Calazaghe vs Hopkins

thedoc46 · 18 Feb 2008 at 21:04

So the fight is finally on...

Who do you have down to win and why?

I have Calazaghe cos looking at Hopkins last performance against Winky he seemed a little slower and tired. Not much of a suprise considering he's 42 !!!! :eek:

Calazaghe will pepper him consistently with shots and get ahead on the score cards. This will almost certainly go the distance.

Plus he's proven himself at 35 to able to hold it against younger stronger opponents. (Kessler)

What I'd like to see is Pavlik vs Calazaghe at 168.. Then for Joe to retire an undefeated champ across all the different weight classes.

Smit · 18 Feb 2008 at 22:43

Calzaghe should win this quite comfortably.

Hopkins is too old now that his workrate has fallen dramatically, he can't fight for more than 45 seconds per round. Calzaghe on the other hand has a very high workrate.

The fight will get messy just like every Hopkins fight but in the end Hopkins couldn't handle Taylors workrate & strength and Calzaghe is far better than Taylor IMO (and that's coming from someone who doesn't even like Joe).

Fighting Pavlik at 168 would be a backwards step IMO. Pavlik wont be in any rush to move up to Super Middleweight and I don't see Calzaghe moving back down to Super Middleweight without having won a title at Lightheavyweight.

IF Woods beats Tarver then I can see a Calzaghe v Woods fight at some point, if not then I have a feeling that Calzaghe will fight Roy Jones in another pointless fight. Or I have a niggling feeling that Joe may aim for Erdei! Erdei is very beatable and the germans would pay Joe big money to fight over there.

2smoothbooth · 20 Feb 2008 at 19:53

I saw calzaghe on a train just after christmas and he looks in real good shape, i think he might be out of his depth on this one tho

Murf · 21 Feb 2008 at 00:25

2smoothbooth said:
I saw calzaghe on a train just after christmas and he looks in real good shape, i think he might be out of his depth on this one tho

rubberduck · 21 Feb 2008 at 12:38

This one has boring 12 round fight written all over it I'm afraid.

I can't see Hopkins being able to knock Joe out, his power isn't great at light heavyweight and he won't be able to launch a sustained attack over the course of the fight. On the the other hand Hopkins has a good chin and is far to experienced in the ring to get knocked out by Joe especially considering Joe's lack of power.

I would say Hopkins will try to stifle Joe's style and I'm sure he will succeed in what will be a scrapy and dirty fight. Joe will however be the busier of the 2 fighters and that will probably get him the nod on the scorecards.... However with American judges you can expect almost anything!