keirw wrote: ↑12 Sep 2018, 06:10Not sure how you could have Hopkins above Taylor when Taylor beat Hopkins twice.
Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins successfully competed in 21 middleweight world title fights between 1994 & 2004 and had defeated the following world champions:
• Oscar De La Hoya
• William Joppy
• Carl Daniels
• Felix Trinidad
• Keith Holmes
• Simon Brown
• Glen Johnson
• John David Jackson
Bernard, a relative novice, had also previously fought and lost the great Roy Jones Jr. in 1993, which was his very first world title fight and he was fairly competitive in that bout. This was a defeat that he eventually avenged.
Hopkins faced John David Jackson at a catch-weight, weighing only 156½lbs. Bernard also agreed to compete against De La Hoya at a catch-weight, weighing 156lbs.
Bernard Hopkins was also the very first fighter to ever unify all four main versions of the world middleweight title.
In stark contrast, Jermain Taylor defeated a version of Hopkins that was in his forties and who’s body had outgrown the middleweight division.
And let’s not forget that both of Taylor’s victories over the aging Hopkins were razor thin, with some journalists disputing the official verdicts of the judges.
The next three opponents Taylor faced during the course of his title defences weren’t legitimate middleweights (i.e. Ronald 'Winky' Wright, Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks) and he only managed to beat two of them.
Jermaine Taylor then lost his belts when he was destroyed within seven rounds by Kelly Pavlik. However, he did manage to regain one of the middleweight titles he previously owned, five years later, when he outpointed the 41 year old veteran Sam Soliman.
