Hopkins/Tarver

dlofnep

Hopkins completely controlled Tarver. I don't think Tarver was there mentally.. Where does Hopkins go from here? The years are passing him by.. The right thing now would be to retire on a solid win but knowing how boxing works, money will keep him in the game.

Not sure where Tarver goes? Back to the drawing board..

walshb

Who cares?

Big Ears

walshb wrote:

Who cares?

I do , Hopkins was magnificent and absolutely schooled Tarver .
Middleweight champion of the world for a decade(yes a lot of that time was only IBF) , 20 middleweight defences and at 41 years of age he moves up two weight divisions(over a stone in weight) to challenge the Light-Heavyweight champion of the world and easily hands him a beating .

Buddy McGirt gave Tarver advice in the last 3 rounds which all centred around surviving not winning . That's how dominant St.Bernard was .

He is an inspiration to many , convited of theft at the age of 18 . Spent 5 years in prison . Starts his pro career at 23 and losses his first fight(having weighed in at 177lbs , that's a cruiserweight) . But he builds himself up beating journeyman and eventually winning the USBA middleweight title and defending it once before taking on the highly touted prospect Roy Jones Jnr for the IBF middleweight title . Jones beat him 8 rounds to 4 in a tactical dull fight .

Hopkins wins some more USBA title fights and gets a shot at the vacant IBF middleweight title(Jones moved up in weight) against Segundo Mercado , the fight ends in a draw and Hopkins was down twice . Hopkins destroys Mercado in the rematch , taking him out in 7 rounds and this was the start of what was to become greatness for B-Hop .

He strung 12 defences together(if you include a NC with Robert Allen , which is in the record books) , beating quality fighters like John David Jackson , Glen Johnson , Robert Allen and Antwun Echols(twice) .
He then schooled Keith Holmes to unfiy the WBC middleweight title with the IBF . His next fight was to be against the unbeaten Puerto Rican machine of destruction that was Felix 'Tito' Trinidad . Trinidad was 40-0-0(33Ko's) and had crushed most of his opponents on his way to unifying belts at Welterweight and Light-Middleweight(1 controversial win against Oscar De La Hoya was his only blemish) . Hopkins was a big underdog with almost everyone picking Trinidad...............how wrong they all were , Hopkins gave Tito a beating for 12 rounds knocking him down in the 12th and forcing Trinidad's father to pull him out , trinidad temporarily retired after the fight . The executioner had executed Trinidad's career(he was good on his come back , but not the same) .

Hopkins continued going about his business beating top middleweight after top middleweight as he succesfully defended against Carl Daniels , Morrade Hakker , William Joppy and Robert Allen(again) , .

Oscar De La Hoya had beaten(although really lost) Wbo champion Felix Sturm for his belt and another superfight was set for Hopkins(Trinidad being the other) . Hopkins was simply too big and strong for Del La Hoya and stopped him a with a cruel body shot in the 9th .

Hopkins then beat Howard Eastman in a routine defence of his 4 titles .
he was then matched win jermain Taylor , the heir apparent to the middleweight crown .
The fight was a very tactical boring affair(as some of Hopkins fights were) with taylor earning a split decision . I had the fight a draw and felt Hopkins had been a little hard done by(Duane Ford rediculously giving Taylor the 12th meant Hopkins loss inetad of drew) .
A rematch with Taylor was set and it was fought very similiarly to the first fight and yet again I scored the fight a draw . But yet again the judges preferred Taylor 112-115 on all cards .

Most had precited that Hopkins was gone , that age had finally caught up with a man who had seemed to just keep getting better as time went on .
When the fight with Tarver was scheduled most (including me) predicted an easy enough decision for Tarver , but once again Hopkins prove doubters wrong and showed that clean living can keep you young forever .

He was once asked about his diet and what he has for a snack . His answer was popcorn , plain with no butter or salt or anything added was his answer .
He never drank either .

A man that started on the harsh streets of Philadelphia , who grew up around gangs and all sorts of things . Gets convicted of robbery but unlike most of the people who he grew up with(who he says are either dead or in jail) he changes his life around and makes himself not only a sucess but more than that . Success is not a strong enough word to descride what Bernard Hopkins has done . He has made himself an all time great middleweight , an all time great fighter.............an all time great man .

walshb

Very detailed POST, but from what I have seen of Hop and Tarver, he just doesn't excite or impress and I think he is a notch or two below Nunn, Hagler, Toney, Hearns, McCallum and Leonard. He wouldn't have beat any of those guys. Yes 20 defences against who of any real class

walshb

Oscar a blown up Lightweight and Tito would not have lasted 7 rds witha Hearns or Ray Leonard, not to mention Toney or Hagler

Big Ears

It's all opinion really but i'd have to disagree . I think Jones' dismantling of 'fat' Toney was a lot more impressive than his win over Hopkins(the two fights were within 18 months of each other) . Toney wasn't far from prime then either , Hopkins however was miles away from his . I feel prime Hopkins would outpoint James Toney a lot more easily than people would expect .

McCallum was a damn good fighter(especially at L.Middleweight) but he has losses(albeit close) to Kalambay and Toney at middleweight , both those guys are good but I don't think they're in Hopkins class .

Hagler...........ya he does beat Hopkins . No shame Hagler's the best 160lb fighter of all time .

Leonard , well I'm not really sure about that one . Could go either way I suppose .

Hearns V Hopkins would have made for a great fight , I would think Hearns would be getting the better of it before his chin losses him the fight .

Odd you didn't mention Monzon , Ray Robinson or Cerdan as these guys could have put up just as good a fight as some of the others you mentioned .

dlofnep

walshb wrote:

Who cares?

What's the point of a boxing forum if there's going to be 1 thread every 6 weeks? Trying to spur a discussion - keep your smart comments to yourself.

JoeyJJ

Hopkins is /was a very good boxer you can only beat who is put in front of you, he didn't dodge fights like some fighters do (Naseem), will be remembered as a very good fighter, hope he retires now on a high after disapointing two defeats.


Good fight on Sat, think Winky will be too good defensively and that jab is lethal.

walshb

dlofnep wrote:

What's the point of a boxing forum if there's going to be 1 thread every 6 weeks? Trying to spur a discussion - keep your smart comments to yourself.

Take a chill pill buddy. If you read Big ears reply, you will see that he copped the sarcasm in my reply. It was a simple 'who cares' much for a 40 year old ex champ and an average fighter like Tarver. It was not an attack on you SIR!!!!

My reply also spurred a discussion or a counter attack, did it NOT?

dlofnep

it's hard to read sarcasm sometimes in text

walshb

dlofnep wrote:

it's hard to read sarcasm sometimes in text

I agree, it definitely could have been misinterpreted. Ok, let's get back to Boxing. Hopkins is a fine fighter who beat an average guy in Tarver. Hop is a league below the guys I mentioned above and at 40, I just think it's a little sad that he looks to be tthe best Middle/Super in the world. Though look at the Heavies and I guess then it's no real surprise:)