Bernard Hopkins

By Chris Stein: Undefeated Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) survived a 1st round knockdown tonight to come back and pound out a 12-round split decision over former middleweight/light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (48-5, 32 KOs) at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Beyond the first round, there was little suspense in the fight for Hopkins, 43, quickly adopted the boring tried but true grappling/clinching style of former heavyweight champion John Ruiz, as Hopkins slowed the fight to a crawl with his two punches followed by a clinch style of fighting.

It was no match for Calzaghe’s speed and combinations, though Hopkins likely knew that he had no chance other than to take the fight into a boring wrestling match in order to have any kind of chance. The final scores of the fight were 114-113 for Hopkins, and 115-112 & 116-111 for Calzaghe. The 114-113 score was laughable, because Hopkins did little in the fight other than pot shotting and dulling up the bout, and couldn’t stand up to Calzaghe when the two stood at center ring. Te more truer score was the 116-111, but even that was being far to generous to Hopkins, who seemed to feign being hurt by low blows in the fight, as if looking for a hand out from the referee Joe Cortez, a referee noted for penalizing fighters for fouls.

By Peter Kurth: If you’re all that familiar with Bernard Hopkins (48-4, 32 KOs) and know how he typically fights, you already know that this Saturday’s fight with undefeated super middleweight Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs) is going to be bloody and filled with a certain amount of fouls. That, I’m afraid, is almost a given. The question is how many and whether the fouls will have an effect on the mindset of the 36 year-old Calzaghe. On the whole, I fully expect Calzaghe to be cut in the first three to four rounds, likely a bad cut from either a head butt or an elbow.

The cut, especially occurring so early in the fight, will put Calzaghe into a position where he will very likely have to either fight harder, as he attempts to build up a lead in order to be ahead in case the fight is stopped prematurely due to the severity of the cut or have the opposite effect, where Calzaghe backs off to try and protect the cut.

By Scott Gilfoid: This Saturday night unbeaten super middleweight Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs) will meet up with ring great Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs) at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the most part, many of the boxing experts have been predicting that the 36 year-old Calzaghe will be able to overwhelm Hopkins with his 1000 punch per bout output, which on the surface, is a total that Hopkins can never come close to matching even in the prime of his career. Yes, and of course they’d be right about Hopkins not being able to match that kind of output with his own punches.

Strange, I’ve never seen the fight going this way. But then, maybe I’m a little more familiar with Hopkins style of fighting than many of the so-called ring experts. I think for most of the boxing experts, they can’t get away from thinking in terms of Calzaghe’s offensive style of fighting, forgetting altogether how Hopkins typical fights. Quite simply, Hopkins has never been in a bout in which he allowed a faster opponent to dominate him from the outside with flurries like Calzaghe hopes to use on him on Saturday night. On the whole, Hopkins adapts his style against speedy types like Calzaghe, taking the fight to the inside and choosing to stay there, where he grits it out with his expert infighting.

By Aaron Klein: Undefeated super middleweight Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs) will be making his first appearance fighting in the United States on Saturday night when he takes on light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs) at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This excitement for this fight has been building up for three months now and most of the comments from both fighters are getting a little stale by now, with both of them merely repeating the same old phrases that they’ve been saying for months. Hopkins, now 43, the master of psychological warfare, has made most of the more interesting comments, yet none of them have seemed to have the same effect on Calzaghe as they did in previous pre-fight trash talking with fighters like Antonio Tarver and Felix Trinidad, who seemed uncomfortable at times with Hopkins verbal attacks.

Calzaghe, however, seems to understand what Hopkins is attempting to do, knowing that he’s counting on it getting to Calzaghe and maybe throwing him off his game a bit. However, Calzaghe is a different fighter than Winky Wright, Tarver and Trinidad, in that he hasn’t learned to lose yet, while at the same time he has been the absolutely best fighter in the super middleweight division for a decade now.

By Nate Anderson: In the latest war of words, former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs) is cutting though the pleasantries by calling undefeated super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs) “amateurish” and promising punishment along the way. If one weren’t alaready aware of Hopkin’s history, they’d incorrectly assume that Hopkins was just making hyperbolic statements in order to sell a few more tickets to the boxing public.

By Michael Tornay: Sometime when a fighter finds themselves in an almost impossible no-win situation, they reach for any aid they can in an attempt to cheat age, diminishing skills and the inevitability of their defeat by seeking outside assistance, for example, specialized trainers, gurus and what not. In light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins’ (48-4-1, 32 KOs) case, he has accumulated an “execution squad” consisting of trainer Freddie Roach, conditioning coach Mackie Shilstone and John David Jackson, a specialist on southpaw fighters. Hopkins, 43, hopes that somehow this group can help him pull out a victory over undefeated super middleweight Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs), whom Hopkins will be facing on April 19th at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas.

So far, few people give Hopkins a chance at beating Calzaghe, despite the fact that Hopkins has pulled off major victories in the past two years over Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright, both of whom Hopkins looked impressive in beating.

Light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins took the news of Joe Calzaghe’s rebuttal to his training team statement as a sure sign of panic. “This poor guy used up all the air in his boxing gym to spew a bunch of nonsense about nothing really. I said what I had to say in one breathe. He knows what he is up against on April 19 and that’s all that has to be said. All those words are just like his punches-nothing on them and no damage done..”

Hopkins vs. Calzaghe “Battle of the Planet,” is presented by Golden Boy Promotions, Frank Warren’s Sports Network and the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The match-up will air live from the Planet Hollywood Ring on HBO’s World Championship Boxing beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET / 6:45 p.m. PT.