John David Jackson
Glen Johnson
Robert Allen
Felix Trinidad
William Joppy
Oscar De La Hoya
Howard Eastman
Antonio Tarver
Ronald Wright
Kelly Pavlik
Roy Jones Jr
Jean Pascal
Another question..
Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?
From the list above, this would include the likes of:
Jermain Taylor
Joe Calzaghe
Chad Dawson
Sergey Kovalev
With Hopkins I'd rather go with his Top-5... He was up there with such Middleweight Legends as Monzon, Golovkin, Toney, and Walker.
#1 was Antonio Tarver... He was 41 (same age as Wladimir when he went against Joshua) and fought a dominant fight against a guy who admittedly was poorly prepared. He knew Tarver gained a lot of weight for his role as Heavyweight Champion in a Rocky movie and it was the right time to strike. He used his vast experience against southpaws to good stead... AT couldn't work southpaw angles on BH like he did Roy Jones for 3 fights... A masterpiece.
2nd best was the Glen Johnson fight. Johnson was 32-0 and super tough... Bernard mastered Glen and battered him into an unlikely stoppage.
3rd was Trinidad. He took and undefeated (40-0) highly favored fighter and punched him at will for 12 rounds. He showed the experts they knew nothing.
4th was the whimpering, simpering feminist, De La Hoya -- who was Bernard's last KO win at age 39. Writers kept comparing the fight to Leonard-Hagler -- so B-Hop deliberately made a sparring session out of the first 7 rounds. Then he started chasing Oscar around the ring with the intention of smashing him into a Trinidad like stoppage -- but it didn't work because Oscar quit.
5th was beating Jean Pascal at age 46... Pascal was a very strong but unskilled LHW. Bernard exposed the swinger and set a new Historical World Record.
Hey Kalel Have you ever been hit with a liver shot? Quit is pretty disrespectful language.
I don't care how many times you've "seen" it .....unless you've felt it....you don't what you're talking about.
I don't think he quit.....he was beaten by a punch that few can recover from......
and can be unpredictable in terms of the pain level. Much worse than a good swat on the cajones.
He quit all right.. He made no effort to get up, but pounded the canvas with his fist and made painful faces.. Instead of all those histrionics you get up.
I got caught with a really powerful liver shot.. I didn't go down and my knees didn't buckle, it just hurt super bad.. My opponent knew I was hurt bad.. I couldn't breath, punch, or could barely move.. He drove me all over the ring under a hail of bombs, but nothing landed well.. I recovered the same round and took control.. That was the only shot like that I was ever nailed with so it was an accident.. I never got a real flush shot to the jaw or chin. Nothing that hurt.. They say you don't feel a KO shot to the chin.. I'm not sure what causes all the pain with the liver, but it's worse than a kidney shot.
Kalan wrote:He quit all right.. He made no effort to get up, but pounded the canvas with his fist and made painful faces.. Instead of all those histrionics you get up.
I got caught with a really powerful liver shot.. I didn't go down and my knees didn't buckle, it just hurt super bad.. My opponent knew I was hurt bad.. I couldn't breath, punch, or could barely move.. He drove me all over the ring under a hail of bombs, but nothing landed well.. I recovered the same round and took control.. That was the only shot like that I was ever nailed with so it was an accident.. I never got a real flush shot to the jaw or chin. Nothing that hurt.. They say you don't feel a KO shot to the chin.. I'm not sure what causes all the pain with the liver, but it's worse than a kidney shot.
That Oscar De La Hoya made a show of a body shot. I agree with you 100%. I knew I was not alone in that sentiment.
Well, there are different levels of Liver shots....at it's worst, you will never be knocked out....but you will wish you were dead, and the pain will overcome any "directions" you may wish to place on your muscular system.
BoxBuzz wrote:Well, there are different levels of Liver shots....at it's worst, you will never be knocked out....but you will wish you were dead, and the pain will overcome any "directions" you may wish to place on your muscular system.
Hence why boxers go down like they've been shot in the abdomen.
1. Tito - A contemporary fellow HOF who seemed in the midst of a Sherman type march through divisions.
2. Delahoya - A win against a second contemporary HOF is always great for the all-time rankings.
3. Wright - see above.
4. Tarver - A win against the man who beat the man he wanted to beat more than any other.
5. Pavlik - Just because Pavlik looked like a HOFamer in the making, B-hop made him look like a sparring partner.
Last edited by theone on 15 Jun 2017, 14:12, edited 1 time in total.
Ambling Alp II wrote:A lot of nice, solid wins. Not one is all that amazing though.
Agree, but collectively they make a good resume
for hopkins first dozen title fights or so he wasn't really considered a great champion if i remember correctly .
Well Hopkins never beat a great natural Middleweight -- where James Toney had great wins over Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson, and Michael Nunn... The draw with McCallum was unbelievable. That was tough going.. Hagler never beat a great natural Middleweight either -- his biggest title wins were over Duran and the chinny Hearns... Monzon beat Benvenuti, Valdez, and a young Briscoe... plus Monzon went 14-0 in Middleweight Title Defenses on his way to 100 fights.
The things that makes Hopkins special for a Middleweight Champion are his number of Title Defenses and his career as a Light Heavyweight.
Tito Trinidad - It was the first time he stepped up. Apparently, it was supposed to be Trinidad's come put party.. But Hopkins showed he belonged there.
The Tito win was what also defined him IMO.
I would put Pascal as honorable mention. It's not my favourite fight, but he showed he could hang with the young guys.
What was his best KO win?
Hopkins wasn't really a knockout artist, but i'm going with Tito again.
Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?
The best opponent he fought, that would have been in their prime, would probably be Tito, but then he wasn't a natural MW.
I'd say Roy Jones 1, Tarver, Calzaghe, Dawson and Kovalev. It's a toss up.
Ko