Joe Calzaghe beats Bernard Hopkins

[JD]

Welshman Joe Calzaghe beats Bernard Hopkins by split decision in Las Vegas.

I was a little suprised at the decision to be honest. A scrappy fight, but I thought maybe a draw at best for Joe. The knockdown in the first round would have been enough for the judges to give it to Hopkins.

But all credit to Joe, I was wrong at the final bell, and he got the decision.

I can see a re-match at Cardiff coming up later in the year.

Unless of course, Mr Hopkins stands by his words, "The day a white boy beats me I'll retire".

[johnnyk]

beat him fair and square, IMO. time for bernard to hang up his jockstrap.

[T.I.G.R.]

Hopkins fought an incredibly uninspired fight, the worst I've ever seen him look. All he did was grab the whole fight......he deserved to lose and I've been a big fan of his for years.

[chelsea]

I watched the fight here in Perth this morning, missed the 1st round, but saw the rest of the fight.
I tend to agree with JD. fair play for him for winning it. But thought the scoring would be along the lines of the 1st judge for either fighter.

Bearing in mind that Hopkins had knocked Joe over in the 1st round, I found the 115-112 & 116-111 scores a bit out of wack, again considering that Joe hit the canvas in the 1st.

When I heard the 1st scorecard result, I must admit feared the worst, but when the 116 came out 1st on the 3rd card there was only going to be one winner.

All in all another great victor for the British in the boxing

[Jaime]

The fact that Hopkins knocked Joe over in the first round only meant that he won the first round by two points. The scoring system used demands that judges assess the whole fight against 4 criteria - Clean Punching, Effective Aggressiveness, Ring Generalship (Simply put - controlling the territory) and Defence.

Generally, clean punching is given greater weight than the others. So, some statistics from the fight:

Bernard Hopkins Joe Calzaghe

468 total punches thrown 707

127 total punches connected 232

27 percentage 33

93 jabs thrown 224

11 jabs connected 45

12 percentage 20

375 power punches thrown 483

116 power punches connected 187

31 percentage 39


It is clear that, whatever B-Hop thinks, Joe landed with far more Clean Punches, was therefore more Effectively Aggressive and, since his approach was not to counter but to punch moving forward, demonstrated superior Ring Generalship. As for defence, well since Hopkins received almost twice as many Clean Punches as Joe, I think that tells it's own tale!

Hopkins complained that how could he have lost the fight since his face was not marked? Well, other than the nick on the bridge of his nose - which could easily have come from B-Hop's head - neither did Joe!

Hopkins' comments at the end of the fight say everything about his character - he was hardly robbed and it's the first time I have ever seen a losing fighter fail to give any acknowledgement whatsoever to his victor. A sad and bitter stain on Hopkins' career.

Not a dominant win but a clear win for Joe nevertheless.

I think there is NO chance of a rematch. Hopkins is a big name but not a big draw - he just isn't exciting to watch.

I would like to see Joe fight Antonio Tarver for the IBF belt in the States before taking on Roy Jones at the Millenium Stadium for his swansong but I don't think the Tarver fight will happen - news reports since saturdays fight seem to suggest the Roy Jones fight in November is almost a done deal.

[redzonerocker]

have to agree jaime
having watched it twice now, it was close!!
but for me, hopkins never came forward enough & was holding on to much to justify a points decision, especially by usa judges.
the play acting for the low blows ( which weren't that low anyway) did him no favours either
apart from the 1st rd knockdown, joe never looked in any real danger & deserves tremendous credit for taking the fight to hopkins & overturning the points deficit of the early rounds.
personally, i thought it was a unanimous decision, but very close on the scorecards.

[Jaime]

This is hilarious - Hopkins whining at the post fight press conference (audio only):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7357119.stm

Some people shouldn't be allowed to speak in public!