Hopkins v Clev - Summer 2013 - Who wins?

I pick this summer so that I can rate both fighters chances based on Hopkins current skillset.

Personally, I think this will happen. I think this for a few reasons:

Firstly, Bhop has fought all the other names at LH and doesn't want to give up on fighting just yet
Bhop is now IBF champ, so it would be a unification
Warren MUST do something with Clev to grab some attention for his dwindling stable. He is literally looking at going out of business, so he may take the risk he needs to make some cash for his company.
Both fighters will think they can win it

Ok, with that said, how does it go?

On paper, Clev has many of the attributes that an ageing Bhop has struggled with in the past. Like Calzaghe and Dawson he can fight for 12 rounds. He has an excellent engine in fact. He can throw with rapid fire and he can take a punch, too. At 48, anyone who can put their punches together for sustained periods of time with Bhop is going to pose him issues.

Where Clev will struggle is here: I have never seen him show what I would describe as ring smarts, with possibly the exception of the Murat fight. There he led with some beautiful right and lefts, and systematically dismantled him with class. Since then though he has been fed so much Turkey he thinks it is Xmas every day, and this is a huge problem. Also, Clev is incredibly easy to hit. He trades on his good chin and on opening up, leaves himself wide open. Also, he has little power and I can see Bhop ducking and weaving against the ropes and then countering with head snapping punches.

Another area of concern is how Clev deals with the games Bhop will employ. The holding, the leaning; all the tricks he actually didn't even need to use against Cloud.

My biggest concern with Clev though is his lack of meaningful fights. The best fighter he has faced since Murat is Bellew, and I thought that could have gone eiether way.

Pascal had been in with some very good fighters, even Cloud had faced Campillo, Johnson, an old Woods and a slippery if ultimately weak Mack.

To go from nurses and Hawk on a few days notice to one of the smartest fighters in the history of the sport seems a stretch.

All in all, and taking robbery and home town ref's who won't allow Bhop to do his thing out of the equation, I could see him making Clev look silly on his way to a points win.

Befuddle is the word that springs to mind.

Clev has many of the attributes Calzaghe and Dawson had, but he is not in their class.

Can't believe we are talking about the guy I booed on my tv screen versus Calzaghe 5 years ago. Now, I appreciate him for the things he has done in the ring, but can he beat Clev?

Hopkins by UD

Alot of people say the answer to beating Hopkins is to swarm him with punches like Calzaghe did. If I remember Calzaghe barely won that fight and hes one of the best swarmers out there.

I'd pick Clev. Too much workrate. Something Hopkins hates. JC won on workrate alone and I feel Clev will not back off as Cloud did. Clev expects to get nailed often. He has a very good chin. Terrific engine and will outlast Hopkins.

Then again, I've backed everyone against Hopkins lately.

Then again, I've backed everyone against Hopkins lately.

Can't be as bad as ODLH when it comes to whoever is fighting Mayweather.

And on subject Bhop barely drops a round against Cleverly and the corner pull him out late due to taking a sustained beating. Won't be hurt, just taking too many shots sort of corner stoppage having not won a round.

Is it me or am I the only one unimpressed with Hopkins??

Cloud pretty much asked Bernard just how would he like to take the fight and Tavoris duly obliged him with the pace and range that Bernard wanted. The time Cloud was looking to be agressive he was successful, especially when getting to the body before BHop but for some reason he'd take the foot off the gas and then trade at range.

BHop also has to stop trading on the "oh my God I'm 48 how good is that!" type wins. It's getting tiresome!! The fact is he's petrified of Andre Ward and has made it abundantly clear he won't fight him pretty much stinks!! If he was 34 saying that he'd be pilloried but yet he gets a pass because he's 48!!!

Hopkins by now is deliberatley challenging limited paper champions and showing them up to be limited. Big deal!!

Cleverly another limited paper champion so as long as the money's good BHop will take it in an instant!!!

Hopkins with a bit to spare on evidence of his last showing but you have to keep questioning how long he keep it up.

Id disagree somewhat that he hates workrate because while hes obviously old now and doesnt have the same engine, he is a master at nullifying opponents workrate and efectiveness with his inside game and ability to lead and counter with straights. Calzaghe needed alot more than just workrate to beat him. I actually think Hopkins tends to struggle with the pure boxers more as they arent as easy to out-think and outbox.

All valid points. Bhop has definitely declined, and noticebly so. Far more so that when he fought Calzaghe in fact. But can Clev capitalize? I wonder how much Bhops name affected Cloud on Saturday. I really don't know why he couldn't get off ins ome rounds as Bhop wasn't even fighting dirty?

I'm really not sure here, Cloud has a very good work rate as well but Hopkins managed to reduce his output dramatically.

I haven't picked against Hopkins since the first Pascal fight and I'm not starting now.

Super D Boon wrote:Is it me or am I the only one unimpressed with Hopkins??

Cloud pretty much asked Bernard just how would he like to take the fight and Tavoris duly obliged him with the pace and range that Bernard wanted. The time Cloud was looking to be agressive he was successful, especially when getting to the body before BHop but for some reason he'd take the foot off the gas and then trade at range.

BHop also has to stop trading on the "oh my God I'm 48 how good is that!" type wins. It's getting tiresome!! The fact is he's petrified of Andre Ward and has made it abundantly clear he won't fight him pretty much stinks!! If he was 34 saying that he'd be pilloried but yet he gets a pass because he's 48!!!

Hopkins by now is deliberatley challenging limited paper champions and showing them up to be limited. Big deal!!

Cleverly another limited paper champion so as long as the money's good BHop will take it in an instant!!!

I haven't seen the Cloud fight, but you say he needs to stop trading on being 48. How exactly does he do that? By stopping being 48? Schooling guys young enough to be his offspring who are in their primes deserves extreme props and whoever he fights he will get extra praise for being such a unique athlete. Ward hasn't exactly been calling B Hop out and hasn't even fought at light heavy, so he's not totally relevant yet. In what way is he deliberately targeting paper champs? Of his last three opponents two of them have been divisional number one when he faced them. What more can you ask of him?

Scratch that, Dawson was only #2 when Hopkins faced him as it was Hopkins himself who was number one. Still, you get my point.

Love Hopkins habit of holding and then falling into the guy to make it look like it's the opponent spoiling...

Me...He'd have a couple of points taken off before the sixth round and then given a final warning..So he ends up emptying his tank and looking up at the ceiling..

hopkins easily.

a lot of people on here are talking about hopkins at the moment and admitting they didnt even see the cloud fight. cloud usually has good workrate and a high punch output. but the more punches he threw against hopkins the more hopkins landed. check out the punch stats from the fight. clev will soon slow down once hopkins starts countering him.

Based on his performance on Saturday night then Hopkins still has more than enough in the tank to teach Cleverly a couple of lessons just like he taught Cloud and nick a decision.

I agree that Cleverly does have natural talents (great engine, good speed) that Hopkins doesn't enjoy going up against but he's also predictable, wide open for counters and hasn't shown yet that he can adapt to the little tricks that Hopkins has up his sleeve.

Lance makes a good point above; it's all well and good saying that a fighter throws a hell of a lot, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll think twice about going hell for leather if they're being walked on to counters which they never saw coming. We've seen how Pacquiao, normally a whirlwind, throws a hell of a lot less against Marquez, for instance.

Hopkins by close(ish) but not controversial decision, something like 115-113 or 116-113 would be my guess.