Spoiler Alert: Bernard Hopkins fight.

Hopkins knocked out of the ring in final bout
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hopkins-knocked-ring-final-bout-054841447.html

Bernard Hopkins' career ended in undignified fashion on Saturday as the 51-year-old veteran was knocked out of the ring by Joe Smith Jr. at the Forum in California.

In the eighth round of Hopkins' 67th and final professional bout, he was sent tumbling through the ropes and onto the floor below by a flurry of punches from his opponent.

Hopkins had 20 seconds to return to the ring but, seemingly injured by the fall, failed to do so and was led away by his team.
Smith, meanwhile, was left to celebrate defending his WBC International light heavyweight belt, improving his record to 23-1, 19 of them by way of knockout.

For Hopkins, known as 'The Executioner', it was an unceremonious end to a long and storied career, which saw him become a dominant former champion of the middleweight division, while he was a world champion as recently as 2014, at the age of 49.
His knockout at the hands of Smith evoked memories of the famous end to the career of Joe Louis, who was knocked through the ropes by Rocky Marciano in his final bout at Madison Square Garden in 1951.

Enjoy the retirement Bernard. One of a kind.

Amazing career, but carried on that little bit too long. Cloud was probably his last meaningful win. The last two fights make for an undignified ending for a tremendous fighter and athlete.

Now for the KTFO tour ala Jones Jnr.

Boxing won last night. You can't play this game Hoppy you were taught a real lesson that this game is not for 52 year old men who can;t let go.

its a young mans game and if you are not ready physically and mentally then you will get found out.

As the say ''the house always wins''.

Now thats a knock out!

Hopkins looked every bit his 51 years old

Well done both I enjoyed it

But there was only one guy winning that fight until the stoppage and it wasn't hopkins

Joe Smith Jr is a very good fighter to watch had a great plan

Classy to the end in his post-fight interview.

Strange way to end a career, taking part in a Royal Rumble.

I just watched his post fight comments there. 10 minutes of excuses and inane rambling. He should have used it as an opportunity to bow out with some class.

What are the chances that Hopkins decides to fight again due to not wanting to go out on a loss?

He better not pick Joe Smith Jr again

Got to be a case for having padding a couple of feet high around the ring as standard surely not totally convinced Hopkins was bludgeoned out of the ring either as was leaning back but had no rope behind him maybe more hurt by the fall to his head than by the shots?

Hopkins has been dire to watch for years - should have packed in ages ago. Good for Joe Smith - good addition to the mix at 175.

Light heavy not a bad division at the minute some good fights to be made just hope someone retires Stevenson and let the real champions fight for supremacy

He hand picked his oponent, he wanted someone tough, that wasn't a gimme, but that ultimately beatable. Well father time had enough of him, and smacked him good and proper, he looked like Tom Daley.
I appreciate the career of hopkins, trinadad, pavlik, tarver. We've been treated to some stellar performances, but last night reminded me of the side to hopkins I most dislike. Some will call it gamesmanship, but to me it looks like cheating. Last night he was calling smith out for a shove and claiming he couldn't continue for hurting his ankle.
When the truth was he got punched in the face and landed on his head. He was playing for a DQ, and that's something we've seen too much of throughout his stellar career.

Good luck to him though, I hope he has a long happy retirement with his faculties intact.

Barrera vs Smith Jr anyone?

BoxingFan88 wrote:Barrera vs Smith Jr anyone?

Count me in

Or how about either of these two against Gonzalez the one who had that close fight with Pascal?

yeah man definitely

I was really impressed with Barrera though, makes Ward's win over him look really good now

Always thought that was a decent win to be fair Barrera's very strong made you think Ward wouldn't be manhandled at 75

Still yet to be convinced Ward will have a long reign against these bigger fighters don't like this retirement talk at all maybe he knows his chin won't stand up against these bombers

Ward is a class act.

You guys might think that he didn't deserve the nod against Kovalev, that's fair enough. He is class too!

AdamT wrote:Ward is a class act.

You guys might think that he didn't deserve the nod against Kovalev, that's fair enough. He is class too!

I'll say he is a winner

Class? He can be, he can also be one of the dirtiest fighters in the game

Just back on Hopkins quickly I'd just like to add this been a lot of negativity towards him on various sites but he rode till the wheels fell off real old school isn't this what we are supposed to like/admire in a champion?!

Some of the fighters he was going up against at his age was unusual held his own most of the time too the one style he didn't like was Dawson's

Herman Jaeger wrote:Just back on Hopkins quickly I'd just like to add this been a lot of negativity towards him on various sites but he rode till the wheels fell off real old school isn't this what we are supposed to like/admire in a champion?!

Some of the fighters he was going up against at his age was unusual held his own most of the time too the one style he didn't like was Dawson's

He hasn't always been the cleanest fighter, but he has a great said of nuts on him. He has been the man at two weights and only ever been stopped once in a long career. Also the oldest champion ever. Definitely an ATG fighter, love him or hate him.

This title of this thread is very apt.

Here here definitely a place up there with the greats not the greatest of all time by a long way but an atg I think

hazharrison wrote:This title of this thread is very apt.

Not a fan of BHop?

A nice moment at the post fight presser with Smith asking Bernard to sign his gloves

AdamT wrote:

hazharrison wrote:This title of this thread is very apt.

Not a fan of BHop?

Not much. He was Ok as a middleweight (wasn't a fan at the time) but turgid since around the Calzaghe fight. Decent fighter but some of the tributes are a bit gushing.

He'd started to become a parody of himself the last couple years but I think I'll miss his soliloquies more than his fights

hazharrison wrote:

AdamT wrote:

hazharrison wrote:This title of this thread is very apt.

Not a fan of BHop?

Not much. He was Ok as a middleweight (wasn't a fan at the time) but turgid since around the Calzaghe fight. Decent fighter but some of the tributes are a bit gushing.

Just another Floyd then??

AdamT wrote:

hazharrison wrote:

AdamT wrote:

hazharrison wrote:This title of this thread is very apt.

Not a fan of BHop?

Not much. He was Ok as a middleweight (wasn't a fan at the time) but turgid since around the Calzaghe fight. Decent fighter but some of the tributes are a bit gushing.

Just another Floyd then??

His performances against Pavlik and Pascal were superb, fairly clean fights too.

Truly amazing athlete. Dominant at middleweight and then more than held his own at light heavyweight. One of the greats.

I was never a fan of his at all. There was way too much gamesmanship, spoiling and cynacism throughout his career for my liking. The longer his career went on, and the more his reputation developed, this kind of seemed to become accepted and even revered. Not only would refs and jusdges not penalise it, it seemed to become rewarded. If fight became dull and ugly, it was a sign Hopkins was putting on exhibition. I also though he acted remarkably like a crybaby when things didnt go his way in or out of the ring which was always at odds with his earlier badass ex-con from the streets image, and later old wise boxing sage philospher.

Having said that, theres no denying his career as a hall of fame fighter, remarkeable longetivity and his extensive list of ranked opponents faced with the good performances to go along with the bad and the ugly.

think hopkins is regarded fairly harshly overall because of his dull style and tactics, and generally not being that likeable. likes of wlad is heralded as the dominate champion of the heavyweight division yet cheats more in his fights than hopkins did for the majority of his career (he certainly did become worse as he got older)

hopkins for me will go down as a modern day great, theres only really the big two in pac and mayweather that has achieved more in recent history.

hazharrison wrote:

AdamT wrote:

hazharrison wrote:This title of this thread is very apt.

Not a fan of BHop?

Not much. He was Ok as a middleweight (wasn't a fan at the time) but turgid since around the Calzaghe fight. Decent fighter but some of the tributes are a bit gushing.

To be fair, the only thing he spoiled in the Tito fight, was your enjoyment

catchweight wrote:I was never a fan of his at all. There was way too much gamesmanship, spoiling and cynacism throughout his career for my liking. The longer his career went on, and the more his reputation developed, this kind of seemed to become accepted and even revered. Not only would refs and jusdges not penalise it, it seemed to become rewarded. If fight became dull and ugly, it was a sign Hopkins was putting on exhibition. I also though he acted remarkably like a crybaby when things didnt go his way in or out of the ring which was always at odds with his earlier badass ex-con from the streets image, and later old wise boxing sage philospher.

Having said that, theres no denying his career as a hall of fame fighter, remarkeable longetivity and his extensive list of ranked opponents faced with the good performances to go along with the bad and the ugly.

He was a tough, rough middleweight when I was growing up but never seen as anything special until the Trinidad fight.

I found it bizarre how his punch output increased from say, Taylor to Pascal (especially in this day and age). No-one ever questioned how a 46 (I think) year-old bloke could throw more punches than a much younger opponent - even when said opponent flat out accused him of cheating!

Still, he fought damn near everyone that mattered - you have to respect that. Tackling Kovalev at that age was damn near madness.

milkyboy wrote:

hazharrison wrote:

AdamT wrote:

hazharrison wrote:This title of this thread is very apt.

Not a fan of BHop?

Not much. He was Ok as a middleweight (wasn't a fan at the time) but turgid since around the Calzaghe fight. Decent fighter but some of the tributes are a bit gushing.

To be fair, the only thing he spoiled in the Tito fight, was your enjoyment

Like it. He was perfect that night. Unwatchable in a lot of others.

hazharrison wrote:

catchweight wrote:I was never a fan of his at all. There was way too much gamesmanship, spoiling and cynacism throughout his career for my liking. The longer his career went on, and the more his reputation developed, this kind of seemed to become accepted and even revered. Not only would refs and jusdges not penalise it, it seemed to become rewarded. If fight became dull and ugly, it was a sign Hopkins was putting on exhibition. I also though he acted remarkably like a crybaby when things didnt go his way in or out of the ring which was always at odds with his earlier badass ex-con from the streets image, and later old wise boxing sage philospher.

Having said that, theres no denying his career as a hall of fame fighter, remarkeable longetivity and his extensive list of ranked opponents faced with the good performances to go along with the bad and the ugly.

He was a tough, rough middleweight when I was growing up but never seen as anything special until the Trinidad fight.

I found it bizarre how his punch output increased from say, Taylor to Pascal (especially in this day and age). No-one ever questioned how a 46 (I think) year-old bloke could throw more punches than a much younger opponent - even when said opponent flat out accused him of cheating!

Still, he fought damn near everyone that mattered - you have to respect that. Tackling Kovalev at that age was damn near madness.

To be fair though, I reckon the average geriatric could throw more punches than Taylor or Pascal if they put their mind to it. They only have 6 good rounds in them before they start fading and their work rate miniscule.

I thought Hopkins was unfortunate to lose the first Taylor fight, although I had him losing the second. Hard to have much sympathy with either of them given how crappy the action was though. Taylor was a skillul fighter, but his stamina was horrendous. He managed to gas in fights with a 40+ plus Hopkins where there was hardly any action. He losts fights to fighters he should he beat because he wasnt fit enough. And he was forturnate to eek out wins in the first Hopkins fight, Wright and Spinks.

Fair points, when you saw how good he could be when he put his mind to it, i.e. Tito, his safety first approach in borefests like the Eastman fight are hard to stomach. I guess it contributed to his longevity and keeping his faculties, so probably smart career and life choices... just not especially fan friendly!

Taylor always looked like one of those guys with a lot of talent who didn't really like fighting. He was either a lazy SOB or had zero natural stamina. Poor against pavlik and The Froch fight took some losing from the position he was in... whilst great credit goes to Froch for the never say die attitude, he was given a helping hand by a guy who looked like he was fighting in a vat of treacle by the championship rounds.

milkyboy wrote:Fair points, when you saw how good he could be when he put his mind to it, i.e. Tito, his safety first approach in borefests like the Eastman fight are hard to stomach. I guess it contributed to his longevity and keeping his faculties, so probably smart career and life choices... just not especially fan friendly!

Taylor always looked like one of those guys with a lot of talent who didn't really like fighting. He was either a lazy SOB or had zero natural stamina. Poor against pavlik and The Froch fight took some losing from the position he was in... whilst great credit goes to Froch for the never say die attitude, he was given a helping hand by a guy who looked like he was fighting in a vat of treacle by the championship rounds.

Taylor seemed to fight very tight. It was a crappy championship reign but how different his record could have been if that first Pavlik fight had been stopped (was it Smoger that let it go?) and he'd hung on against Froch. I was a fan when he was coming up (preferred him to Lacy) but he was awful as champion (save the Hopkins rematch).

Taylor just didnt have enough cardio in my view. He would run out steam and become fragile as fights went on. He had some close-ish decisions go his way with Wright, Spinks and the first Hopkins fight which I thought he ws edged out. And he lacked the engine to cope with strong guys like Froch and Pavlik.

I think if Winky Wright had moved up to middlewight slightly earlier he would have ousted Hopkins and potentially put together a nice middleweight reign that could have included defeats of Hopkins, Taylor, Trinidad, Pavlik and Abraham.