Joe Calzaghe V Bernard Hopkins

[fist]

Always stated I want Calzaghe to win this fight.

But I am going with my gut feeling - Hopkins by decision - an awful decision which will have us all screaming at the judges.

I will give you an example of the recent madness - who had Dawson winning that fight against Johnson by 4 rounds?

Have more faith! Calzaghe is hitting harder than ever. He'll get a TKO, you watch.

Joe Calzaghe has never been a concusive puncher!!! look at his results - it is his sheer speed and volume of punches that has overwhelmed his opponents - he will have that to a degree against Hopkins - but there again Hopkins is also one of those fighters in fact one of the very few who will be able to cope with Calzaghe's speed.

Calzaghe hits harder than people think. Eubank had a granite chin and he got put on his arse. He laughs when he hears people say Joe slaps. In his last fight he certainly hurt Kessler. Granted with the weight draining and fragile hands he doesnt punch as hard as years ago and doesnt put evreything into them. HOWEVER, his hands are doing good and he's looking and feeling more powerful at LHW. Lastly, as we all know, POWER COMES WITH SPEED and timing. Fair enough that you disagree, but Joe will get a TKO - through a mixture of heavy punching and overwhelming continuous punching.

[hitman_hatton1]

Joe Calzaghe has never been a concusive puncher!!! look at his results - it is his sheer speed and volume of punches that has overwhelmed his opponents - okay he will be faster than Hopkins - but there again Hopkins is also one of those fighters in fact one of the very few who will be able to cope with Calzaghe's speed.

yep.

joe is gonna have to get work done.

hops is such a good spoiler.

joe has struggled before with guys that take away his rhythm in fights.

i think it will be a very frustrating night for joe.

hope i'm wrong.

[DG.]

close decision for hops.

never liked this style for joe.

hops will pose problems with his fast counters outside and spoil joe inside.

i see it being a frustrating night for him.

JC it is then!

ha ha ha.

it's a mis-conception i always get it wrong.

got everything right at the weekend.

admittedly a couple of those were a bit easy to read.

i see it being competitive.

i just think hops has the style to do it.

hops can go with a pace if he has to.

JC BY KO!

[Sjhndz_75]

I am picking Calzaghe via the TKO in 10. Hopkins was a great Middleweight, but it is time for him to retire.

[Controversial]

Calzaghe by close decision. I don't think this is an easy fight for Joe. He is better against fighters who come onto him so he can counter-punch (i.e Lacy). He also has the added pressure of fighting in the states, with American fans and referee.

Hopkins is a counter puncher too and will want Calzaghe to come to him, something Joe doesn't do to well. The Reid fight was similar in that they were both counter punchers and it ended up being very tough and close.

I don't think either fighter punches hard enough to stop each other, and both have good chins anyway so I can't see it being stopped at any point (unless cuts come into it of course)

I just hope Joe's his hands hold up and he doesn't end up fighting one handed like he has done in the past.

[fist]

Calzaghe by close decision. I don't think this is an easy fight for Joe. He is better against fighters who come onto him so he can counter-punch (i.e Lacy). He also has the added pressure of fighting in the states, with American fans and referee.

Hopkins is a counter puncher too and will want Calzaghe to come to him, something Joe doesn't do to well. The Reid fight was similar in that they were both counter punchers and it ended up being very tough and close.

I don't think either fighter punches hard enough to stop each other, and both have good chins anyway so I can't see it being stopped at any point (unless cuts come into it of course)

I just hope Joe's his hands hold up and he doesn't end up fighting one handed like he has done in the past.

Have to completely disagree with the above. Joe is great at coming forward, as or countering, he was awsome against Kessler in terms of countering the counters.

[hitman_hatton1]

Calzaghe by close decision. I don't think this is an easy fight for Joe. He is better against fighters who come onto him so he can counter-punch (i.e Lacy). He also has the added pressure of fighting in the states, with American fans and referee.

Hopkins is a counter puncher too and will want Calzaghe to come to him, something Joe doesn't do to well. The Reid fight was similar in that they were both counter punchers and it ended up being very tough and close.

I don't think either fighter punches hard enough to stop each other, and both have good chins anyway so I can't see it being stopped at any point (unless cuts come into it of course)

I just hope Joe's his hands hold up and he doesn't end up fighting one handed like he has done in the past.

Have to completely disagree with the above. Joe is great at coming forward, as or countering, he was awsome against Kessler in terms of countering the counters.

yeah but kessler let him fight.

that was a very clean fight with 2 boxers looking for openings.

hopkins don't fight that way.

he'll look to spoil a lot and i think he'll succeed.

[fist]

Calzaghe by close decision. I don't think this is an easy fight for Joe. He is better against fighters who come onto him so he can counter-punch (i.e Lacy). He also has the added pressure of fighting in the states, with American fans and referee.

Hopkins is a counter puncher too and will want Calzaghe to come to him, something Joe doesn't do to well. The Reid fight was similar in that they were both counter punchers and it ended up being very tough and close.

I don't think either fighter punches hard enough to stop each other, and both have good chins anyway so I can't see it being stopped at any point (unless cuts come into it of course)

I just hope Joe's his hands hold up and he doesn't end up fighting one handed like he has done in the past.

Have to completely disagree with the above. Joe is great at coming forward, as or countering, he was awsome against Kessler in terms of countering the counters.

yeah but kessler let him fight.

that was a very clean fight with 2 boxers looking for openings.

hopkins don't fight that way.

he'll look to spoil a lot and i think he'll succeed.

The Kessler figth is not the point mate. Iwas responding to the comment that Joe was not good at coming forward! He's amazingly agressive, great movement, can box close in or on the outside. His aggression sees him countering the counters. He'll destroy Hopkins.

[hitman_hatton1]

hope ya right fist.

[n1ebf]

i have just watched a great interview with Hopkins on some Fightnetwork channel i think it was ....(American).

think this Hopkins fella has seriously underestimated Calzaghe.......or rather I suspect it's all Bravado and will soon be exposed as such.

He reckons not one single one of Calzaghe's 45 opponents have been HALF as good as his own legacy. He seemed to cite Kessler as the best and touted him as an overhyped....protected European fighter.

Nard reckons the boxer who becomes World Champ in Europe is not as good as HALF the fighters who challenge for World titles from the US UNsuccessfully.............interestingly while they slagging off Joe's record as crap they make no exceptions about their own fellow yanks........Lacy for instance was talked about almost with derision.

Even the commentator of the show had the gall to say Joe had only fought a small number of warm bodies.......cheeky git!

Hopkins then proceeded to pitter patter at the floor to ceiling ball for a few seconds extremely badly, he didn't dare hit it hard cos it looked like it would take to minutes for it to slow down so he could hit it again..........compare that to Calzaghe's dazzling display on his own floor to ceiling ball for the cameras posted on here a few days ago.

I'll say one thing, Hopkins did look quite big.......probably bigger than Calzaghe but I see no way in the world this fella can win.

IT'S CALZAGHE ALL THE WAY FOR ME HE WILL BEFUDDLE HOPKINS AND MAKE HIM LOOK RIDICULOUS, HE WILL STEAL HIS SOUL AS B-HOP LIKES TO SAY. THIS FIGHT AIN'T GOING THE DISTANCE IMO.

Joe's workrate will expose cracks and when the chance comes and I think it will Hopkins will be saved following a barage of about 20 punches.

[Controversial]

Have to completely disagree with the above. Joe is great at coming forward, as or countering, he was awsome against Kessler in terms of countering the counters.

yeah but kessler let him fight.

that was a very clean fight with 2 boxers looking for openings.

hopkins don't fight that way.

he'll look to spoil a lot and i think he'll succeed.

The Kessler figth is not the point mate. Iwas responding to the comment that Joe was not good at coming forward! He's amazingly agressive, great movement, can box close in or on the outside. His aggression sees him countering the counters. He'll destroy Hopkins.

I hope your right. I still think Joe is a better at counterpunching people, if he has to go looking for Hopkins, who is also a good counterpuncher, it could be a messy and scrappy fight.

I'll be very surprised if Joe stops Hopkins as Hopkins has a great chin and Calzaghe isn't a one-punch ko artist. Hopefully he can wear him down and stop him late on with sustained attacks but my feeling is Hopkins will be too cute to be caught out like that.

Close, scrappy fight with Calzaghe winning a decision.

[SticknMove]

I hope that Calzaghe does a job over there.

Hopkins knows how to dig in with the mind games – you have got to give him that. He has plenty within that economical, but deliberate, style of his to make this a long hard night for Calzaghe and all his supporters.

Calzaghe’s handspeed, workrate and fluid movement have been exceptional when it comes to the BIG fights that he's been in ie. Lacy and Kessler. He will need to bring all of that into an unfamiliar higher profile arena against an elite guy that should be past his best but has loads of tactical and boxing nous.

I think Calzaghe will edge it – but do not see it as a foregone conclusion by any means.

[Spud]

Have more faith! Calzaghe is hitting harder than ever. He'll get a TKO, you watch.

Joe Calzaghe has never been a concusive puncher!!! look at his results - it is his sheer speed and volume of punches that has overwhelmed his opponents - he will have that to a degree against Hopkins - but there again Hopkins is also one of those fighters in fact one of the very few who will be able to cope with Calzaghe's speed.

Calzaghe hits harder than people think. Eubank had a granite chin and he got put on his arse. He laughs when he hears people say Joe slaps. In his last fight he certainly hurt Kessler. Granted with the weight draining and fragile hands he doesnt punch as hard as years ago and doesnt put evreything into them. HOWEVER, his hands are doing good and he's looking and feeling more powerful at LHW. Lastly, as we all know, POWER COMES WITH SPEED and timing. Fair enough that you disagree, but Joe will get a TKO - through a mixture of heavy punching and overwhelming continuous punching.

If Calzaghe gets a stoppage - in my view despite Hopkins age - it would be a sensational result.

[Spud]

Anyone betting on the fight?

Is a points victory for either fighter as much a certainty as I think it is?

[Controversial]

Calzaghe by close decision. I don't think this is an easy fight for Joe. He is better against fighters who come onto him so he can counter-punch (i.e Lacy). He also has the added pressure of fighting in the states, with American fans and referee.

Hopkins is a counter puncher too and will want Calzaghe to come to him, something Joe doesn't do to well. The Reid fight was similar in that they were both counter punchers and it ended up being very tough and close.

I don't think either fighter punches hard enough to stop each other, and both have good chins anyway so I can't see it being stopped at any point (unless cuts come into it of course)

I just hope Joe's his hands hold up and he doesn't end up fighting one handed like he has done in the past.

Bang on with the verdict and description of the fight :-)