20th April Joe Calzaghe v Bernard Hopkins

[Betfly]

Originally Posted by mrmuzeman

You can get your sleep and skip though the undercard, which on this occasion is pretty wank. Its got Audley Harrison on ffs.

Must be a while ago but did BBC not get Harrison on a deal as he was !"next big thing!!"

Also is he not late 30's?

[mrmuzeman]

Hes just tryna make a comeback again. Dont see the point thought no ones interested after he got knocked out flush by Sprott at Wembley about a year ago. Hes the same age as Calzaghe, so 36.

Id be shocked if it was before 3am cos thats 7pm in Vegas.

I still stand by that but a setanta spokesperson reckons itll start at about 02:45. Probably just their way of trying to get you to tune in earlier and it wont actually start til gone 4am but still worth baring in mind, last thing you wana do is miss the start or tune in and see someone on the floor etc.

I watched the weigh in earlier and as you would think (both operating at middle/supermiddleweight for their careers) they both came in easily under at 12'5 (173lbs).

[mrmuzeman]

Well that was a tough fight eh. Tbh it went exactly as I thought it would bar the 1st round. But the 1st round was a shocker obviously. Didnt know which way it would go due to the possible judge bias and when I heard the 1st judge 114-113....Hopkins I was like oh dear.

What did we score it as? I had it 115-112 Calzaghe.

The judges need to sort their lives out with their consistency dont they. If we discount the 1st round as a stone wall 10-8 Hopkins, then the 3 judges scored the other 11 rounds 6-5 calzaghe, 7-1-3 Calzaghe, 9-2 Calzaghe. Totally different! If you imagined the fight purely on the scorecards having not watched it, youd be picturing 3 entirely different fights in your head there.

Its one of those fights where even though yes Calzaghe did win pointswise, youre left thinking well he did get knocked down, Hopkins didnt get knocked down, and Hopkins made him look like he had a real limited approach a lot of the time. So its a kind of subdued victory if you see what I mean, kind of doesnt prove anything apart from Calzaghe puts a lot of forward effort in, which we already knew. I guess Calzaghe deserves a decent amount of credit for going down in the 1st and still winning though.

Dead right on the betting front though werent we Slick, they were really sweet odds on Calzaghe points victory.

[Seen]

And the pair almost came to blows at the MGM Grand ahead of Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather's weigh-in.

"I would never let a white boy beat me," Hopkins said five times.

"You can print that. I would never lose to a white person. He said on record that he's going to take the fight and that's all you need to hear."

[Hippy Dave]

Hopkins controlled the fight completely but, unfortunately for him, boxing is judged round by round rather than over the whole fight. Calzaghe won plenty of close rounds, whereas the ones that Hopkins won were pretty clearcut.

Calzaghe proves his chin again though. Jumped straight up from the knockdown and, IMO, didn't show any ill effects from it.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Originally Posted by Hippy Dave

Hopkins controlled the fight completely but, unfortunately for him, boxing is judged round by round rather than over the whole fight. Calzaghe won plenty of close rounds, whereas the ones that Hopkins won were pretty clearcut.

Calzaghe proves his chin again though. Jumped straight up from the knockdown and, IMO, didn't show any ill effects from it.

You think?

I thought Calzaghe seemed a bit gone for the next 2 rounds or so.

Credit to Calzaghe though, definately wasn't one of his prettiest of fights but he got the job done in Hopkins own backyard which is where many UK fighters fail to deliver.

[mrmuzeman]

Originally Posted by Seen

And the pair almost came to blows at the MGM Grand ahead of Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather's weigh-in.

"I would never let a white boy beat me," Hopkins said five times.

"You can print that. I would never lose to a white person. He said on record that he's going to take the fight and that's all you need to hear."

At the post-fight news conference, Hopkins, still maintaining he had won the fight as he exited stage left, had to suffer Calzaghe barking behind him: “You lost to a white man, man! You lost to a white man…” What goes around very often comes around in the brutal world of boxing.

[mrmuzeman]

The Welshman was available at 4.6 to win the fight at the final bell – the biggest price he had been at any stage of the contest.

Can you believe that? I mean I had my doubts but as I said I scored it 115-112 Calzaghe, the betfair layers fcuked up big time there.

Calzaghe, who was floored by a sneaky right, landed 33 per cent of his 707 punches, while Hopkins connected with 27 per cent of his 468 blows

Thats 233-126 punches landed in Calzaghes favour which is pretty conclusive. Hopkins obviously doesnt see it that way tho

Almost inevitably, Hopkins felt he had done enough to be awarded the fight, claiming: "I just really feel like I took the guy to school. "I feel like I made him fight my fight, not his.

"I wanted him to run into my shots. I think I made him do that, and I think I made it look pretty easy.

"I think I controlled the pace, and I controlled the fight. I think it was an old-school execution. He really wasn't landing his shots. Maybe if he threw five or six, one or two landed if he was lucky."

"I hit him with short right hands and controlled the pace like a true veteran," he told HBO. "It was an execution of old school technique.

"I will talk to my partners and wife now and sit back and let the fans marinate this in their mind and show their disapproval - the fans have eyes, they can't be fooled or swayed.

"They've seen a 43-year-old throwback give a boxing exhibition, take this guy to school and make him look amateurish."

[Betfly]

I enjoyed the fight this morning & thought it could have gone either way.

Joe did well to recover from that 1st round knockdown!

[Winrew]

How did Audrey get on ?

[AnothrSpacecat]

lots of tippy tappy stuff as always until he put down a useful combination on the no hopers body, the ref stopped it in the 5th.

i dont think the white guy threw a punch the last 2 rounds, the fight was a total farse, typical audrey.

as the pundits were saying, its been EIGHT years since he won the gold medal now hes shown his ability and strength in the ring once since then

[slick]

Was a lot closer fight than i expected and shown the lack of hitting power Calzaghe has, if it wasent for his great stamina he would have lost this and if this fight was fought 10 yrs ago i fear Calzaghe would probably have got beat as Hopkins old as he his still looked the better fighter but age has caught him up and looked bolloxed after 4 rounds.

Same will probbaly happen if he fights Roy Jones, its a pity these fights werent fought a few yrs back, Calzaghe for all his worth won't earn the same respect beating spent fighters no matter how great they were, same too goes for Calzaghe, he's not the fighter he once was , I thought Kessler may have just been a blip but it looks like time is also catching up with Calzaghe, If I was him I'd take the Jones fight for the huge pay day then bail out unbeaten as it won't be long now b4 some young whipper snapper will beat him.

He's been a great fighter in his time and it would be a shame to see get hurt whilst on the slide.

[mrmuzeman]

If I was him I'd take the Jones fight for the huge pay day then bail out

I agree that thats what I think he will do, his purse for the Roy Jones fight will easily eclipse any other fight hes done by so far, it would be pretty massive. Thing is again it wont earn him any further respect cos Roy Jones is a has been now. I mean Tarver beat him comprehensively in 2004 and 2005 and hes been doing a lot of commentary and stuff as well.

The only fight to gain him the full on fight respect with no questions asked, ending his career with a bang would be Kelly Pavlik. Unbeaten 26 year old in his prime. I know hes the middleweight champ but he could easily carry the extra weight to move up cos hes easily over 6 foot. It would be a great fight to watch to.

Thing is I think Calzaghe knows full well that

it won't be long now b4 some young whipper snapper will beat him

this could happen if he takes that fight