's slapping style of punching. Hopkins landed a good few beautiful straight full blooded right hands as Joe was stepping in. IMO, these were more damaging than any of Joe's shots.
The clinching made the fight hard to watch as a spectacle, but from a tactical point of view, I appreciated it. I thought Hopkins imposed his will and gameplan on Joe and was an excellent spoiler.
But I can absolutely see why People thought Joe won! He was the aggressor, he definately finished stronger, and he landed more "scoring shots" i.e shots that connected according to the statistics. BUT. I felt a lot of these shots were pitty pat with little or no power and should not have counted. As a fan of boxing, I just hope we are not going down the same road as the amateur game, where you are rewarded for quantity rather than quality!

jxl301

[quote=Boxerboy;285692]I can absolutely see why Calzaghe won the fight! Whatever way you look at it, it was close! Mind you Chuck Giampa giving it 116-111 was BS. It all depends on what you look for and want to see in a fight.[quote]

I think Giampa's score was good, like you said it's all in what you want to see in a fight. I just can't see how a judge can award a fight much less some rounds to someone who is on his bicycle the majority of the fight and landing about half the shots his opponent did.

FightFan76

I see your point about quality over quantity but when it is a ton of quanity over a hand full of quality shots then I gotta go w/ quantity. The whole thing about Joe being resposible for the tigh-ups is wrong and I have Hopkins entire career as evidence for that. Yeah he has won alot of fights that way and maybe it is a good strategy for him but I hate watching him fight b/c of it. He refuses to mix it up w/ anyone unless they get hurt and up until then he thows 1 maybe 2 punches each exchange and then he ties up when the other guy starts to counter. It is very hard to look good while beating Hopkins, which is why I say Joe got him. It is very hard to get in good shots on B-hop and when Joe realized that he went for the scoring strategy instead of the damage strategy and it worked for him. I have seen Joe do alot of damage to alot of fighters, B-hop is just hard to damage even if you are able to beat him. I really want to see Joe fight Pavolik next and I think he has a very legitimate chance of beating him.....

jxl301

^^^ Yeah, Lacy's face was busted up in his fight with Calzaghe. I agree with your post 100%.