09-18-2004, 10:46 PM
whatever grinch!!!
Either way as far as tonight goes its a toss up as far as I am concerned. I'd equate this fight to Leonard-Hagler. No one basically gave Leonard a shot against Hagler. Hagler was too big, too strong and Leonard had been retired 3 years already. Leonard didn't even take a tune up bout, he came straight out of retirement into a fight with the most dominant fighter below heavyweight at the time. Leonard won by the skin of his teeth as far as the judges were concerned, the fans were basically split 50/50 as to who won, I personally have watched the fight 3 times in its entirety and always have Hagler winning.
Hopkins is Hagler in this scenario and he's the odds on favorite to win, he's a 2-1 favorite and this is the first time Oscar is the underdog in a fight. If I was forced to choose then i'd pick Hopkins cause he's always fought at Middleweight his entire career, naturally the 18 consecutive title defenses and he hasn't lost in 11 years since he dropped a decision to roy jones jr.
The whole point is that this is what makes a fight like this great, its not just two of the best finally meeting but you arent too sure who is going to win. The majority of people ofcourse are picking Hopkins cause it is the safer pick, even if he loses then its an upset. But either man can win and thats what makes it exciting atleast as far as the build up. This can work out as planned and Hopkins beats Oscar or Oscar can pull it off after no one gave him a chance, like Ali Foreman or Leonard Hagler, etc etc.
I'm kinda swayed toward the middle after seeing the weigh in the other day and seeing Hopkins weigh in at 155 which is strange to me, he always weighs in at 159 or the 160 limit. Why choose now, when your size and power is your biggest advantage to come in lower? Don't kid yourselves that 4 or 5 pounds is not that big a difference, for boxers it is tremendous. Also during the press conference Oscar was the calm and cool one while Bernard seemed edgy and nervous. Now Bernard has done this in the past, most notably before the Trinidad fight but Oscar isnt Felix, he doesnt let people get to him just look at the Vargas fight if Oscar was ever going to be played head games with it was Vargas but he didnt let Vargas irk him a bit. Trinidad let Hopkins get to him and it was evident that he did. Hopkins also hasn't been in this big a fight, the Trinidad fight was the biggest fight he had ever been in and the rest since then have been cream puffs set up for him to get the record of consecutive middleweight defenses and then to set him up for a big pay day which has arrived.
Power is in Hopkins corner, speed is in oscars corner, stamina is probably in Hopkins corner but Oscar knows it is his weakness so hopefully he's prepared for a long ass fight. As far as chins both men aren't easily knocked down or out, neither man has ever been knocked out.
I'm picking Hopkins but I will not be surprised if Oscar wins by decision, if it goes to the cards Hopkins may get screwed like Hagler did. If Hopkins wants to make sure he'll have to KO oscar like he did with Trinidad. Cause everyone was so sure Trinidad would beat Hopkins that they had Trinidads name inscribed on the trophy and naturally didnt present Hopkins with it after the fight to save the embarassment.
Either way as far as tonight goes its a toss up as far as I am concerned. I'd equate this fight to Leonard-Hagler. No one basically gave Leonard a shot against Hagler. Hagler was too big, too strong and Leonard had been retired 3 years already. Leonard didn't even take a tune up bout, he came straight out of retirement into a fight with the most dominant fighter below heavyweight at the time. Leonard won by the skin of his teeth as far as the judges were concerned, the fans were basically split 50/50 as to who won, I personally have watched the fight 3 times in its entirety and always have Hagler winning.
Hopkins is Hagler in this scenario and he's the odds on favorite to win, he's a 2-1 favorite and this is the first time Oscar is the underdog in a fight. If I was forced to choose then i'd pick Hopkins cause he's always fought at Middleweight his entire career, naturally the 18 consecutive title defenses and he hasn't lost in 11 years since he dropped a decision to roy jones jr.
The whole point is that this is what makes a fight like this great, its not just two of the best finally meeting but you arent too sure who is going to win. The majority of people ofcourse are picking Hopkins cause it is the safer pick, even if he loses then its an upset. But either man can win and thats what makes it exciting atleast as far as the build up. This can work out as planned and Hopkins beats Oscar or Oscar can pull it off after no one gave him a chance, like Ali Foreman or Leonard Hagler, etc etc.
I'm kinda swayed toward the middle after seeing the weigh in the other day and seeing Hopkins weigh in at 155 which is strange to me, he always weighs in at 159 or the 160 limit. Why choose now, when your size and power is your biggest advantage to come in lower? Don't kid yourselves that 4 or 5 pounds is not that big a difference, for boxers it is tremendous. Also during the press conference Oscar was the calm and cool one while Bernard seemed edgy and nervous. Now Bernard has done this in the past, most notably before the Trinidad fight but Oscar isnt Felix, he doesnt let people get to him just look at the Vargas fight if Oscar was ever going to be played head games with it was Vargas but he didnt let Vargas irk him a bit. Trinidad let Hopkins get to him and it was evident that he did. Hopkins also hasn't been in this big a fight, the Trinidad fight was the biggest fight he had ever been in and the rest since then have been cream puffs set up for him to get the record of consecutive middleweight defenses and then to set him up for a big pay day which has arrived.
Power is in Hopkins corner, speed is in oscars corner, stamina is probably in Hopkins corner but Oscar knows it is his weakness so hopefully he's prepared for a long ass fight. As far as chins both men aren't easily knocked down or out, neither man has ever been knocked out.
I'm picking Hopkins but I will not be surprised if Oscar wins by decision, if it goes to the cards Hopkins may get screwed like Hagler did. If Hopkins wants to make sure he'll have to KO oscar like he did with Trinidad. Cause everyone was so sure Trinidad would beat Hopkins that they had Trinidads name inscribed on the trophy and naturally didnt present Hopkins with it after the fight to save the embarassment.
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