Old School Butt Whoopin'

[stevew]

Man, for a 43 year old guy, Bernard Hopkins looked damn good tonight. He beat the hell out of Kelly Pavlik, and it wasn't even close. It should either set up a nice rematch, or potentially a Hopkins/Roy Jones fight. Pavlik never got anything going at all. But kudos to Hopkins for winning as a 4:1 underdog.

[sabotai]

I didn't see the fight, but it doesn't surprise me to hear that Hopkins didn't have any problems with Pavlik. Pavlik doesn't come in at any angles, it's always straight forward. Works great if you have power and an opponent that will give you openings. Pavlik has plenty of power, but Hopkins gives zero openings. Hopefully Pavlik uses this as a learning experience. He's only 26 and can still end up being a great fighter.

Calzaghe really is one of the few people who could get a win against someone like Hopkins because of his work rate and speed. He simply overwhelms his opponents.

But styles make fights. Calzaghe can beat Hopkins because of his workrate, Hopkins can beat Pavlik with his defense and counter punching. But if Calzaghe got into the ring with Pavlik, I think Pavlik would beat him pretty badly.

Roy Jones Jr. fights next month against Calzaghe, so we'll see how much Jones Jr. really has left.