BoxRec

Has anyone actually been impressed with Hopkins in his last few fights? I thought he was very average and is now be overhyped to ridiculus proportions by lots of people. Why wouldn't Eastman give him a good fight? He'd sure as hell give him a better fight than Allen or Oscar did. Bernard is their for the taking imo. I wanna see how at 40 he will cope when a young powerful fighters takes it too him. Allen was sleepwalking in his fight and Oscar didn't offer a threat. Seriously I don't get it? Hopkins is not unbeatable, not even close to it.

Hopkins isn't unbeatable, just very hard to beat. Against De La Hoya i was impressed, his speed and ring craft was excellent, nullified Oscars moves and just made him fight when he wanted to rest.

has been at the top for near on 10years.

I used to think Eastman was the real deal beating the likes of McCraken and Foster in "3rd gear". However, the more I see him, the more I come to realise there is no fourth gear - thats it.

Lets look at it, Eastman "blows it" vs Joppy. People were saying after that performance that Eastman "lost it" (and yes, he did lose) as opposed to Joppy winning it. People, myself included at the time, still thought he had this extra gear - that was the biggest fight of his life, why didn't he try?

The answer, in hindsight, is that he gave it 100% and that is his top gear. For me, his fight was Tatesvyan was to in the balance for him to be cruising ( I actually thought he lost the fight). Now against Elliot, here was a limited but tough guy who was definately ambitious. Eastman was definately hurt by Elliot but when Elliot punched himself out (which he did several times) would Eastman apply any more pressure on him to get him out of there? No? Where was this fourth gear?

The answer is, there is no fourth gear? I don't know what he fears by going all out (Stamina problems?), but whether it is mental or physical, he has no fifth gear and I don't see any improvement if he steps it up.

Thats why I tip quite a few in the top ten to beat him.

Elliot was a big guy, he weighted over the supermiddle limit. He threw some bombs, Eastman took them well for how hard he was hit. He probably wouldn't beat Hopkins but who knows, maybe he'll finally find that extra gear. Bernard wouldn't KO him that I do know and he'd be fighting someone of similar stature to himself but younger and maybe stronger. Hopkins plays a lot of mind games before his fights also, would they work on Eastman? He's so laid back they probably wouldn't work. They bothered Joppy a lot and Hopkins got to Trinidad as well.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Hopkins seems unlikely to want to face him when he can face Sturm for less risk

Sturm less risk that Eastman? Why would that be? Sturm might not have the punching power but then Eastman doesn't have the speed of punch. If anything I'd give Sturm more chance of taking the odd round from the Executioner.

Try and imagine what we'd all be thinking if Eastman were, say French. With his one-paced style and padded record I don't believe anyone would even bring his name up as a viable challenger to Hopkins. I don't mean to sound patronizing as I'm definitely guilty of hyping the Brits too much myself at times. But I've given up on Eastman.

stujones wrote:I used to think Eastman was the real deal beating the likes of McCraken and Foster in "3rd gear". However, the more I see him, the more I come to realise there is no fourth gear - thats it.

Lets look at it, Eastman "blows it" vs Joppy. People were saying after that performance that Eastman "lost it" (and yes, he did lose) as opposed to Joppy winning it. People, myself included at the time, still thought he had this extra gear - that was the biggest fight of his life, why didn't he try?

The answer, in hindsight, is that he gave it 100% and that is his top gear. For me, his fight was Tatesvyan was to in the balance for him to be cruising ( I actually thought he lost the fight). Now against Elliot, here was a limited but tough guy who was definately ambitious. Eastman was definately hurt by Elliot but when Elliot punched himself out (which he did several times) would Eastman apply any more pressure on him to get him out of there? No? Where was this fourth gear?

The answer is, there is no fourth gear? I don't know what he fears by going all out (Stamina problems?), but whether it is mental or physical, he has no fifth gear and I don't see any improvement if he steps it up.

Thats why I tip quite a few in the top ten to beat him.

Spot on.