Hopkins wants Haye; Dirrell picks Ward to beat Kessler – News
November 19th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: 44-year-old Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KO’s) is reportedly interested in facing World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye next year if the bout can be made. For this to happen, Hopkins will have to beat his next opponent Enrique Ornelas, who Hopkins will be facing on December 2nd.
The way that Haye looked against big Nikolay Valuev earlier this month in taking away his title in a dull 12 round decision, Haye would be lucky if he can get by the 37-year-old Ruiz. The chances of Haye escaping with his title still in his possession against one of the Klitschko brothers seem to be extremely remote. Haye doesn’t have the size, the work rate or the chin to stand and trade with the Klitschko brothers on even terms and unless he’s suddenly developed a chin, its unlikely Haye will last more than a handful of rounds against whichever Klitschko he ends up facing.
As of now, Vitali appears to have the greatest interest in facing Haye. Wladimir hasn’t said anything about wanting to fight Haye, perhaps still a little upset how Haye pulled out of his June 20th fight with him complaining of a back injury.
Hopkins, if he can get past Jones next year, would be a very tough opponent for Haye because of his good chin and excellent boxing skills. Although Hopkins would be a little smaller than Haye at 6′1″, I would give Hopkins an excellent chance of getting to Haye’s brittle chin and knocking him out. For sure, Haye wouldn’t be able to run his way to a victory against Hopkins because he’s much faster than the slow moving Valuev.
Likewise, Haye couldn’t pot shot and beat Hopkins by averaging 10 punches per night, because Hopkins will likely be throwing five times that many at Haye. And Haye also won’t be able to use his hand as an excuse again, because I think the boxing public will only buy that excuse once before they start to smell something fishy from Haye. My guess is Hopkins finds Haye’s Swiss cheese chin and takes him out by the 8th round. By then, Haye will be exhausted and will have shot his load from being forced to throw slightly more than 10 punches per round.
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Dirrell, Abraham, Taylor and Froch make predictions about Ward-Kessler bout
The talented American Andre Dirrell is picking unbeaten Andre Ward to beat WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler this Saturday night at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. Dirrell said: “Ward has the ability to win. This is his biggest fight so he’ll have to stick to his game plan but I’m going with him.” This was a good safe pick for Dirrell to make, because the Danish Kessler is coming off a year layoff from boxing and didn’t look good in his first fight in over a year against Gusmyr Perdomo in September.
Ward, a former Olympic Gold Medal winner for the U.S>, has looked sensational breezing through his first 20 fights of his pro career. Ward easily defeated knockout artist Edison Miranda by a one-sided 12 round decision in May. In his last fight, Ward defeated Shelby Pudwill, a fighter with a style very similar to Kessler, in an easy 3rd round stoppage in September.
WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch fresh off his controversial 12 round split decision win over Dirrell in October, is picking Kessler to defeat Dirrell. Froch said “Mikkel Kessler will win because of his strength and ring experience.” Froch is hoping to get a shot at Kessler’s WBA title if he still has it by the time he faces Froch next year. Froch defeated Dirrell when he was given the nod by two of the judges, both Europeans, while the third, a Mexican, gave the fight to Dirrell.
Former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor is picking Ward to win Saturday’s fight, saying “Carl Froch has been very cocky and he knows his boxing skills are nowhere close to mine. Kessler is a pretty relaxed guy. He’s not too cocky by any means. I like him a lot but I am still going for our guys.” Froch defeated Taylor by a 12th round knockout in their fight in April 2009. At the time of the stoppage, Froch was behind in the fight and needed a knockout to win.
Arthur Abraham is picking Kessler to win, although he admits to being not familiar with Ward. “Andre Ward is not to be underestimated. He is very good. He is technically very sound and can also punch hard as he has shown in previous fights. But I hope that my new stablemate, Mikkel Kessler, wins.” Abraham stopped Taylor in the 12th round of his Super Six fight on October 17th. Abraham didn’t look all that impressive apart from the knockout and had a problem letting his hands go as usual.
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In other boxing news, the problem with the judges for the Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward bout has been ironed out. A South African judge Stanley Christodoulou and a Swedish judge Michael Hook will be working the Kessler-Ward fight, along with American judge Steve Morrow. Kessler had been saying that he wouldn’t put his WBA title on the line for this Saturday’s bout because all three of the judges were from California, the home state of Andre Ward. However, this has now been fixed with the addition of Hook and Christodoulou.
Tags: 36 Responses to “Hopkins wants Haye; Dirrell picks Ward to beat Kessler – News”
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clearly this guy’s only ever seen haye fight the once, hopkins might still be able to give anyone from light heavy downwards a run for their money, but against a hard hitting heavyweight like haye? come on this must be some kind of mid life crisis for bernard.
Hopkins at Heavyweight at this stage in his career to fight a dangerous puncher like Haye ?
scott you u have a vivid imagination, hopkins needs to have to fights before he could get in the ring with haye, which means that he would be almost 46 yes 46 years of age get real haye isnt even 30 yet and would maybe be 31 by the time he fought him, this my fellow boxing comrades is all about money, hopkins wants a few mega pay days before he packs it in why i dont know he’s already a multi millionaire
haye is and would be too big strong and quick,hes got the best combination of punches in the heavweight division he’s brought up the speed from CW hopkins would look to hold and grapple all night, and rough him up with elbows and butts, he’s still had a a stellar career but this is what he has to do to win fights now as the power and flair have gone hes standing on 44 year old legs for crying out loud, hopkins shouldnt let GREED get the better of him, fight your nemesis RJJ , earn a shed load of paper and retire and keep making money with golden boy entertainment, give the young hungry guys a clear run at the chance of becoming what BHOP RJJ and the like once were – legends and heroes of the sport
Yet another racist article from Scott. Bullied at school, Scott? Bit slow, were we? Thought so. It’s ok. Your Mummy still loves you. Unless she knows her boxing in which case she thinks you’re a mistake.
guy`s guy`s guy`s lets end this hopkins will not get past roy (superman)jones jr
terrible, a smaller older hopkin to beat a confident fresh hungry Haye? dreaming, this article has to be one of the worst ever written, congratulations buddy!!! my goodness, and your suppose to be a ”boxing editor”, your a better comedian ill give you that!!!
Scott what does it taste like?
B-Hops bumhole that is!
Come on Mikkel, spank the yank!!!
hopkins couldnt even knock out jermaine taylor…. twice.
Scott Gilfoid once again with is god bless america biased topics, Dont think you like the fact that England have a world champion do you? You will probably edit this comment just like you did with my last one….
Stop basing your opinion of a boxer on one bout you have seen them in.
As for Hopkins, if, and its a big if (it only takes one bout for a boxers age to catch up with him), he gets past his next two opponents and the Haye fight is made. Haye will have too much for him. Too big, too fast, too powerful and strong. The only chance Hopkins would have would be to use his spoil tactics, but it would be very difficult against a fighter a hell of a lot bigger.
Its getting boring now, everytime we get a national hero in boxing for england all people want to do is knock them and go on about how other boxers will beat them, Hayes chin maybe a good argument he has been k,o’d before but hes also recovered from knockdowns and come back and won, a lot of people said he wouldnt beat valuev and he did both the klitschko brothers will be a good fight but he has a good chance at beating both of them and I really dont think hopkins could come close to beating him, maybe its time you gave him some credit and got off his back, your meant to know what your talking about ha
The judge that gave the fight to Dirrel in the Carl Froch fight probably got a green card. However I do think that Jermain Taylor is a good busy fighter but what happens in the 12th round? Is it a fitness issue?
\ Dont be silly Hopkins vs Haye. That would most definatly end in death for Bernard.
my god gilfoid you are a joke man, can’t wait to see the boys at boxing show tomorrow to laugh about this article ha ha. you honestly give hopkins a chance of beating Haye you clown. you talk about Haye running but if you had half a brain you would see that Haye doesn’t normaly fight that way, it was his tactics to beat Valuev in that one fight. Haye would ko Hopkins inside 3 rounds and probably in the first with the first power punch that connects.
haye would/will get beat by the klitschko bros but hopkins?…. LMAO haye is unbevebly too strong for him would ko by round 3 for deff
kessler can and will teach ward how to box ward hsant fought anyone of quality and kessler makes little excuses and said he didnt perform to well against calzaghe and calzaghe said he was the toughest fight he had …….. thats harder than rjj and bhop so would you think ward could beat those too or even hurt the great calzaghe no didnt think so .
scott,HAYE V HOPKINS not going to comment on something so stupid
haye v hokins !!! same irresponible and dangerously stupid thinkin that got an old ALI beaten up by trevor berbick,and the clinical demolition and subsequent ko of aging larry holmes by mike tyson.B HOP’S special, very special but very old. not as a human being but as a boxer,an not talking heavy v heavy.. you want heavy v middleweight(blown up with age, less work,more burghers)always the same in usa,run out of credible opponents lets bring in the old guys…SHAME ON YOU SCOTT.why don’t you get in with haye.Bhop could train you
your still hooked on this hay throwing 10 punchers per round sh*t. he did that as a perfect tactic to evade any shots Valuev through back. which to me sums up the art of boxing – to hit and not be hit.
I am a big fan of Bernard Hopkins but even i know he has no chance agains David Haye. Not one Bit. Hopkins would be knocked out in the 5/6 round.
And as for you rediculous comment earlier about Haye being lucky if he gets past Ruiz.. You need to open your eyes mate.
Scott your an idiot, your no boxing fan you biased idiot. A fight against a 7ft 2in man needs tactics and even with a broken hand David Haye still managed to stick to them.
Did you actually see david hayes hand after the valuev fight you idiot… it was 3 times the size of his other hand… no wonder it was dull he couldnt punch and in the 12th haye only needed to give him one punch and his legs buckled, the klitschkos are to robotic to beat haye, haye is going to knockout that bum ruiz then hes going to K.O the klitschkos. EASY EASY EASY.
all americans are great and all british fighters are crap yes yes scott we have heard it all before.
1) Tell me what other way Haye could have fought against Valuev? The guy is 7ft, were not talking about a couple of inches, if any boxer bar probably the Klitchko’s stand and trade against Valuev, they will lose just purely because of his size and awkwardness. Haye had to employ special tactics.
2) If you’ve seen any of Haye’s previous fights (you obviously haven’t) he does not just throw 10 punches a round, this was a unique fight and therefore called on unique tactics.
3) Hopkins lost a decision to Calzaghe, Hopkins would obviously up his weight for a fight against Haye but Haye would be the naturally bigger man, in weight, strength and height. He hits far faster and harder than Calzaghe does.
4) You only had to see Haye’s hand the day after the fight to know this was a genuine injury and was not an excuse, his right hand was double the size of his left!
5) As for Haye’s weak chin – yes he has been knocked down by cruiserweights, but if you see the knock downs and listen to Haye or any boxer speak, the punches that knock you down are the ones you don’t see, Haye will see virtually every punch a heavyweight will thrown because his reflexes are the best in the division. In all the fights he has been knocked down bar the Carl Thomson fight (but the ref stopped this, Haye wasn’t knocked out) he has got up off the canvas and finished the guy off, usually by knockout.
Wladimir Klitchko is tailor made for Haye, Haye will knock him out, no heart, weak chin and to slow. Vitali will be a harder prospect, but Haye has all the attributes to beat him, Vitali has never come up against someone like Haye. Time will tell.
hahahahahahahaha……wot a joke…. hopkins beats haye… bless..
in your eyes is an american fighter ever gonna loose a fight??
iam english & obviously want english fighters to do well but as a fan of boxing iam man enough to admit fighters such as mayweather, jones, hopkins are legends so why dont you admit when a fighter outside the USA does well..
nobody can take u seriously as a sports writer..
Hopkins could not beat Valuev and Haye did, so what would be the point of fighting Hopkins ,none. It was nothing to do with Kessler, the WBA said that with all Californian judges and a Californian referee the belt wouldn’t be up for grabs and quite rightly so, remember that Lennox Lewis verse Hopkins debacle and that was fought in the USA, tell me Scott did you think that Hopkins won that fight? I thought that Mexico was one of the United States in anycase, it might as well be.
For about a year ive been reading all about how Haye doesnt deserve a title shot and even though he cleared up the Cruiser weight division hes gotta go prove himself at Heavyweight.
But its ok for Hopkins to jump right in there?
And Scott talks like David Haye ALWAYS fights like he did against Valuev. That is the 1st and only time youd see that type of gameplan from Haye. He would set upon Hopkins like a pitbull and Hopkins would end up very very hurt. And we dont want to see that.
You are a douche who writes pro-american tripe!! Write facts and unbiased opinions for once you c.u.n.t!
Hopkins is a great fighter but not for heavyweight division and not at this age. This will be to much for him. Maybe 10 or 12 years ago but not now.
haha not a chance haye would KO hopkins within 6 rounds.in my opinion hopkins wouldnt get past roy jones(the best p4p ever)
What’s working against Hopkins is that he is hardly ever in an exciting fight because he spends most of his time negating the efforts of his opponent. He is also 44 now an Haye would receive little or no credit for beating him.
There are better fights out there for Haye.
It’s also time that you bothered to review some of Haye’s earlier fights to understand what he is capable of and will do in future contests Gilfraud before posting any more biased articles.
First of all with Haye’s speed, size and power advantage he would absolutely destroy Bernard Hopkins, not to mention he’s 15 years younger. Secondly to say Haye doesnt have the work rate to beat the top guys is not true, stop basing your opinion, Scott, of Haye on one fight and actually try and write a bit more objectivey and you will gain a lot more respect for your articles.
haha funny stuff gnz
You probably ARE best buddies with BHOP Scott… But only in your own mind
You’re the kinda guy (solely based on your excellent writing and analytical skill of course)who’d get a restraining order if you ever got near BHop
this guy just writes sh*t. period!!!
i now in boxing size doesnt matter no more.
you need heart and speed, i.e pacman
hopkins has the ability to skool haye, but he is extremly small compaired t haye, and haye has great power and speed.
Intresting thought Hopkins v Haye, as you say cant see it happening.
I think your a little unfair, as far as Haye’s bout with Valuev goes, Haye did what he needed to
it was boring yes, but job done,you’d be hard pressed to find any fighter thats not been involved in one poor contest.
he would stand a punchers chance against Wladimir
slim yes but still a chance.
hopkins ko’ing haye no way