Calzaghe: He [Hopkins] Should Get Over It”

By Boxing News - 04/25/2008 - Comments

hopkins43331.jpgBy Aaron Klein: Fresh off his impressive 12-round unanimous decision over Bernard Hopkins last Saturday night, undefeated super middleweight Joe Calzaghe had this to say to the BBC about Bernard Hopkins’ reluctance to acknowledge his defeat: “He should get over it. He should watch the tape and accept that he lost.” This was said in large part due to the fact that Hopkins, 43, has failed to accept the loss, saying that he was the one that should have been given the decision. In that, Hopkins is in the minority, because an overwhelming amount of fans and sports writers alike feel that it was Calzaghe who ultimately won the fight.

It was close, with Hopkins starting out looking exceptionally good in the first four rounds of the fight. It appeared that Hopkins, who knocked Calaghe down in the first round with a short right hand, won all of the first four rounds of the bout. After that, however, Calzaghe seemed to get more comfortable in the ring, figuring out what Hopkins was doing – punching and immediately grabbing a hold of Calzaghe – and compensating by hitting Hopkins with quick flurries before Hopkins could grab him and wrap him up in one of his many clinches in the fight.

Most fighters have a difficult time accepting a defeat, especially when it’s a close decision like Saturday’s bout. As for Hopkins, he has been no exception to this general tendency, complaining loudly that he felt that he won the fight and gave Calzaghe a boxing lesson in the process. From my perspective, it didn’t seem as if Hopkins schooled Calzaghe he like he says he did. He mostly seemed to fight in a style made famous by heavyweight John Ruiz, better known as the “punch and grab” technique.

There’s nothing wrong with the style of fighting as it’s often very effective for fighters that have limited speed, movement and power. With as much talent as Hopkins has, it remains curious why he decided to use this tactic against Calzaghe, in that Hopkins looked exceptionally well when he was trading shots in the middle of the ring, instead of grabbing and clinching after every punch. I think perhaps Hopkins would have had a better than average chance of winning if he hadn’t decided upon using the style that he did.

Calzaghe, for his part, has been less than impressed with the manner in which Hopkins as failed to accept the defeat. Calzaghe sees it as a poor sportsmanship, saying that Hopkins is a “sore loser.” I suppose it’s hard for Calzaghe to understand losing from another person’s perspective in that he’s never experienced it himself in his career. Calzaghe’s words would mean more if we had seen them in action with himself congratulating an opponent without complaints after losing a close fight. For Hopkins, the fight was perhaps even more meaningful given his advanced age.

At this point in his career, a loss like this, even under controversial circumstances, is a bad thing for his career. Hopkins doesn’t want to go out on a bad note like this, and this fight definitely left a sour taste in Hopkins’s mouth, as well as fairly substantial amount of fans around the globe