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Bernard Hopkins Leaves the Ring as he Leaves the Ring

truthatallcost

truthatallcost

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It was Hopkins' last pro boxing match before he leaves the ring permanently through retirement. He ended up leaving the ring twice last night, once courtesy of opponent Joe Smith. What a way to go out.

 
truthatallcost said:
It was Hopkins' last pro boxing match before he leaves the ring permanently through retirement. He ended up leaving the ring twice last night, once courtesy of opponent Joe Smith. What a way to go out.

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Is this a boxer with grey hair? My God how badly did he need a check?
 
reinoe said:
Is this a boxer with grey hair? My God how badly did he need a check?
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He's 51 man. Hopkins is a legend, he's beaten big names like Oscar de la Hoya, many others. Sad to see him still fighting.
 
Hopkins was one of the greatest boxers, ever. His fight with Felix Trinidad was a testament to his greatness; Trinidad was at the height of his power, and Hopkins needed to fight a perfect fight to win... and he did. Hopkins, never one to duck anyone, fought most of the best fighters in his divisions, beating many of them. Sad to see him go out like this.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Hopkins was one of the greatest boxers, ever. His fight with Felix Trinidad was a testament to his greatness; Trinidad was at the height of his power, and Hopkins needed to fight a perfect fight to win... and he did. Hopkins, never one to duck anyone, fought most of the best fighters in his divisions, beating many of them. Sad to see him go out like this.
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I would have loved to have seen him in a rematch with Roy Jones Jr. when both fighters were in their prime. By the time it occurred, Jones Jr was a shot fighter and Hopkins was long in the tooth himself.

During the 90s Jones Jr was about as dominant of a fighter as I have ever seen.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
I would have loved to have seen him in a rematch with Roy Jones Jr. when both fighters were in their prime. By the time it occurred, Jones Jr was a shot fighter and Hopkins was long in the tooth himself.

During the 90s Jones Jr was about as dominant of a fighter as I have ever seen.
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Jones Jr is one of the saddest cases of a boxer hanging around too long. The guy should have retired years ago, and just done his commentary gig on HBO. He's risking serious brain injury by contining to fight. He's scheduled to fight for a title in 2017.
 
truthatallcost said:
Jones Jr is one of the saddest cases of a boxer hanging around too long. The guy should have retired years ago, and just done his commentary gig on HBO. He's risking serious brain injury by contining to fight. He's scheduled to fight for a title in 2017.
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:shock::shock:

That's just sad to hear. The guy has to be considered in any discussion of the greatest fighters of all time. He should have quit 15 years ago.
 
truthatallcost said:
Jones Jr is one of the saddest cases of a boxer hanging around too long. The guy should have retired years ago, and just done his commentary gig on HBO. He's risking serious brain injury by contining to fight. He's scheduled to fight for a title in 2017.
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Holy crap!!

After suffering this no promoter in their right mind should EVER let him fight again...



Devastating and sad.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
:shock::shock:

That's just sad to hear. The guy has to be considered in any discussion of the greatest fighters of all time. He should have quit 15 years ago.
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Man, he started his career as a middleweight, and eventually won a major title at heavyweight. He ranks up there with Duran, Leonard, Robinson, and Ali.
He should be on easy street right now. Instead he's fighting at 47 years old.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
I would have loved to have seen him in a rematch with Roy Jones Jr. when both fighters were in their prime. By the time it occurred, Jones Jr was a shot fighter and Hopkins was long in the tooth himself.

During the 90s Jones Jr was about as dominant of a fighter as I have ever seen.
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I agree. A rematch when the two were in their prime would have been classic Looked to me that Jones avoided that... Hopkins kept improving as time went on.
 
truthatallcost said:
Jones Jr is one of the saddest cases of a boxer hanging around too long. The guy should have retired years ago, and just done his commentary gig on HBO. He's risking serious brain injury by contining to fight. He's scheduled to fight for a title in 2017.
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I agree. He never should have taken the two Tarver fights when he did. He had blown up to Heavyweight and needed much longer to lose the weight (40 pounds) and to re-acclimate to that weight. Probably should have retired after the Calzaghe fight. In his prime, he'd have beaten Calzaghe in a close, entertaining fight. The fight they had was nothing like that. Being knocked out by Danny Green was an indication of how far he had fallen. He may have already given himself pugilistic dementia in the future. Shame. He was an excellent and articulate boxing commentator.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
Holy crap!!

After suffering this no promoter in their right mind should EVER let him fight again...



Devastating and sad.
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In his prime, no way Jones would have ever allowed Maccarinelli to get that close and he would have feinted away from every single one of those punches.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
I agree. A rematch when the two were in their prime would have been classic Looked to me that Jones avoided that... Hopkins kept improving as time went on.
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Hopkins was actually a better fighter in his mid/late 30s than he was in his mid/late 20s which is amazing when you think about it.

It did kinda seem like Jones avoided him and you see that in boxing way too often. How many great fights either didn't happen or happened at a point when the fighters were no longer relevant?
 
Jack Fabulous said:
Hopkins was actually a better fighter in his mid/late 30s than he was in his mid/late 20s which is amazing when you think about it.
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Very true. Quite unusual how Hopkins' career progressed. I'm not sure if I can think of any other boxer who was better in his 30's than his 20's. Maybe Sergio Martinez.

It did kinda seem like Jones avoided him and you see that in boxing way too often. How many great fights either didn't happen or happened at a point when the fighters were no longer relevant?
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I know. I can think of a few, right off the top of my head in the Heavyweight Division:

Lennox Lewis/Riddick Bowe
Lennox Lewis/Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson/Riddick Bowe
Muhammad Ali/George Foreman rematch

Those are just a few from recent times.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Very true. Quite unusual how Hopkins' career progressed. I'm not sure if I can think of any other boxer who was better in his 30's than his 20's. Maybe Sergio Martinez.



I know. I can think of a few, right off the top of my head in the Heavyweight Division:

Lennox Lewis/Riddick Bowe
Lennox Lewis/Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson/Riddick Bowe
Muhammad Ali/George Foreman rematch

Those are just a few from recent times.
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All potentially great fights.

The most recent example I can think of is Pacquiao/Mayweather. That fight should have happened 6-7 years ago. Fans got robbed of a great fight and instead were treated to a snooze fest between a guy who only wanted to avoid being hit and a guy who no longer had the ability to hit him.

Thinking back, Sugar Ray Leonard left a couple of potentially great fights on the table due to his eye problems. I would have loved to have seen him fight both Aaron Pryor and Donald Curry.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
I agree. He never should have taken the two Tarver fights when he did. He had blown up to Heavyweight and needed much longer to lose the weight (40 pounds) and to re-acclimate to that weight. Probably should have retired after the Calzaghe fight. In his prime, he'd have beaten Calzaghe in a close, entertaining fight. The fight they had was nothing like that. Being knocked out by Danny Green was an indication of how far he had fallen. He may have already given himself pugilistic dementia in the future. Shame. He was an excellent and articulate boxing commentator.
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It's such a cliche at this point, but I do become surprised when a great fighter like Jones can't hang up his gloves. Joe Louis' last fight was against Rocky Marciano, where Rocky knocked the crap out of him. He was a good 7 years past his prime. I can only think of a few fighters who retired at exactly the right time, with both plenty of money and brain cells in their possession:

1. Rocky Marciano
2. Rocky Graziano
3. Jack Dempsey
4. Kostya Tszyu
5. Sugar Ray Leonard
6. Oscar de la Hoya

Fighters who stuck around too long and paid the price
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Fernando Vargas
3. Roy Jones
4. Evander Holyfield
5. Sugar Ray Robinson
6. Roberto Duran
7. Joe Frazier
8. Larry Holmes (retired wisely, then beaten to a pulp during comeback against Tyson)
9. Bernard Hopkins
10. Meldrick Taylor
 
Jack Fabulous said:
:shock::shock:

That's just sad to hear. The guy has to be considered in any discussion of the greatest fighters of all time. He should have quit 15 years ago.
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I agree that Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins both belong among the all-time greats. Moving up to light-heavy brings up other names. But when it comes to middleweights, I have never seen the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson. Great defense, great hand speed, great foot speed. great heart, great ring strategy--and one-punch knockout power with either hand. By all accounts, a good guy, too.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
All potentially great fights.

The most recent example I can think of is Pacquiao/Mayweather. That fight should have happened 6-7 years ago. Fans got robbed of a great fight and instead were treated to a snooze fest between a guy who only wanted to avoid being hit and a guy who no longer had the ability to hit him.
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Agree 100%. I also would have liked to see Tyson/Holyfield in the early '90s when both were untarnished, rather than in '96 when Holyfield had had already been damaged by the three Bowe fights and Tyson by Douglas and prison.

Thinking back, Sugar Ray Leonard left a couple of potentially great fights on the table due to his eye problems. I would have loved to have seen him fight both Aaron Pryor and Donald Curry.
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Either of those fights, especially the Prior fight, would have been fabulous. We should start a thread like this... great fights that didn't happen.
 
truthatallcost said:
It's such a cliche at this point, but I do become surprised when a great fighter like Jones can't hang up his gloves. Joe Louis' last fight was against Rocky Marciano, where Rocky knocked the crap out of him. He was a good 7 years past his prime. I can only think of a few fighters who retired at exactly the right time, with both plenty of money and brain cells in their possession:

1. Rocky Marciano
2. Rocky Graziano
3. Jack Dempsey
4. Kostya Tszyu
5. Sugar Ray Leonard
6. Oscar de la Hoya
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Excellent list... right on target. I'd add another: Gene Tunney. And you are 100% right about Joe Louis, though as an explanation, he did continue to fight because he was broke and it was the thing he knew he was best at. But it seemed to me that something "broke" in Joe at the end of that Marciano fight.

Fighters who stuck around too long and paid the price
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Fernando Vargas
3. Roy Jones
4. Evander Holyfield
5. Sugar Ray Robinson
6. Roberto Duran
7. Joe Frazier
8. Larry Holmes (retired wisely, then beaten to a pulp during comeback against Tyson)
9. Bernard Hopkins
10. Meldrick Taylor
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There are so many of them. You hit on some of the big ones, but others that come to mind:

Floyd Patterson
Ray Mercer
Gerry Quarry
And those are just a few heavyweights.
 
truthatallcost said:
It's such a cliche at this point, but I do become surprised when a great fighter like Jones can't hang up his gloves. Joe Louis' last fight was against Rocky Marciano, where Rocky knocked the crap out of him. He was a good 7 years past his prime. I can only think of a few fighters who retired at exactly the right time, with both plenty of money and brain cells in their possession:

1. Rocky Marciano
2. Rocky Graziano
3. Jack Dempsey
4. Kostya Tszyu
5. Sugar Ray Leonard
6. Oscar de la Hoya
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The only one I would disagree with is Leonard. I think the Terry Norris fight was ill-advised and when he came back in about 97 to fight Hector Camacho, that fight was DEFINITELY ill-advised. He had no business being in the ring at that point. He started that fight looking slow and outclassed... and then he got knocked out.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
The only one I would disagree with is Leonard. I think the Terry Norris fight was ill-advised and when he came back in about 97 to fight Hector Camacho, that fight was DEFINITELY ill-advised. He had no business being in the ring at that point. He started that fight looking slow and outclassed... and then he got knocked out.
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Good points, I'd forgotten about that comeback fight. Leonard does still seem mentally sharp when I see him speak, to his credit.

One other fighter I forgot from the Stayed Around Too Long list is Shane Mosley. Have you seen him speak lately? He was interviewed for the Mayweather-Pacquio fight, and I couldn't believe how slurred his speech has become.
 
truthatallcost said:
Good points, I'd forgotten about that comeback fight. Leonard does still seem mentally sharp when I see him speak, to his credit.

One other fighter I forgot from the Stayed Around Too Long list is Shane Mosley. Have you seen him speak lately? He was interviewed for the Mayweather-Pacquio fight, and I couldn't believe how slurred his speech has become.
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It's sad what happens to these guys. There's so many old, punch-drunk fighters out there. Having that much money waved in front of your face would be hard to turn down, though, if boxing is all you know.

I think professional boxing has just about run it's course. I used to be a yuuuuge fight fan but right now I couldn't name a single champion in any division. With the awareness now of the dangers involved with repeated head trauma I don't know why anyone in their right mind would even consider becoming a professional fighter.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
The only one I would disagree with is Leonard. I think the Terry Norris fight was ill-advised and when he came back in about 97 to fight Hector Camacho, that fight was DEFINITELY ill-advised. He had no business being in the ring at that point. He started that fight looking slow and outclassed... and then he got knocked out.
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Lennox lewis
 
Jack Fabulous said:
It's sad what happens to these guys. There's so many old, punch-drunk fighters out there. Having that much money waved in front of your face would be hard to turn down, though, if boxing is all you know.

I think professional boxing has just about run it's course. I used to be a yuuuuge fight fan but right now I couldn't name a single champion in any division. With the awareness now of the dangers involved with repeated head trauma I don't know why anyone in their right mind would even consider becoming a professional fighter.
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There's no shortage of guys who will step into the ring who are missing a few screws. Just consider the recent Unified Heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury. The guy beat Vlad Klitchko for all the belts, was poised to make the big paychecks, and ended up relinquishing all his titles because he can't stop eating cheeseburgers and pounding whiskey.
 
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