BoxRec

but didn't I say DLH had no business at middleweight?

You certainly did James.
He didn't really put a serious dent in Sturm. What hope to hurt the real champion?
If Hopkins doesn't regress any further, I cannot see any outcome except one in their mooted September encounter.
That being a long painful night for The Golden Boy.

Then again write him off at your peril...Stranger things have happened

Quite right mate, i didnnt think he won either.
but of course the lucrative millions for the hopkins fight would have been down the drain.

Absolutely.
It was still a pretty close fight I would say though. Thought Sturm won(IMHO with his quality work), but you can understand why DLH won rounds with his flashy style.

What did you think of Hopkins guys?
To me, Allen looked like he was just there to survive, and Hopkins didn't have to bust a gut to a facile UD.
Is Hopkins showing signs of slowing down? or was the easy pace he boxed at, just an indictment of Allen's unwillingness to do anything positive?

I suppose the controversy could actually add to the appeal for the Hopkins DLH clash.

personally i thought hoplkins boxed within himslef, he didnt show as much energy for me as he did in the joppy fight.

But he will against oscar, who should try and get out of that match as soon as possible cos he is gonna get hurt.

Cast your mind back to Hopkins v Keith Holmes, Hop turned in a mediocre performance, and everyone then assumes he is going to get murdered by Tito. Hopkins shows against Tito that he was simply coasting against Holmes.

Hop is just protecting his nest egg, doesn't want to frighten DLH and lose out on the money.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Cast your mind back to Hopkins v Keith Holmes, Hop turned in a mediocre performance, and everyone then assumes he is going to get murdered by Tito. Hopkins shows against Tito that he was simply coasting against Holmes.

Hop is just protecting his nest egg, doesn't want to frighten DLH and lose out on the money.

It's exactly what i was thinking from the middle of the fight onwards. If he put in a great performance and had Allen out of there fairly early on there's no way De La Hoya would want to take the fight.

I'm not even sure he was coasting, it may have been something even worse. I think he was intentionally trying to look bad.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Cast your mind back to Hopkins v Keith Holmes, Hop turned in a mediocre performance, and everyone then assumes he is going to get murdered by Tito. Hopkins shows against Tito that he was simply coasting against Holmes.

Hop is just protecting his nest egg, doesn't want to frighten DLH and lose out on the money.

DLH want's the cash as much as Hopkins, he also believes rightly or not that he can beat a 39/40 year old Hopkins.

Agree completely with you about Hopkins/Holmes....When Tito blew Joppy away...Most pundits predicte a Trinidad victory over Hopkins later that year.

DLH may be no natural middleweight, but he sure has some balls moving up and actually fighting in the way he was, right from the off. And sometimes that's 'all' you need when you're given an 'impossible' challenge. Both Honeyghan against Curry and Douglas against Tyson showed that when the underdog comes in prepared, and shows heart, funny things can start to happen... And even though it looks likely that events may follow the script (X administers a devastation clinic to DLH and TKO's him between 9-12) I'd say that if DLH beat Hopkins it wouldn't be as big a shock as some upsets in super-fights of the past.

As for Hopkins, he did the right thing playing it safe... he was one hurdle away from his biggest pay-day ever. Why do a somersault over that hurdle when you can hop over it easy?

BTW, that knockdown in round 7 was a peach.

I don't believe the cash is anywhere near the motivating factor for DLH as it is for Hop. Bernard has NEVER had a payday like this in his life, DLH has had several.

DLH is more interested in his legacy than the money, Nard knows he won't lose, and wants that fat paycheck.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I don't believe the cash is anywhere near the motivating factor for DLH as it is for Hop. Bernard has NEVER had a payday like this in his life, DLH has had several.

DLH is more interested in his legacy than the money, Nard knows he won't lose, and wants that fat paycheck.

Can't argue with any of that

Honeyghan and Douglas were both fighting in their natural weightclass, were at the top of their games, and were fighting an opponent who with hindsight wasn't really at their best.

DLH is fighting way above his natural weight, hasn't looked really that great since his days at welterweight, and is fighting a guy who is far nearer his peak than himself.

I know boxing is an unpredictable sport, but I just think Oscar is going to get brutallised by Bernard.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nard carries him though, he has a lot of respect for Oscar, and may let him survive. I thought Oscar could go the distance legitimately with Nard, but if he struggled with Sturm, he has no chance.

Win or lose, you can't say ODH has ducked anyone during his career but I've found it funny that very few people (me included) have not mentioned how plump/round faced he's looked at press conferences in the last few months prior to Saturday, considering how 'spidery' he was at superfeather/lightweight when he was on the way up.

On the other hand, you have to give credit to Hopkins who has kept himself in great shape over the years. I'm not a huge fan of him and don't particularly enjoy watching him (but the way he picked Trinidad apart was top notch) but not too many top fighters have the dedication to dominate one weight division like Bernard has.

Not totally sure what to make of September's fight but it will be interesting to see what happens. From what I've seen of the guys over the last couple of years though, I feel Bernard's going to be too big and strong and technically sound for ODH and beat him up a bit over 12 rounds. Oscar's not going to be able to do what Leonard did to Hagler because A, Oscar's not so quick and B, Hopkins still seems to be on top of his game despite his age.

Hopkins boxed well within himself but i was disappointed with his basics, he looked for the right hand too often and lunged in and held everytime Allen attacked. However it was to be expected as Hopkins has a massive payday on the horizon and boxed how i though he would, Allen was overrawed and generally not good enough...Hopkins-Allen IIII? No thanks 8)

DLH lost IMO but was never going to have a decision go against him with the takes so high, a lot of his shots were being blocked by Sturm and Sturm's quick jabs and meatier shots would have won him a decision against any other opponent in a different situation. One thing i worry is that Oscar will postpone the fight at least once like he did with Vargas and with my seat to Las Vegas already booked for Sept. 18 it's going to be a mess around job

Great fight on the undercard by the way between Castillo-Lazcano, i picked Castillo to win and he was a worthy winner...i always said Lazcano was one dimensional and overrated, i was right

Could a bloke have looked more unhappy at becoming a SIX weight division World Champion?

Mind you, with Hopkins as his next opponent DLH has plenty to look glum about off that performance.

DLH does not belong at 160 ....... and that was a hell of a cauliflower lug he had coming at the end.

Yeah, I saw this fight as a real acid-test for Lazcano, Steve. Unfortunately he didn't come through it and the right guy won. It was still quite close though. Castillo seems a hard bastard; typical Mexican who can pull out the grinders.

steve689 wrote:...and with my seat to Las Vegas already booked for Sept. 18 it's going to be a mess around job :(

Is that you're seat on the plane or seat in the arena?

DIRT SUGAR wrote:Win or lose, you can't say ODH has ducked anyone during his career

Sure I can - who did he fight at 130? None of the major title holders, for starters. Wins the crappy WBO strap vs. a weak champ at 130, defends it once vs. a handpicked stiff, announces something Calzaghe-esque like "well, there's no challenges remaining for me at 130" and then moves up. At 135 he at least won one of the major belts, but never attempted to unify like Whitaker had done before him. At 140 and 147 (where he should've stayed) he was at his best but then was soundly beaten by a prime Mosley, at 154 he beat a really weak champ and lost again to Mosley (who'd by then suffered those 2 shock losses to Forrest at welter and had been completely unimpressive at 154), and at 160 he clearly has no business.

Glad Hopkins seems to have taken my advice and not looked *too* good vs. Allen, though. ;)