The Battle Of The Planet: Hopkins vs Calzaghe Preview

It is almost time for all the talking to be over and for Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe to fight. The mean comments have flowed. From Calzaghe making fun of Hopkins for complaining of the cold weather in England and calling him Mary Popkins (Poppins) to Bernard saying he would never lose to a white boy. Well in my opinion Bernard went way too far with that comment but with Bernard Hopkins, what is too far. This is the same guy who in Puerto Rico in front of lots of Puerto Ricans threw down the Puerto Rican flag. You can say Hopkins has never been afraid of controversy. Calzaghe appears to be the one who is uncomfortable to me. I am reading more trash talk from him then Hopkins to be honest. Calzaghe does get off some trash talk but this time it seems like it is out of his character. Now we are 5 days from fight night. Less than a week. Who is going to win??? I don't know, watch and find out. LOL. Okay okay, I have to break it down for you. Lets start with Joe Calzaghe.

I have learned that you never count Joe Calzaghe out. All those years he stayed in Wales and never fought over in the U.S. Most including myself figured he was overrated and could not fight. So we sent our best American Super Middleweight Champion in Jeff Lacy over there in March 2006 to beat Calzaghe's ass and prove Calzaghe is a hype. I knew Lacy was overrated himself, lacked boxing ability and only relied on power. However I just knew he could beat Calzaghe. Damn was I and most Americans wrong. I remember James Toney saying before the fight that Lacy was going to jail for the whooping he was going to put on Calzaghe. Calzaghe damaged Lacy's career to thus far no repair. Calzaghe used his jab, his reach, left hand, right hand, uppercut and any other punch to completely dominate Lacy over 12 rounds, landing over 1000 punches. Yes over 1000 punches. After that shock I gave Calzaghe some credit but in November 2007 it is time for him to fight undefeated Danish Super Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler. Kessler looks stronger, hits pretty hard, he could beat Calzaghe. WRONG. Calzaghe got into a groove of throwing his quick punches and dominated Kessler over 12 rounds. Now he we are. Calzaghe is an undefeated 36 year old southpaw with virtually no damage to his body from the ring. He is quick, slick, and does not know how to lose. He is moving up to 175, but it will not be much trouble for him because his body is in great shape. The only real odd thing for Calzaghe will be fighting in the U.S. but even then it will not be as many people watching. Calzaghe is used to being in stadiums with like 30,000 or more people in the crowd. For this fight it will only be around 10,000.

So lets glance at the always unpredictable Bernard Hopkins. When I think of Bernard Hopkins I think of a no holds bar type of guy. He will use any type of tactic to win whether it is inside the ring or outside. A lot of it has to do with the lifestyle Hopkins had growing and including his time in prison. For Hopkins to succeed after his street and prison life lets you know he is mentally strong. Then he lives a very disciplined life, no drugs, no smoke, no alcohol and is always in the gym. Despite all of his wins, Bernard trains and fights like this is the fight that will rescue his family from the ghetto. With those harsh thoughts in his head, it is hard to beat him. He is self motivated and focused on the task at hand. At 43, Bernard is a freak of nature at this point because he is still performing a championship level at his age. No long breaks or retirements, although he always says he is retiring. Hopkins keeps fighting and will not stop until he wants to retire. So who wins the fight.

Joe Calzaghe is a strong, fast, slick southpaw who throws huge volumes of punches. He has his own fight style and does not adjust to the other fighters style for anything. Calzaghe is in great shape and is willing to come forward or counterpunch from time to time. With the amount of punches he throws, he usually keeps his opponent on the defensive all night long. The quickness Calzaghe has helps him get into position defensively without paying any price. He does not get hit cleanly very often and for the most part his offense is his defense. Bernard Hopkins is slick and has deceptive power. He is undefeated against southpaws which is amazing. Hopkins is more of a good inside fighter because he loves to work the body. From time to time, he will hold and hit or throw low blows on the opposite side of where the referee is standing. That is just apart of who Bernard Hopkins is. By any means necessary he will win. Hopkins sometimes like to get inside and bully as an intimidation factor. For instance, it appeared Hopkins bullied and bother Antonio Tarver in their fight. After a few inside moments, it appeard Tarver was completely out of the fight. Hopkins is quick as well but not as quick as he used to be. However he has his PH.d in ring intelligence and knows how to turn a fighters strength into their biggest weakness.

How will this fight play out. Well I see Joe Calzaghe like usual coming out trying to establish is jab. Hopkins, who I have said for years only fights about 6 rounds a fight because his reputation usually keeps the other fighter a distance, will be forced to start fighting a little earlier than usualy. I see Hopkins holding Calzaghe to frustrate him and even hit him on the break. You know, the tactics that really bothers fighters. Calzaghe will of course throw his huge volume of punches and Hopkins will keep it moving. Hopkins will use his own jab and follow up with his straight right hand or overhand right. The one where he ducks down and throws the punch. It looks like a lucky punch, but he lands it far too frequently to be luck. However after throwing/landing those punches Hopkins will hold and work on the inside. I see Calzaghe getting a little frustrated because it is not his style of fight. As Calzaghe tries to throw his punches, I see Hopkins moving back and side to side away from the southpaw stance of Calzaghe. Hopkins will even keep Calzaghe slightly off balance and hit him from the side. As Calzaghe throws his volumes of punches, I see Hopkins counterpunching Calzaghe in the opening he leaves from throwing so many punches. In the end I see a decision win for Hopkins in probably an ugly difficult fight to judge.