Category: 
Hopkins is too old and Calzaghe is too white, depending on which fighter you want to believe. The Politically Correct movement has yet to get a firm grip on the world of boxing although it’s never been a sport for the overly sensitive. Who really cares what someone said to you during some press conference when he’s now trying to punch you in the face and people are egging him on. The most important thing is to punch him harder and more often than he punches you. You could say boxing gives you a better perspective on life, yeah your boss may be an asshole but at least you don’t have to check for blood when you go pee so a few inappropriate comments such as Hopkins continues to make should be treated as nothing more than part of the show and not allowed to take away from what is set to happen in the ring.
Back to the fight.
Like all good fights there is no clear favourite here. Calzaghe may be odds on in the betting but in a two horse race he’s only expected to win by a nose. Bernard Hopkins, despite his age, is rated by most boxing experts on both sides of the water as being one of the top ten best pound for pound fighters on the planet (using the word planet makes it sound even more impressive) and by some respected voices is as high as number one. There’s always a great deal of subjectivity with these things but there’s no doubting that The Executioner is universally recognised as being one of the best around and the best at light-heavyweight.
Hopkins’ age has never been the issue it probably should have been for two reasons. The first is the incredible condition he keeps himself in, there’s no Hatton like ballooning up between fights for this guy, and the second is his style of fighting. The American is an elusive and tricky customer who is an expert at making his opponent miss. His style doesn’t require the speed and reactions of a twenty year old, instead of trying to dodge punches he leans back, rolls with the shots that do land cleanly, minimising their effect. Thanks to this the forty three year old hasn’t endured a great deal of punishment over his long and illustrious career, so while he may not be as fresh as a daisy he’s certainly fitter than most men ten years his junior.
Which would bring him in to Calzaghe’s age bracket but then Joe is no ordinary thirty-six year old. The Welsh super-middleweight king proved his ability to last the pace when he outclassed and outworked the twenty-eight year old Mikel Kessler over twelve rounds. Hopkins will struggle to keep Calzaghe away for twelve rounds particularly considering the hand speed and high punch rate of the challenger. Age could well be a factor and though we’ve been saying it for a long time now the years may finally start to show in Hopkins’ skills as they do more clearly in his grey beard and balding skull.
Calzaghe is sure to outwork Hopkins and while the criticism that the Welsh fighter has a tendency to slap and cuff may not be completely unfounded, he does throw quick bunches of shots which contain as many good punches as they do slaps. His power may not be devastating but Calzaghe grinds his opponents down and his fists, when in working order, hit hard enough that you’d be hard pressed to find a fighter he’s beaten who says Calzaghe doesn’t bang. Add to this a solid chin, one which has been tested against some hard hitters (Kessler, Lacy and Brewer), and you have to see why the bookies have him as favourite.
It’s not that simple though. Calzaghe has never been in against anyone as clever, tricky and experienced as Hopkins and if he can use his ring intelligence to frustrate Joe then there could be problems. Throwing a punch, particularly a hard swinging punch, that doesn’t land takes more from a man than one which connects because he has to fight to check his momentum after the effort of launching his fist. If Bernard makes Joe miss often enough and Calzaghe is slowed down, even just a little, then Hopkins will be able to pick his shots on the counter attack. A knockout for Hopkins is unlikely and he’ll be happy to do only as much as is necessary to win. If this one is to have an early finish then Calzaghe will be the one to provide it. The older man may struggle to play keep away if a high pace is maintained and targeting the body will test his conditioning further. A Calzaghe knockout should it come will do so after an unrelenting quickfire barrage which results in a tired and dejected Hopkins slumped on the canvas unable, and perhaps unwilling, to get to his feet and carry on. A points decision is likely to be tight and even controversial and the experts fancy Calzaghe’s fitness and ability to make the difference in the crucial late rounds.
As always all we can do right now is take a guess and my guess is Calzaghe on points. Does anyone think differently? If so, tell me where I’m going wrong, I’ll disagree and we’ll find out who’s right on fight night.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
british media haved talked calzaghe up like they did hatton, hopkins on points the bet
April 18th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Whilst iam Ricky Hattons biggest fan i will say Calzaghe looks more relaxed in the build up to this fight. Ricky was to hyped up, whilst Calzaghe looks cool, calm and ready. Joe to win in the sixth by ko. Hopkins whilst looking the part (for an old man) is past his prime. Joe showed against 28 year Kessler he has all the tools to do the job mentally and physically so Hopkins as in previous fights against Jermain Taylor, who is not a patch on Calzaghe will struggle.
April 19th, 2008 at 3:44 am
It turns out the fight is tomorrow morning UK time. I feel really stupid for staying up.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:12 am
joe too good for hopkins , knockout in the 8 round, joe on top all the way
April 19th, 2008 at 10:16 am
It will go to points, Hopkins is too defensive to get knocked out
April 20th, 2008 at 1:38 am
excuse me for being totally pissed but what time, english time is the fight showing?
April 21st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Not a convincing win at all by calzaghe, judges should have given the split decision to hopkins for SURE. If Hopkins was same age as calzaghe, he’d have stayed down in round 1. british media the usual bull, like all their so called GREAT boxers in the past, very few have convinced me, either they beat old men, avoided the true champion boxers at the right time for them - usually the class of america and mexico, latin america and a few others. They usually defend title against a load of bums. calzaghe must have beaten 39-40 of them, ok he did beat eubank, but eubank was no hagler or hearns. they may have had 20 world champions or whatever in the last 20 odd years but only a couple deserve to be up there in the pantheon of great boxers, calzage ain’t one. I hope roy jones beats him but roy ain’t no spring chicken nowdays like hopkins. hatton is overated for sure too, he got his ass kicked. The media builds these boxers up to be something special like english soccer clubs in europe and in the past the english soccer team, and that rugby team of theirs, - BORING. i wish people in this country would not be so swayed by the british media and some idiots in this country. seems to be the newspapers here love what the brits do, how about giving more support to our boxers, our gaa teams, our soccer teams ( difficult as it is lol )
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
hopkin should have won on split decision.
if calzaghe fought roy jones ten years ago it would have been funny
April 24th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
its a pity we stiil cant support a brittish sportsperson without having to read all the negativity from people i was gona say biggetry,i found the fight hard to score hopkins punches caught the eye more but volume was with calzaghe and the rules states that punches landed weather a powere shot or a jab score so if calazaghe landed more shots
overall that by the rules calzaghe wins.to me calzaghe is a great fighter and role model maby the fact he had an affair could take away from the latter that is up to you,i have been to two off calzaghes fights and to watch his footmovement in the lacy fight especialy opened my eyes to to how he was so dominating and how he controls fights,grante dit took him till round 5 in the hopkins fight but from there on it was his fight.
if you wana discuss drop me a line jacksy9@gmail.com
July 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Can I ask though - how did you get this picked up and into google news?
Very impressive that this blog is syndicated through Google and is it something that is just up to Google or you actively created?
Obviously this is a popular blog with great data so well done on your seo success..
Boxing greats you should write about next!
August 24th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Paddy Power, how about doing the right thing and refunding all of us that had Kenny Egan to win the gold medal?
China, you robbed Kenny, you b@£!%rds!
August 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I’m sure they will!
August 26th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Paddy Power, very honourable of you!! Thank you!
Corrupt Judges, you robbed Kenny, you B@5*@rds!!!!!
August 30th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Interesting enough, I just blogged about comments and moderation here at IT Toolbox. I was reading a comment and this post came up (based on topic) from more than a year ago.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
does any one think carl froch will lose the weekend because this fight looks to hard to call for me dirrell is not a bad boxer?
October 15th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Carl Froch is nailed on, the other boy is just hype. I’m not Froch’s biggest fan but he has more than enough to handle him
October 15th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
i think u might b right but u never know in boxing
November 5th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
how about the boxing the weekend whos going2win any tips out there