Bernard Hopkins vs Joe Calzaghe ['08]
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all the greats are dirty. Mayweather isn't p4p #1 cuz he fights nice, he has a lot of tricks up his sleeves too, uses his elbows, etc.
Like this youtube video shows:
Now, obviously this video was made by some heart broken British fag and it's over exaggerated, but you get the idea. Mayweather is sneaky, knows a lot of little tricks.
Hopkins is the same way, but knows and uses even more. He's the master at it. And I wouldn't expect anything less from hopkins. By any means necessary. He will win any way he possibly can and he doesn't give a shit if he stinks up the joint and the fans are booing either. All he cares about is winning.
Enzo Calzaghe I think is basically trying to tell Hopkins to fight clean with his son, like saying that's some bitch shit if you foul Bernard. Unfortunately for Enzo, that's the way it's going to be and he doesn't understand what kind of person bernard is, this isn't Wales and this isn't clean cut, Mr nice guy Kessler. Also, it could be Calzaghe's downfall if he goes in there trying to make a huge impression in the US for the first time with his guns a blazing trying to make it a fight with bernard. All it takes is one sharp counter. Just one, to change the fight.
Like this youtube video shows:
Now, obviously this video was made by some heart broken British fag and it's over exaggerated, but you get the idea. Mayweather is sneaky, knows a lot of little tricks.
Hopkins is the same way, but knows and uses even more. He's the master at it. And I wouldn't expect anything less from hopkins. By any means necessary. He will win any way he possibly can and he doesn't give a shit if he stinks up the joint and the fans are booing either. All he cares about is winning.
Enzo Calzaghe I think is basically trying to tell Hopkins to fight clean with his son, like saying that's some bitch shit if you foul Bernard. Unfortunately for Enzo, that's the way it's going to be and he doesn't understand what kind of person bernard is, this isn't Wales and this isn't clean cut, Mr nice guy Kessler. Also, it could be Calzaghe's downfall if he goes in there trying to make a huge impression in the US for the first time with his guns a blazing trying to make it a fight with bernard. All it takes is one sharp counter. Just one, to change the fight.
Really good article from a UK boxing writer
Why Calzaghe Should Fear Bernard Hopkins
By Terence Dooley
If one uttered the phrase “inauspicious beginnings” it would throw up the image of parolee Bernard Hopkins, looking to make something of his newfound freedom, losing his first ever prize-fight back in 1988. Sluggish at light-heavyweight, the raw fighter dropped a 4-round decision to Clinton Mitchell in a fight that registered Hopkins, if he registered at all, as a fighter not to look out for. Hopkins’ fee for the bout, less then $400, must have seemed scant reward for a man no doubt struggling in his post-prison life.
Eighteen-months later Hopkins was back; the son of Philly was reborn, back in his hometown, at its most authentic venue, the Blue Horizon. This win, over Greg Paige, may not have registered on the Richter scale of boxing; however if it can be said that it is possible to envisage a monsoon eventually resulting from a butterfly flapping its wings. We can also imagine that Hopkins, in his second coming, strode from his chrysalis with a clear view of what he wanted to archive in boxing, and life.
From the start Hopkins’ career, his path was paved with broken glass rather than gold but it formed the basis for an improbable story that now sees Hopkins, at the grand old age of 43, standing in the way of Joe Calzaghe’s stated aim of becoming a part of the boxing elite.
For many in the UK, Hopkins is a pantomime dame, a bad guy acting tough, a boring fighter who is going to be repelled by the lightening flurries of Welsh southpaw Calzaghe.
At best the UK fans see Hopkins as a canny operator who tricked his way into gaining control of the light-heavyweight division by virtue of a win over Antonio Tarver.
Unfortunately for Calzaghe, and possibly for the British fans, this perception of Hopkins is seriously mistaken, it is erroneous to such an extent that many of us, although not all, are forgetting the fact that it is Hopkins, not Calzaghe, who is, in the words of Frank Bruno, “one serious hombre”.
Born in 1965 Hopkins aggressively hurtled towards a premature manhood on the mean streets of Philly. When I was 13 I got my first ever computer, a Commodore 64, when Hopkins was 13, which was in 1979, the year I was born, Bernard was stabbed in the lung in a subway somewhere in Philadelphia. Medics say the knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart, in truth his heart is probably so big and mean it scared that knife away.
After surviving the attack, Hopkins made what, all due respect intended, was probably a logical insight into life on the streets of Philadelphia, the young Bernard realized that it was better to be the man doing the intimidating, rather than the boy being intimidated. Hopkins became a criminal, not the type of criminal who goes to college and performs crimes whilst hiding behind a white-collar. Hopkins would walk up to people on the street and take what he thought was due to him.
At the age when a growing number of people are passing through college, Hopkins passed into the American prison system. Many descriptions, often brilliant, have been used to describe this systematic breakdown of humanity, to paraphrase: Hopkins had his soul put on ice at a tender age for most people, the age of 17 to be exact, a period when we discover the world, rather than being locked away from it.
The 5-year stint in prison opened Hopkins mind up to many things, the most pressing thing, which underpinned all other concerns, was his desire not to repeat this experience.
In his 5th fight, against Jovin Mercardo, Hopkins came in at 5-hours notice, this despite the fight taking place in Philly. Effectively, in coming in late, Hopkins was the ‘opponent’ in his hometown, a man still fighting to shift perceptions of what he was about, like a boy labelled with a nickname on the first day of school who fights against this label for his entire school career.
This time, though, Hopkins was improved as a fighter, those weaned on the images of the canny Hopkins outmanoeuvring his foes would be surprised by just how fast, assertive, and aggressive Hopkins was early in his career. Mercardo was brushed aside in a couple of rounds, for Hopkins the flashing rain of his quicksilver fists must have seemed like a baptism. There was a visible development, also, in his next few fights, by the time he destroyed Mike Sapp, then later Danny Mitchell, in a round apiece there was a subtle shift in the perception of Hopkins as a fighter.
This improbable turnaround – from prison, to professional debut defeat, to general apathy about his career, to promising signs of progress – continued. By the time Hopkins took on Dennis Miltonm the perception of Bernard had shifted from parolee to boxing prospect. Hopkins dropped the tough Mitchell twice in the very 1st round, overall, though, what was most impressive is that Hopkins was shifting the in-ring perception of his skills, the combinations were augmented by intelligent movement, by the 4th round Hopkins had busted and bruised Milton sufficiently enough for the fight to be stopped.
Hopkins was now in the process of arrival, by his fight with Randy Smith, a win over 10-rounds, Bernard was no longer moving forward in straight lines, his steps in the ring were as neat as his progress towards the middleweight rankings.
There was also the first prototype of a weapon that Hopkins would use to great effect as his career progressed, a right hand curled, a la Tim Witherspoon - by rolling over to the right before turning the shot over. Hopkins was now a contender; he had weathered the hard road and was on the road to becoming a consummate boxer-puncher.
A fight with James Stokes saw Hopkins gain a #3 ranking with IBF; he celebrated by using left hand combinations, topped by left uppercuts, to finish his foe in a single round. It seemed that Hopkins may yet be ready to stake a claim on the middleweight title but the most improbable thing happened, for someone with the back-story of Hopkins, in that he failed in his first two title tilts.
His first shot came against the mercurial Roy Jones Junior, it could be argued that Hopkins went into the fight looking tense, maybe he was frustrated, he was said to receive only $70,00 for this fight, not bad, until you consider that his promoter Butch Lewis allegedly earned 10-times that amount.
Hopkins, who ironically would sometimes cast himself as the Christ like whipping boy of boxing, fought for a consolation prize in his next bout, as he defeated Roy Ritchie in seven rounds for the NABF title. Hopkins, it seemed to this writer, had decided to adopt a more vigorous approach to his craft, echoing his earlier KO wins, in order to ensure that when his next big chance came he would not be found wanting.
That chance came versus Sergundo Mercardo and, as had been the case with Roy Jones, Hopkins again struggled at the title level, and again against a fighter with fast hands, Hopkins’ aggression also cost him 2 knockdowns, countered both times when coming in, and he was ultimately lucky to come away from Ecuador with only a draw on his ledger. Perhaps unable to acclimatise to the higher altitude of 1,000 feet, metaphorically as well as physically, Hopkins was put over in rounds 5 and 7 with the second touchdown a headlong tumble after a solid body shot.
It seemed that Hopkins had reached a pivotal moment in his career in that 7th round, he was facing the abyss but the kernel of toughness honed in his youth rose to the fore, he decoded Mercardo in the following rounds, hurting the man from Ecuador late in the fight.
With memories of the torrid final images of Hopkins’ dominance fresh in his mind Mercardo struggled in the mandated rematch. Hopkins dropped some of the bullish forward movement, tweaked his style, and negated Mercardo early in the fight before closing the show in round 7.
Finally, after a truly testing period of contention, Hopkins had risen to the top of the sport, despite winning the title he would still have to toil in relative obscurity, with other, in his mind lesser, fighters all taking turns to rise and tumble down the mythical P4P rankings. When Hopkins finally finished his slow ascent to boxing Valhalla he made his point by out-boxing Felix Trinidad on every level possible. Then, with the fight all but won, Hopkins turned on the power in round 12 to put Tito over, forcing Tito’s father to stop the fight. It was the very outcome predicted by Hopkins.
Hopkins now goes to the well once again, yet it is not the type of well visit usually reserved for lesser fighters such as Arturo Gatti, where the fighter goes to the well in order to draw from their inner reserves of heart and courage, only to one day find the well has run dry.
No, in the case of Hopkins it seems that every visit to the well sees him drawing up his secret stash of boxing armoury. A pistol jab to break rhythm, handcuffing holds to sap strength, and a right-hand cosh to rob you of your senses. At the age of 43, 30-years after his determining years on the streets of Philly, Hopkins is still the strong-armed robber of his youth, only in boxing there are rules, rules Hopkins makes a career of contravening for his own benefit.
Far from feeling complacent about the prowess of the old man it would be wise for Calzaghe to feel fear in the face of Hopkins’ jail-honed resolve. Unlike Hopkins Calzaghe was an amateur star. He was picked for the top from his earliest days He was guided to his title win and he has had umpteen hand picked fights in which to make money without huge risk. Despite recent achievements, Calzaghe has managed to get over 40 fights under his belt whilst only taking on two real challenges. One, Jeff Lacy, was an overrated American novice, the second, Mikkel Kessler, a decent European fighter who did not know how to throw a left hook off his right hand.
This is Calzaghe’s first huge fight, his first meaningful fight on foreign soil, his first fight at light-heavyweight, and, in this writer’s mind, the first time he has faced a guy with the ability to negate Joe’s speed.
I also feel we will see another first in this fight. A reliable source at their Mayweather-Hatton weigh-in head-to-head informed me that both Calzaghe and Hopkins played up for the cameras a little, however when the cameras stopped rolling Hopkins shaped up as if to go for Calzaghe, in the time it would take us to click our fingers Hopkins went from slightly sinister clown to full-on bad man, it was a move said to have taken Calzaghe aback.
A reminder, perhaps, that Hopkins, for all his bluster, is a man who has been to some dark places and survived. A fighter who did not have the golden tickets handed to him in every early bout. A fighter who was twice denied his dream title ticket; in short Hopkins is every inch a credible threat to Calzaghe in the boxing ring, to pretend otherwise is foolish, and plays into Hopkins’ hands.
The first bell will be telling in this bout, Calzaghe is a very confident man. On the other hand, recent losses in his father Enzo’s stable seem to have rattled both father and son. Joe looked visibly worried when his friend Enzo Maccarinelli failed to challenge David Haye for the undisputed Cruiserweight title. Enzo Calzaghe could only look on in despair as Andreas Kotelnik soundly beat his overachieving charge Gavin Rees. Boxing is a sport besieged by superstition, a losing breeze, begun by Maccarinelli, became a worrying squall with the defeat of Rees, this could mean a slight dip in Calzaghe’s ease of mind, Hopkins will be able to smell this and will cut his cloth accordingly.
For this writer the signs are that British boxing, like the world economy, went far beyond its means in recent years. Clinton Woods has already come crashing down to Earth.
Saturday will see another British fighter fall at the highest level. Hopkins is too smart, Calzaghe is analogous to a man whistling before a danger he does not understand. He says Hopkins is similar to Mary Poppins in terms of danger posed (an insult Hopkins turned by saying Joe is already calling him ‘Poppy'). It seems to me that Joe has completely misread the fight and this will be shown on Saturday night.
By Terence Dooley
If one uttered the phrase “inauspicious beginnings” it would throw up the image of parolee Bernard Hopkins, looking to make something of his newfound freedom, losing his first ever prize-fight back in 1988. Sluggish at light-heavyweight, the raw fighter dropped a 4-round decision to Clinton Mitchell in a fight that registered Hopkins, if he registered at all, as a fighter not to look out for. Hopkins’ fee for the bout, less then $400, must have seemed scant reward for a man no doubt struggling in his post-prison life.
Eighteen-months later Hopkins was back; the son of Philly was reborn, back in his hometown, at its most authentic venue, the Blue Horizon. This win, over Greg Paige, may not have registered on the Richter scale of boxing; however if it can be said that it is possible to envisage a monsoon eventually resulting from a butterfly flapping its wings. We can also imagine that Hopkins, in his second coming, strode from his chrysalis with a clear view of what he wanted to archive in boxing, and life.
From the start Hopkins’ career, his path was paved with broken glass rather than gold but it formed the basis for an improbable story that now sees Hopkins, at the grand old age of 43, standing in the way of Joe Calzaghe’s stated aim of becoming a part of the boxing elite.
For many in the UK, Hopkins is a pantomime dame, a bad guy acting tough, a boring fighter who is going to be repelled by the lightening flurries of Welsh southpaw Calzaghe.
At best the UK fans see Hopkins as a canny operator who tricked his way into gaining control of the light-heavyweight division by virtue of a win over Antonio Tarver.
Unfortunately for Calzaghe, and possibly for the British fans, this perception of Hopkins is seriously mistaken, it is erroneous to such an extent that many of us, although not all, are forgetting the fact that it is Hopkins, not Calzaghe, who is, in the words of Frank Bruno, “one serious hombre”.
Born in 1965 Hopkins aggressively hurtled towards a premature manhood on the mean streets of Philly. When I was 13 I got my first ever computer, a Commodore 64, when Hopkins was 13, which was in 1979, the year I was born, Bernard was stabbed in the lung in a subway somewhere in Philadelphia. Medics say the knife missed narrowly missed Hopkins’ heart, in truth his heart is probably so big and mean it scared that knife away.
After surviving the attack, Hopkins made what, all due respect intended, was probably a logical insight into life on the streets of Philadelphia, the young Bernard realized that it was better to be the man doing the intimidating, rather than the boy being intimidated. Hopkins became a criminal, not the type of criminal who goes to college and performs crimes whilst hiding behind a white-collar. Hopkins would walk up to people on the street and take what he thought was due to him.
At the age when a growing number of people are passing through college, Hopkins passed into the American prison system. Many descriptions, often brilliant, have been used to describe this systematic breakdown of humanity, to paraphrase: Hopkins had his soul put on ice at a tender age for most people, the age of 17 to be exact, a period when we discover the world, rather than being locked away from it.
The 5-year stint in prison opened Hopkins mind up to many things, the most pressing thing, which underpinned all other concerns, was his desire not to repeat this experience.
In his 5th fight, against Jovin Mercardo, Hopkins came in at 5-hours notice, this despite the fight taking place in Philly. Effectively, in coming in late, Hopkins was the ‘opponent’ in his hometown, a man still fighting to shift perceptions of what he was about, like a boy labelled with a nickname on the first day of school who fights against this label for his entire school career.
This time, though, Hopkins was improved as a fighter, those weaned on the images of the canny Hopkins outmanoeuvring his foes would be surprised by just how fast, assertive, and aggressive Hopkins was early in his career. Mercardo was brushed aside in a couple of rounds, for Hopkins the flashing rain of his quicksilver fists must have seemed like a baptism. There was a visible development, also, in his next few fights, by the time he destroyed Mike Sapp, then later Danny Mitchell, in a round apiece there was a subtle shift in the perception of Hopkins as a fighter.
This improbable turnaround – from prison, to professional debut defeat, to general apathy about his career, to promising signs of progress – continued. By the time Hopkins took on Dennis Miltonm the perception of Bernard had shifted from parolee to boxing prospect. Hopkins dropped the tough Mitchell twice in the very 1st round, overall, though, what was most impressive is that Hopkins was shifting the in-ring perception of his skills, the combinations were augmented by intelligent movement, by the 4th round Hopkins had busted and bruised Milton sufficiently enough for the fight to be stopped.
Hopkins was now in the process of arrival, by his fight with Randy Smith, a win over 10-rounds, Bernard was no longer moving forward in straight lines, his steps in the ring were as neat as his progress towards the middleweight rankings.
There was also the first prototype of a weapon that Hopkins would use to great effect as his career progressed, a right hand curled, a la Tim Witherspoon - by rolling over to the right before turning the shot over. Hopkins was now a contender; he had weathered the hard road and was on the road to becoming a consummate boxer-puncher.
A fight with James Stokes saw Hopkins gain a #3 ranking with IBF; he celebrated by using left hand combinations, topped by left uppercuts, to finish his foe in a single round. It seemed that Hopkins may yet be ready to stake a claim on the middleweight title but the most improbable thing happened, for someone with the back-story of Hopkins, in that he failed in his first two title tilts.
His first shot came against the mercurial Roy Jones Junior, it could be argued that Hopkins went into the fight looking tense, maybe he was frustrated, he was said to receive only $70,00 for this fight, not bad, until you consider that his promoter Butch Lewis allegedly earned 10-times that amount.
Hopkins, who ironically would sometimes cast himself as the Christ like whipping boy of boxing, fought for a consolation prize in his next bout, as he defeated Roy Ritchie in seven rounds for the NABF title. Hopkins, it seemed to this writer, had decided to adopt a more vigorous approach to his craft, echoing his earlier KO wins, in order to ensure that when his next big chance came he would not be found wanting.
That chance came versus Sergundo Mercardo and, as had been the case with Roy Jones, Hopkins again struggled at the title level, and again against a fighter with fast hands, Hopkins’ aggression also cost him 2 knockdowns, countered both times when coming in, and he was ultimately lucky to come away from Ecuador with only a draw on his ledger. Perhaps unable to acclimatise to the higher altitude of 1,000 feet, metaphorically as well as physically, Hopkins was put over in rounds 5 and 7 with the second touchdown a headlong tumble after a solid body shot.
It seemed that Hopkins had reached a pivotal moment in his career in that 7th round, he was facing the abyss but the kernel of toughness honed in his youth rose to the fore, he decoded Mercardo in the following rounds, hurting the man from Ecuador late in the fight.
With memories of the torrid final images of Hopkins’ dominance fresh in his mind Mercardo struggled in the mandated rematch. Hopkins dropped some of the bullish forward movement, tweaked his style, and negated Mercardo early in the fight before closing the show in round 7.
Finally, after a truly testing period of contention, Hopkins had risen to the top of the sport, despite winning the title he would still have to toil in relative obscurity, with other, in his mind lesser, fighters all taking turns to rise and tumble down the mythical P4P rankings. When Hopkins finally finished his slow ascent to boxing Valhalla he made his point by out-boxing Felix Trinidad on every level possible. Then, with the fight all but won, Hopkins turned on the power in round 12 to put Tito over, forcing Tito’s father to stop the fight. It was the very outcome predicted by Hopkins.
Hopkins now goes to the well once again, yet it is not the type of well visit usually reserved for lesser fighters such as Arturo Gatti, where the fighter goes to the well in order to draw from their inner reserves of heart and courage, only to one day find the well has run dry.
No, in the case of Hopkins it seems that every visit to the well sees him drawing up his secret stash of boxing armoury. A pistol jab to break rhythm, handcuffing holds to sap strength, and a right-hand cosh to rob you of your senses. At the age of 43, 30-years after his determining years on the streets of Philly, Hopkins is still the strong-armed robber of his youth, only in boxing there are rules, rules Hopkins makes a career of contravening for his own benefit.
Far from feeling complacent about the prowess of the old man it would be wise for Calzaghe to feel fear in the face of Hopkins’ jail-honed resolve. Unlike Hopkins Calzaghe was an amateur star. He was picked for the top from his earliest days He was guided to his title win and he has had umpteen hand picked fights in which to make money without huge risk. Despite recent achievements, Calzaghe has managed to get over 40 fights under his belt whilst only taking on two real challenges. One, Jeff Lacy, was an overrated American novice, the second, Mikkel Kessler, a decent European fighter who did not know how to throw a left hook off his right hand.
This is Calzaghe’s first huge fight, his first meaningful fight on foreign soil, his first fight at light-heavyweight, and, in this writer’s mind, the first time he has faced a guy with the ability to negate Joe’s speed.
I also feel we will see another first in this fight. A reliable source at their Mayweather-Hatton weigh-in head-to-head informed me that both Calzaghe and Hopkins played up for the cameras a little, however when the cameras stopped rolling Hopkins shaped up as if to go for Calzaghe, in the time it would take us to click our fingers Hopkins went from slightly sinister clown to full-on bad man, it was a move said to have taken Calzaghe aback.
A reminder, perhaps, that Hopkins, for all his bluster, is a man who has been to some dark places and survived. A fighter who did not have the golden tickets handed to him in every early bout. A fighter who was twice denied his dream title ticket; in short Hopkins is every inch a credible threat to Calzaghe in the boxing ring, to pretend otherwise is foolish, and plays into Hopkins’ hands.
The first bell will be telling in this bout, Calzaghe is a very confident man. On the other hand, recent losses in his father Enzo’s stable seem to have rattled both father and son. Joe looked visibly worried when his friend Enzo Maccarinelli failed to challenge David Haye for the undisputed Cruiserweight title. Enzo Calzaghe could only look on in despair as Andreas Kotelnik soundly beat his overachieving charge Gavin Rees. Boxing is a sport besieged by superstition, a losing breeze, begun by Maccarinelli, became a worrying squall with the defeat of Rees, this could mean a slight dip in Calzaghe’s ease of mind, Hopkins will be able to smell this and will cut his cloth accordingly.
For this writer the signs are that British boxing, like the world economy, went far beyond its means in recent years. Clinton Woods has already come crashing down to Earth.
Saturday will see another British fighter fall at the highest level. Hopkins is too smart, Calzaghe is analogous to a man whistling before a danger he does not understand. He says Hopkins is similar to Mary Poppins in terms of danger posed (an insult Hopkins turned by saying Joe is already calling him ‘Poppy'). It seems to me that Joe has completely misread the fight and this will be shown on Saturday night.
Weigh In, Live on HBO, can watch here:
http://www.hbo.com/boxing/
Starts at 2:00PM, I believe. Or 2:20pm
http://www.hbo.com/boxing/
Starts at 2:00PM, I believe. Or 2:20pm
doesn't look like it's started yet, I think 2:20pm. just go to http://www.hbo.com/boxing/, then on the right side of the screen, down torwards the middle of the page you'll see VIDEO: Hopkins vs. Calzaghe. Click that link then select either windows media player or quicktime
