Taylor by split decision!!

[Manos de Oro]

i knew Taylor would win this one, i had picked him...Hopkins always showed he had troubles against bigger/faster guys...plus he was getting old and less motivated while Taylor was young and hungry...expect Taylor to be even more dominant in their rematch and a long reign after that...
this also gave an idea of what debacle it would have been if Hopkins had climbed 2 divisions to fight Tarver...

Raff, Taylor will never have a long reign, not because of his skills, but because of his weight. No way he makes 160 at 40. Will he even be able to make it at 31?

Who were the bigger/faster guys that have given Hopkins trouble in the past?

Tarver would have shown none of the ignorance of Taylor. He hates to fight at any sort of pace and WAS DROPPED by not a punch, but his weak mind against Eric Harding. Tarver would be an easy mind-phuck.

[Lefthookhappy19]

Got to hand it to Hopkins. Its amazing how he cons these younger guys to fight his fight. Its amazing, con is the perfect word. Taylor comes out firing and it looks to be going his way. Then Hopkins starts feinting, holding and roughing him up and before Taylor knows it he's doing exactly what Hopkins wants him to do. Taylor will watch that fight later and wonder just what the hell happened to him late on. From the 10th on he looked in a trance.

[Raff The Frenchman]

yes i know he is going to get heavier, i said he is going to have a long reign as a champion and as a top fighter, i never said as the middleweight champ...of course i expect Taylor to move up to super middle, then prolly lheavy...and i still think Tarver would have wiped the floor with Hopkins...
and the faster fighter i was talking about was Jones...

[Manos de Oro]

yes i know he is going to get heavier, i said he is going to have a long reign as a champion and as a top fighter, i never said as the middleweight champ...of course i expect Taylor to move up to super middle, then prolly lheavy...and i still think Tarver would have wiped the floor with Hopkins...
and the faster fighter i was talking about was Jones...

'A long reign as a champion' after he wins 'the rematch' kinda implies you mean the championship he just won, but I know English isn't your first language so no problem. 8)

Don't agree about Tarver.

Agree Jones' speed was a big factor in that fight, not the most important factor, but a big one.

[Manos de Oro]

Watched the HBO feed (and that's all it was - a feed), and scored the fight 116 - 112 Hopkins. Taylor: 1,2,3,6; Hopkins: 4,5,8,9,10,11,12. Rounds 8 and 9 could possibly have been scored even.

I'm not gonna complain about Jim Watt or Iain Darke last night, because I don't think they were out of order. I did notice Jim talked over a few quality punches that Hopkins landed, and maybe this reflected in his scorecard.

The HBO commentary team comes in for a rare dose of criticism in this fight. Merchant and Lederman kept harping on about how Taylor was winning those early rounds, but listen to Roy Jones... "I can tell you right now he had no intention of winning those rounds in this fight". Jones goes on to explain that he thinks Bernard's gameplan is to catch him with a big shot late and knock him out. Lampley, Lederman and Merchant thinly veil their scoffing at this. LISTEN TO THEIR SILENCE WHEN ROUND 10 HITS. HAHAHA.

Lampley, Merchant and Lederman are three upper-middle class white males, who know more about the feel of the inside of a golf glove than a boxing one. I remember someone made a good comment on this forum not long ago stating: "boxing is a sport you can know everything and understand nothing". In other words, you can know all the stats in the world (Lampley) and you can have seen all the fights over the past few decades from ringiside (Merchant), hell, you can even have judged them (Lederman). But at the end of the day you can only master the laws of averages from that vantage point; you miss out on so many dynamics of the fight.

To their credit, Taylor's corner told him the story in the corner during round 9: "this is a damn close fight". They were right, I had it even entering the 10th. Jones' comments during round 11 about Taylor being in "deep water he's never been in" brought back memories for me:

http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 042#231042

BTW, for anyone who cares about compubox/punchstats: Hopkins landed more overall as well as having higher efficiency, and also landed significantly more power shots, as well as having higher efficiency. For what it's worth.

[harley_man]

Watched the HBO feed (and that's all it was - a feed), and scored the fight 116 - 112 Hopkins. Taylor: 1,2,3,6; Hopkins: 4,5,8,9,10,11,12. Rounds 8 and 9 could possibly have been scored even.

I'm not gonna complain about Jim Watt or Iain Darke last night, because I don't think they were out of order. I did notice Jim talked over a few quality punches that Hopkins landed, and maybe this reflected in his scorecard.

The HBO commentary team comes in for a rare dose of criticism in this fight. Merchant and Lederman kept harping on about how Taylor was winning those early rounds, but listen to Roy Jones... "I can tell you right now he had no intention of winning those rounds in this fight". Jones goes on to explain that he thinks Bernard's gameplan is to catch him with a big shot late and knock him out. Lampley, Lederman and Merchant thinly veil their scoffing at this. LISTEN TO THEIR SILENCE WHEN ROUND 10 HITS. HAHAHA.

Lampley, Merchant and Lederman are three upper-middle class white males, who know more about the feel of the inside of a golf glove than a boxing one. I remember someone made a good comment on this forum not long ago stating: "boxing is a sport you can know everything and understand nothing". In other words, you can know all the stats in the world (Lampley) and you can have seen all the fights over the past few decades from ringiside (Merchant), hell, you can even have judged them (Lederman). But at the end of the day you can only master the laws of averages from that vantage point; you miss out on so many dynamics of the fight.

To their credit, Taylor's corner told him the story in the corner during round 9: "this is a damn close fight". They were right, I had it even entering the 10th. Jones' comments during round 11 about Taylor being in "deep water he's never been in" brought back memories for me:

http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 042#231042

BTW, for anyone who cares about compubox/punchstats: Hopkins landed more overall as well as having higher efficiency, and also landed significantly more power shots, as well as having higher efficiency. For what it's worth.

Yes, Roy Jones was right, but implicit in what he was saying is the fact that the plan needed to work. It didn't. Hopkins did not score a kd or have Taylor so far on queer street that he deserved a 10-8 round. And he certainly didn't ko him.

If Hopkins was waiting for Taylor to break down like so many others, he should have realized round 9 was too late unless he executed as above because he was in an 8-1 or 7-2 hole. Of course he thinks he won many of the early rounds. But he didn't. He outlanded Taylor late but he didn't out round him. That's where he loses.

I'm disappointed because I've been a longtime Hopkins fan and thought he could have exploited Taylor's flaws earlier. That would have been championship worthy. What he did wasn't.

Not saying Taylor's performace was scintillating but this was Bernard Hopkins he was fighting. When they "exchanged" in the early rounds Taylor definitely looked stronger. All Hopkins did was duck and circle away - when he wasn't getting hit. And he didn't punch. If he was waiting for the kid to tire - great. But then he didn't close the deal in the end. Taylor's still standing and won more rounds.

[Manos de Oro]

Yes, Roy Jones was right, but implicit in what he was saying is the fact that the plan needed to work. It didn't. Hopkins did not score a kd or have Taylor so far on queer street that he deserved a 10-8 round. And he certainly didn't ko him.

If Hopkins was waiting for Taylor to break down like so many others, he should have realized round 9 was too late unless he executed as above because he was in an 8-1 or 7-2 hole. Of course he thinks he won many of the early rounds. But he didn't. He outlanded Taylor late but he didn't out round him. That's where he loses.

I'm disappointed because I've been a longtime Hopkins fan and thought he could have exploited Taylor's flaws earlier. That would have been championship worthy. What he did wasn't.

Not saying Taylor's performace was scintillating but this was Bernard Hopkins he was fighting. When they "exchanged" in the early rounds Taylor definitely looked stronger. All Hopkins did was duck and circle away - when he wasn't getting hit. And he didn't punch. If he was waiting for the kid to tire - great. But then he didn't close the deal in the end. Taylor's still standing and won more rounds.

I think Hopkins may have seen the fight the same way Jerry Roth did (and me), and thought the fight was even going into the 10th, whereafter he turned up the heat. If he genuinely believed he was behind on the scorecards going into those closing rounds he would no doubt have turned it on earlier, after all, Taylor began to gas around the seventh (watch his legs, mouth and eyes).

I'm a boxing fan and rarely, very rarely, personally want a particular fighter to win. I wanted Hopkins to win last night because he and Taylor represent different ends of the modern day boxing spectrum.

Taylor looked stronger in the early rounds because he is so naturally bigger than Hopkins. Bernard would have been an idiot, at 40 years old and the smaller man, to have exchanged with him early.

See my last post on the Xposed thread in regards the rounds thing.