Bernard Hopkins vs Joe Calzaghe ['08]
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effective counter punching and timing can stop high work rates (see Quintana vs Paul Williams as a recent example).
I also think hopkins is going to be physically bigger this fight. He will resemble the hopkins that fought Tarver, and not the Hopkins that fought Wright. This is because the gameplan will not be to outwork Calzaghe because that's just not possible, the gameplan will be effective countering, packed with a lot of power, which in theory will make Calzaghe more cautious.
Against Tarver:
Against Winky:
The gameplan against Winky was a tactical one and strong emphisis on conditioning, whereas with Tarver they went in there to physical hurt him (with strong counters) and as Mack Shilstone said, "to break his jaw", who will be training Hopkins again for this fight.
I also think hopkins is going to be physically bigger this fight. He will resemble the hopkins that fought Tarver, and not the Hopkins that fought Wright. This is because the gameplan will not be to outwork Calzaghe because that's just not possible, the gameplan will be effective countering, packed with a lot of power, which in theory will make Calzaghe more cautious.
Against Tarver:
Against Winky:
The gameplan against Winky was a tactical one and strong emphisis on conditioning, whereas with Tarver they went in there to physical hurt him (with strong counters) and as Mack Shilstone said, "to break his jaw", who will be training Hopkins again for this fight.
That fight to me was a tall guy with not much pop not knowing how to use his height and a skilled boxer exploiting that. I'm pulling for Hopkins in this fight and hope that he can turn it into a dirty slow paced fight and take the decision.
.. also Calzaghe takes a minute to figure guys out before he gets going. Hopefully Hopkins can stall him out enough to take enough of the early rounds and get a nice lead in the fight.
.. also Calzaghe takes a minute to figure guys out before he gets going. Hopefully Hopkins can stall him out enough to take enough of the early rounds and get a nice lead in the fight.
Bernard Hopkins: Killers Have Hearts Too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ2HnWm0yXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLjX2BYLdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ2HnWm0yXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLjX2BYLdQ
Calzaghe, Hopkins Predict Knockout Wins
Joe Calzaghe
It’s my 11th year as world champion and I finally have arrived in America. Bernard was champion for nearly 11 years. I’m tremendously confident for this fight.
Bernard has never been stopped and that’s something that I think I can do.
I have no respect for my elders come this Saturday night.
I want to be the first person to knock him out and to put him into retirement.
I’m going to cut 1000 punches down to 500 or 600 punches and make them more powerful and punish him.
If I bring my A-game against anyone in the world I win. All I have to do is bring my best.
Bernard had to go to prison to be hard. To me that’s a sign of weakness. I don’t have to go to prison to be hard. He’s been to prison, big deal. In the end you’re going to see a grown man cry.
When I walk in the ring I’m going to be the home fighter…with the support from my fans.
Nazim Richardson
Saturday night you’re going to see a great performance. Bernard is a legend and he’s going to do what legends do.
With the assistant of Mackie (Shilstone) and Freddie (Roach) I was able to sit back and observe Bernard Hopkins. And there are no kinks in his armor.
With all Bernard’s fights you see his punches land. You have seen guys labeled champions, and after they fight Bernard they have never fought the same way.
Bernard Hopkins
After being handed a cane (a “gift” from Enzo Calzaghe)…
I’m going to find something to do with it. Something Kinky.
This is going to be my third assassination of a southpaw in the last year and a half.
There is nothing for me to hype. Even my worst critics have to bow down and admit that I’m in great shape. The times have changes where 43 is not what it used to be.
I don’t have days off. I don’t do anything to my temple—my body—that’s why I’m here. It comes from discipline that I got from a dark place 20 years ago.
Being an underdog, that’s not a negative to me. That’s a positive. Everything I have I had to fight for.
I was just handling my business and I’m watching the Calzaghe-Kessler fight. And after he wins, what does he say? “I want to fight Bernard Hopkins.” So I put my teeth in, I rocked back in my rocking chair, took a pop of Geritol, and I call Richard Schaeffer and told him to make it happen.
Joe is not a spring chicken. I’m already a senior citizen. He’s knocking on the door.
I’ll be able to show the world how I’ll be missed when I leave the sport. You’re going to see this athlete and man. It’s going to be an eye opener. And every time I’m not supposed to win I step up.
The competition that American and British fighters face is night and day. They get the residue of U.S. fighters.
I’m up for this fight for a lot of personal reasons. For me it’s a cultural fight.
If he throws 1000 punches he’s opening himself up to get hit 1000 times.
Joe Calzaghe
It’s my 11th year as world champion and I finally have arrived in America. Bernard was champion for nearly 11 years. I’m tremendously confident for this fight.
Bernard has never been stopped and that’s something that I think I can do.
I have no respect for my elders come this Saturday night.
I want to be the first person to knock him out and to put him into retirement.
I’m going to cut 1000 punches down to 500 or 600 punches and make them more powerful and punish him.
If I bring my A-game against anyone in the world I win. All I have to do is bring my best.
Bernard had to go to prison to be hard. To me that’s a sign of weakness. I don’t have to go to prison to be hard. He’s been to prison, big deal. In the end you’re going to see a grown man cry.
When I walk in the ring I’m going to be the home fighter…with the support from my fans.
Nazim Richardson
Saturday night you’re going to see a great performance. Bernard is a legend and he’s going to do what legends do.
With the assistant of Mackie (Shilstone) and Freddie (Roach) I was able to sit back and observe Bernard Hopkins. And there are no kinks in his armor.
With all Bernard’s fights you see his punches land. You have seen guys labeled champions, and after they fight Bernard they have never fought the same way.
Bernard Hopkins
After being handed a cane (a “gift” from Enzo Calzaghe)…
I’m going to find something to do with it. Something Kinky.
This is going to be my third assassination of a southpaw in the last year and a half.
There is nothing for me to hype. Even my worst critics have to bow down and admit that I’m in great shape. The times have changes where 43 is not what it used to be.
I don’t have days off. I don’t do anything to my temple—my body—that’s why I’m here. It comes from discipline that I got from a dark place 20 years ago.
Being an underdog, that’s not a negative to me. That’s a positive. Everything I have I had to fight for.
I was just handling my business and I’m watching the Calzaghe-Kessler fight. And after he wins, what does he say? “I want to fight Bernard Hopkins.” So I put my teeth in, I rocked back in my rocking chair, took a pop of Geritol, and I call Richard Schaeffer and told him to make it happen.
Joe is not a spring chicken. I’m already a senior citizen. He’s knocking on the door.
I’ll be able to show the world how I’ll be missed when I leave the sport. You’re going to see this athlete and man. It’s going to be an eye opener. And every time I’m not supposed to win I step up.
The competition that American and British fighters face is night and day. They get the residue of U.S. fighters.
I’m up for this fight for a lot of personal reasons. For me it’s a cultural fight.
If he throws 1000 punches he’s opening himself up to get hit 1000 times.
Calzaghe: "I'll Beat The Shit Out of Hopkins"
By Mark Vester
After Bernard Hopkins recently disrespected Joe Calzaghe's father/trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, the Welsh super middleweight champion has vowed to brutally punish Hopkins on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
"Hopkins keeps calling himself a living legend but at the end of the day he's still lost four fights," Calzaghe told The Sun. "He's been beaten four times, which is four times more than I have, so I don't give a sh*t what he says. He can talk bullsh*t all he likes — let's see what happens in the fight. My dad Enzo is a good caller of fights and he's told me that if I fight like I usually do, I'll beat the sh*t out of Hopkins."
Calzaghe has not spent hours of trying to figure Hopkins out, he watched his last fight (with Winky Wright) and then went to work in the gym.
"I've hardly watched Hopkins, hardly seen any of his fights. I watched his last fight, that's all, but that's all I ever do. It's all I did before I fought Mikkel Kessler as well. All I need to know is whether he's right-handed or left-handed and whether he likes to come forward or stay back — and that's about it," Calzaghe said.
"There's no point watching a load of his past fights because you can look a million dollars against one guy and then look sh*t against the next. I have a quick look at my opponent's style, then I just go in and do my thing."
By Mark Vester
After Bernard Hopkins recently disrespected Joe Calzaghe's father/trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, the Welsh super middleweight champion has vowed to brutally punish Hopkins on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
"Hopkins keeps calling himself a living legend but at the end of the day he's still lost four fights," Calzaghe told The Sun. "He's been beaten four times, which is four times more than I have, so I don't give a sh*t what he says. He can talk bullsh*t all he likes — let's see what happens in the fight. My dad Enzo is a good caller of fights and he's told me that if I fight like I usually do, I'll beat the sh*t out of Hopkins."
Calzaghe has not spent hours of trying to figure Hopkins out, he watched his last fight (with Winky Wright) and then went to work in the gym.
"I've hardly watched Hopkins, hardly seen any of his fights. I watched his last fight, that's all, but that's all I ever do. It's all I did before I fought Mikkel Kessler as well. All I need to know is whether he's right-handed or left-handed and whether he likes to come forward or stay back — and that's about it," Calzaghe said.
"There's no point watching a load of his past fights because you can look a million dollars against one guy and then look sh*t against the next. I have a quick look at my opponent's style, then I just go in and do my thing."
which seems a little out of character for him. Reminds me of Hopkins talking shit to Papi Trinidad. You insult the guys father and I don't care who you are, you start to lose your cool.
I don't know if all of this will really effect the fight or not, but it could if Joe is fighting with anger/hatred.
I don't know if all of this will really effect the fight or not, but it could if Joe is fighting with anger/hatred.
Enzo Calzaghe to Hopkins: “Don’t be a coward!”
If insults were punches, Bernard Hopkins, two days before he steps into the ring against Joe Calzaghe, would be clinching in order to avoid another combination.
At a media roundtable held today at the Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas, Enzo Calzaghe, father and trainer to the undisputed super middleweight champion from Wales, held nothing back in his assessment of the “so-called legend,” Hopkins.
Called everything, from a coward to a cheater, from “a duck’s arse” to “a bit of an a**hole,” the Hopkins name endured a verbal bruising and battering by the confident trainer.
“Joe is a proven legend,” said Calzaghe, “and he did it without all the sh** talk. Sure, early on, when Joe won his first title, he was all talk, going around saying ‘Man, I’ll do this, I’ll do that.’ But he learned to shut up and get on with it with your fists.
“Now, you don’t see Joe going around, doing all this. What Bernard Hopkins is doing, is cowardness. He’s a person who’s got no faith in himself. I look at all that and take it tongue in cheek, but he’s a bit of an a**hole.”
The pre-fight banter, says Enzo, is endurable—but what he will tolerate are two scenarios that may play out Saturday night in the ring.
“You people [the media] need to ignite ol’ Hopkins to fight,” says the trainer.
“We came here to satisfy the public’s demand. To give a good, interesting fight. You want your ‘American hero’ to run away from a fight? You tell Hopkins to fight.”
Enzo says he strongly suspects that Hopkins will not only resort to cheating Saturday night, but will stoop low to disqualifying himself if he thinks he’s losing the fight.
“That’s your legend,” says Calzaghe. “He’d rather disqualify himself than lose. Where’s the legacy in that? That’s an a**hole, not a legend.
“I hope it doesn’t happen. It’s Hopkins’ only chance, to use spoiling tactics, but that’s the mentality of a loser.”
Avoiding a “real fight,” says Calzaghe, is expected out of Hopkins.
“I guarantee you, that he’ll do that. I’d rather see this fight go down in history as a war between two battlers. But we know it—we’ve seen Hopkins do it in his last three fights. It’s head first, punch after, for Hopkins. He doesn’t want to fight. He’s a coward under pressure.
“But I still hope it will be a true, honest fight. But if it isn’t, if it’s a bum fight, don’t condemn Joe.”
Enzo says that if Referee Joe Cortez does his job, the outcome will be a guaranteed win for the Calzaghe camp.
“I don’t have to ‘think’ Joe will win,” says Enzo. “I know he will win. Whether it’s 12 rounds or one round, it’s going to be a win for Joe.”
Despite Hopkins’ unorothodox style, Enzo says there was no need to strategize or change training.
“Why should Joe change his style for Hopkins?” says Enzo. “It’s not bout changing our style for Hopkins—it’s about Hopkins changing his style for Joe. We didn’t have to plan to beat Hopkins—and that’s what puts Joe in a different class.”
How does Cazlaghe plan on winning?
“With fists,” Enzo exclaims. “We can’t kiss him to death.
“Joe has a perfect state of mind. He’s 110 percent and feels absolutely strong as an ox. This weight is Joe in his comfort zone. We have no doubts about the outcome.
“All we ask for, is a true, honest fight.”
If insults were punches, Bernard Hopkins, two days before he steps into the ring against Joe Calzaghe, would be clinching in order to avoid another combination.
At a media roundtable held today at the Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas, Enzo Calzaghe, father and trainer to the undisputed super middleweight champion from Wales, held nothing back in his assessment of the “so-called legend,” Hopkins.
Called everything, from a coward to a cheater, from “a duck’s arse” to “a bit of an a**hole,” the Hopkins name endured a verbal bruising and battering by the confident trainer.
“Joe is a proven legend,” said Calzaghe, “and he did it without all the sh** talk. Sure, early on, when Joe won his first title, he was all talk, going around saying ‘Man, I’ll do this, I’ll do that.’ But he learned to shut up and get on with it with your fists.
“Now, you don’t see Joe going around, doing all this. What Bernard Hopkins is doing, is cowardness. He’s a person who’s got no faith in himself. I look at all that and take it tongue in cheek, but he’s a bit of an a**hole.”
The pre-fight banter, says Enzo, is endurable—but what he will tolerate are two scenarios that may play out Saturday night in the ring.
“You people [the media] need to ignite ol’ Hopkins to fight,” says the trainer.
“We came here to satisfy the public’s demand. To give a good, interesting fight. You want your ‘American hero’ to run away from a fight? You tell Hopkins to fight.”
Enzo says he strongly suspects that Hopkins will not only resort to cheating Saturday night, but will stoop low to disqualifying himself if he thinks he’s losing the fight.
“That’s your legend,” says Calzaghe. “He’d rather disqualify himself than lose. Where’s the legacy in that? That’s an a**hole, not a legend.
“I hope it doesn’t happen. It’s Hopkins’ only chance, to use spoiling tactics, but that’s the mentality of a loser.”
Avoiding a “real fight,” says Calzaghe, is expected out of Hopkins.
“I guarantee you, that he’ll do that. I’d rather see this fight go down in history as a war between two battlers. But we know it—we’ve seen Hopkins do it in his last three fights. It’s head first, punch after, for Hopkins. He doesn’t want to fight. He’s a coward under pressure.
“But I still hope it will be a true, honest fight. But if it isn’t, if it’s a bum fight, don’t condemn Joe.”
Enzo says that if Referee Joe Cortez does his job, the outcome will be a guaranteed win for the Calzaghe camp.
“I don’t have to ‘think’ Joe will win,” says Enzo. “I know he will win. Whether it’s 12 rounds or one round, it’s going to be a win for Joe.”
Despite Hopkins’ unorothodox style, Enzo says there was no need to strategize or change training.
“Why should Joe change his style for Hopkins?” says Enzo. “It’s not bout changing our style for Hopkins—it’s about Hopkins changing his style for Joe. We didn’t have to plan to beat Hopkins—and that’s what puts Joe in a different class.”
How does Cazlaghe plan on winning?
“With fists,” Enzo exclaims. “We can’t kiss him to death.
“Joe has a perfect state of mind. He’s 110 percent and feels absolutely strong as an ox. This weight is Joe in his comfort zone. We have no doubts about the outcome.
“All we ask for, is a true, honest fight.”