Hopkins Interested in Froch Bout In July
April 30th, 2009
By Dave Lahr: With not a whole of options in front of him other than going after some tough fighters like Chad Dawson and Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) is apparently interested in fighting WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch. Dan Rafael of ESPN is reporting that he spoke to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who informed him that Hopkins is now interested in fighting Froch, and that Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez has already had a conversation with Froch’s promoter Mick Hennessy about a potential fight between Froch and Hopkins in July.
However, Schaefer is saying that he still needs to speak with HBO and Hopkins about it. HBO is picky about the fights that they show, and might not be interested in a Hopkins vs. Froch fight. I can’t see why they wouldn’t, though, especially after Froch’s impressive 12th round TKO win over Jermain Taylor last Saturday night.
HBO would likely prefer that Hopkins face Chad Dawson, the IBF light heavyweight champion, but Hopkins hasn’t shown much interest in getting in the ring with Dawson for some reason. Also, there’s the problem of Dawson fighting in May with Antonio Tarver, which wouldn’t leave enough time for Dawson to get ready for July bout with Hopkins only two months later.
If Froch is looking for a big money fight, he couldn’t go wrong by fighting 44-year-old Hopkins. This would likely be the biggest money fight that Froch could find other than if Calzaghe would suddenly come out of retirement and give Froch a fight. That’s not going to happen in this lifetime, so hopefully Froch and Hopkins can work something out and get in the ring.
Hopkins is 13 years older than Froch, but would probably be the much faster fighter. Hopkins easily beat Pavlik – a fighter that is similar to Froch in speed and power – in his last bout, using quick combinations and movement to befuddle the slower Pavlik.
One would guess that Hopkins could easily do the same thing to Froch if the two were to meet. Froch may have the power advantage, but if he can’t land his punches with consistency, then I see Hopkins beating him with ease. Hopkins was twice beaten by Jermain Taylor four years ago in 2005. However, that’s different Taylor than the one exists now.
Tags: 14 Responses to “Hopkins Interested in Froch Bout In July”
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HOP, Why is it that you always want two fight someone you can beat? Froch!? Come on BHOP, You already seen what Dirrell did To h’um and his hometown stole the fight.Why don’t you fight A. Dirrell, put some money in his pocket? We all know Dirrell can give you a better fight!!!!!
Thinks B-Hop for not fighting Felix again. F.Trindad vs. J.Taylor or Lacy would be something to see,but a rematch against B-Hop would be a waste. B-Hop vs. C.Froch would be a great fight between two warriors.
Roy Jones I hope you don’t fight Jeff Lacy again because Fans know your going to win that fight, thats a waste of time. Roy big names no Trash fighters like Lacy or Taylor and Taylor beat Lacy so why waste your time man. Tomasz would of been the best opponent for you and a belt is on the line. Roy if you don’t take that fight what’s with a rematch against Glen Johnson.
Is there really any point in Froch fighting Hopkins and losing?
Hopkins is far to experienced for him!
If I were Froch, I’ll go after Kessler or Bute…then Hopkins.
“Froch has no defense and lacks counterpunching skills”- froch is a counterpuncher. he looked so bad in the taylor fight because taylor was making him come at him and counterpunched in return.
Froch wont beat hopkins hes too skilled unfortunately. The only chance he would have is to knock him out….
‘Hopkins was twice beaten by Jermain Taylor four years ago in 2005. However, that’s different Taylor than the one exists now.’
I disagree Taylor looked fantastic in the Froch fight, he just ran out of steam. Hopkins always has trouble against talented, highly skilled fighters like Taylor and Calzaghe.
But Fighters like Froch are tailor made for Hopkins. Froch has no defense and lacks counterpunching skills. Hopkins will run rings around him with his massive skill set. I do worry though that at 44 years of age Hopkins may tire by the later rounds leaving himself open for Froch to KO him with his huge stamina and killer instinct.
The only way Froch would ever beat Hopkins is by knocking him out.
i do agree especially as he lost twice to Taylor, but with regards to Kessler being over-rated, both he and Hopkins gave Joe a hard fight but the difference is Kessler boxed cleanly, traded at times, didnt fake low blows and helped contribute to an entertaining night of boxing, the other fight was a stinker no fault on Joes part, he obviously hits harder than Pavlik to make B-Hop fight like he did
Valid points Mark F but the fact Froch beat Taylor is a major incentive. When Hopkins beat Pavlik (who beat Taylor) it almost took a shine off Hopkins’ own losses to Taylor and allows people to point to the styles make fights argument rather than simply Hopkins wasn’t good enough to beat Taylor.
Im a big Hopkins fan and think its an excellent strategy as while Hopkins couldn’t manage to beat Taylor himself, he has managed to beat those who beat Taylor while enhancing his own reputation.
On a final note I would like to add that I think Kessler is majorly over-rated. Yeah he gave Calzaghe a tough fight but so did Hopkins? Calzaghe himself is bigging up Kessler as the heir to the super middleweight division on that one fight alone. Hopkins won’t fight Kessler but if I did I think Hopkins would take it on points!
i think everybodys jumping the gun and a lot of this is paper talk for a lot of reasons;
1) I really cant see B-Hop going down to Super middle, he fought middleweights Pavlik and Wright at Light heavy and didnt want to fight Calzaghe @ Super middle.
2) Not long ago it was set in stone that he was going up to CRUISER to fight Adamek (what happened with that?) and then Trinindad, again at Light Heavy.
3) Lastly i just simply dont see the purse being big enough for Hopkins.
i don’t think this one will be pulled off to be honest, theres just too much going against it.
i mean, would hopkins really be interested in fighting froch, a fighter with somehow still only a generally hardcore fan base and few big name opponents on his resume?
also, would froch even want to take the fight? it would put him in relativley the same light if he wins as calzaghe (which was for the most part bad). on top of that, could you imagine his nerves? he was a shell of himself against taylor and you can bet on the fight being in america again, with an even bigger hostile crowd to deal with. on top of all that, the money for froch would be peanuts anyway. at this moment in time, i think froch would lose also, simply because hopkins is still very, very talented and because froch doesn’t have enough big time fights under his belt (no pun intended).
lets not forget either, as you mentioned, HBO is very picky about who they choose to show and would no doubt much prefer to show dawson vs hopkins instead.
if i was froch, fight bute instead and then move on to kessler or something. but if he really wants to fight hopkins, at least negotiate for the Ring Magazine to be thrown in as well, with that still vacated at the moment.
I love Froch but can’t help but be bored by the prospect of this fight,
I wanna see either of these guys show some balls and take on Kessler
I think Kessler would destroy them both hence this fight being boring and pointless
ye don’t do it carl because you will get completly schooled by hopkins, maybe even knocked out.
i cant believe hbo would rather have hopkins-dawson rather than hopkins-froch?
dont do it carl