The Curious Case Of Bernard Hopkins

By Jack Sumner @Jack_Sumner_

http://southpawjacks.wordpress.com/

'The Executioner'

When Oscar De La Hoya returned to his corner following the third round of a certain 2004 middleweight unification bout, he had to be pretty content with how the opening stanzas of the fight had unfolded.

As he positioned himself onto his stool, his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr placed both his hands upon the Golden Boy’s shoulders and beamed a smile before delivering an assured assessment of the opponent’s chances in the fight.

“The man’s an old man. Look at me, he’s an old man. He’s looking the worst that I’ve ever seen him.”

The old man who sat across the ring was a 39-year-old Bernard Hopkins. Throughout those opening rounds, a 31-year-old De La Hoya had outworked the bigger and stronger fighter with greater activity and hand speed, with Hopkins looking as sluggish and as ‘old’ as Mayweather Sr suggested.

Ward eyes Pavlik or a move up to 175lb...

Andre 'S.O.G' Ward.

You would think that after beating just about every guy who has been put in front of him and now being considered as the second best fighter on the planet, Andre Ward would be in a fantastic position right now. Well, unfortunately there's a slight problem... 'S.O.G' has just about wiped out the whole of the super-middleweight division, meaning there is now not really any testing fights out there for him.

When asked about this problem on the Boxing Lab Radio, this is what Ward said: "That's a good problem to have if I'm going to have any problems. I'm happy about that... I'm aware of what we've done up until this point and there are not a lot of options at 168. I think you have one or two guys that are the top but I've either already fought them or it's probably not realistic to make a fight. And you have young guys that are on their way up to contender status and those aren't really options either so I really don't know what's next."

However, there is still one fighter out there that Ward wouldn't mind facing.

"I mean you guys got like Kelly Pavlik out there," said Ward. "I know he's got one more shot left in him and he's mentioned my name and not disrespectfully. He's just saying that he wants another crack at a top guy so Kelly is definitely an option. He's got a name and he's still a tough fighter."

Ward still hasn't ruled out a move up in weight and is excited by the light-heavyweight division.

"And of course the 175 pound division which I'm excited about. I don't know if its going to be my next fight but I'm just excited about that next challenge and I think my body is going to be happy about having that extra weight on me as well. I think I'm going to be a lot stronger."

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Froch opponent announcement delayed until next week...

Froch with his IBF title.

The next opponent for IBF super-middleweight champion and British fan favourite Carl Froch was expected to be announced today (August 20th) but it has now been delayed to Tuesday August 28th. 

It has been confirmed that he will fight on November 17th, and the venue will be the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham. But we will have to wait a little longer to find out who he will be fighting on that highly anticipated date.  

There has been plenty of rumours as to who it will be but there has been no little hints or inklings from Froch or his promoter Eddie Hearn. As the date draws closer it seems like the most likely opponent is Kelly Pavlik. The American has made his controversial thoughts on Froch known and has repeatedly said that he wants to fight the 35-year old. Mikel Kessler and Thomas Oosthuizen have been almost completely ruled out as potential opponents and the only other notable fighter that has been mentioned is fellow brit James DeGale. Maybe it could be just a walkover fight for him but as you all know, this is very unlikely for 'The Cobra'. 

Tickets for the fight will go on sale at 3pm on the day that the opponent is announced.

Kelly Pavlik, not impressed with Froch

Kelly Pavlik.

Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is looking to make his way back to the top of the sport and to do that he may one day have to face British fan favourite and current IBF super-middleweight champ Carl Froch on his journey.

Froch after his victory over Lucian Bute.

Froch looked fantastic against Lucian Bute in his most recent fight on May 26th but Pavlik has revealed that he thinks that the 'Cobra' is just not that impressive. He also claims that the Nottingham man is nowhere near the same level as fellow American super-middleweight Andre Ward.

In an interview with BoxingScene.com Pavlik said: "In most of his fights, if you go look at them, he gets in wars and he gets hit a lot. If you go back and watch, even the Taylor fight, he was getting beaten up the whole entire time in that fight.... Bad. If Taylor would have taken one more knee, and if he would have survived, he was that far ahead on the scorecards [that he would have won]. I think he's a rough, gritty guy and he has power, don't get me wrong, but I just don't see him as a top, top guy of the weight class. I don't think that he is at the level that Ward is.

Pavlik's next outing is on July 7th at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, California. He faces Will Rosinsky in a HBO co-feature event. It will be his fourth fight in a row at 168lb or heavier.

Chavez Jr moving up to 168lb after Lee fight...

Chavez Jr after his fight with Rubio (the heaviest he ever weighed for a fight).

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's trainer Freddie Roach has made it clear and simple that after the Mexican's title defence against Andy Lee tonight (June 16th), he will likely be moving up to the super-middleweight division.

"After this fight, we'll probably goo to 168" said Roach.

It has been known for a long time that Chavez struggles to make the weight limit at middleweight. On the night of his fights, he sometimes weighs in at over 180lb. Which means who puts on around 20lb in one day. It's pretty obvious that this is not good for the body and explains why he sometimes looks a little slow and drowsy in the ring.

If he manages to beat his Irish opponent Andy Lee tonight then it is almost certain that the WBC champ will be moving up. Roach also claimed that his fighter's weight was less of a problem for this fight for one reason:

"We had the weight come down a lot earlier," explained Roach.

Roach also revealed that after this bout, he would like Chavez to face Kelly Pavlik, which would be a great fight. But, he also stated that if a fight with Sergio Martinez does come about, they will take it straight away. Chavez has been constantly criticised for ducking Martinez, who many believe is the true world middleweight champ, but Team Chavez claim that they are willing and ready to take the fight.

Pavlik batters Sigmon!

Super-middleweight contender Kelly Pavlik put on a dominant performance against Scott Sigmon on Friday night (June 8th). He battered the American from round-to-round until the fight was finally stopped by the ringside doctor at the start of the eighth round.

On the undercard, young super-bantamweight prospect Jesse Magdaleno demolished his opponent Carlos Valcarcel in just one round. Magdaleno now has an unblemished record of 10 wins from 10 fights with 7 KO's. He is looking to be a definite star of the future.

Other fights on the card included light-heavyweight prospect Mike Lee winning a six-round unanimous decision over Eliseo Durazo and Rudy Puga stopping Tommy Turner in just two rounds. Another great fight was between two great lightweights in Gerardo Robles and Roger Gonzalez. Robles upset the fan favourite Gonzalez winning by a majority decision.

All these fights were good, but the main focus of the night was Kelly Pavlik. The 30-year old is desperately trying to prove that he is still a top contender at world level in the super-middleweight division. Since his losses to Sergio Martinez and Bernard Hopkins he has tried to re-group but hasn't been able to land another big fight in the last two years.

It was a fantastic performance from 'The Ghost' and it may have just boosted his chances of getting another world title shot.