Sharkie’s Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
April 19th, 2008
“White Boy Beats Bernard Hopkins”
Undisputed Super Middleweight (WBA/WBC/WBO) Champion, Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32
KO’s) made his debut fight in the USA, as a Light Heavyweight Saturday night at
the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, against America’s legendary, former
undisputed Middleweight Champion and current (IBO/NBA, no, not basketball) Light
Heavyweight Champion, Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KO’s).
The lead up to this fight there was a lot of emphasis on Hopkins’ age and his
workouts with his conditioning coach as well as Calzaghe’s methods of training
with his father, a jazz musician turned boxing trainer. And of course, there
were some typical mud slinging, mostly by Hopkins. Calzaghe kept to his usual
polite demeanor, even after Hopkins’ told him that he’d, “never let a white boy
beat him.” Calzaghe just responded saying, “If you fight me, you will lose.”
The ring answers all questions, with no regard for all the hype, pre fight talk,
pound for pound rankings and even the official Judges’ Score Cards at the end.
Fortunately, the winner of this fight got the W at the end of the day.
At 36 years old, Calzaghe is no spring chicken but he hasn’t shown any signs of
aging or slowing down and has won all of his fights so far. At 43, Hopkins may
be “old” but he remains in excellent shape and is possibly the craftiest fighter
I’ve ever seen. His ability to win the psychological battle and foul opponents
opposite the ref’s view is an art form worthy of recognition. His fights can be
boring but he is tenacious in finding ways to win.
As they made their way to the ring, thoughts of how open Calzaghe’s style leaves
him to the straight right hand, and how Hopkins knows how to deliver one, danced
in my head. There were no loyalties here for me; I like both Hopkins and
Calzaghe. Both are great fighters in their own right.
Calzaghe is a slapper, a rhythmic boxer, who doesn’t generate big power with
single shots so much as he wears opponents down with his overall volume of
offense, good stamina and athleticism.
Hopkins is the master of getting inside his opponents head. He has sneaky power
and good accuracy when he punches. He takes away what his opponents do best and
can hurt opponents with his specialty; holding while hitting (opposite the ref’s
view). If Hopkins has a signature punch, it might be the low blow or the head
butt. But seriously, the man is a legend.
The Fight
Round One
They felt each other out for a moment, Calzaghe pressed forward, Hopkins waited
to counter. They traded shots and Hopkins clinched against the ropes until the
ref broke them. As Calzaghe came in, Hopkins’ landed a clean right and put
Calzaghe on his seat. Calzaghe up immediately but was tentative and Hop landed
another right. They brawl in close, ref brakes them. Calzaghe kept coming
forward, throwing one at a time. Calzaghe’s nose bled from a small cut caused by
a Hopkins punch. 10-8 Hopkins.
In the corner, Enzo Calzaghe told his son, “You’re letting him bait you in for
that kind of punch.”
Round Two
Calzaghe the aggressor and exchanges with Hopkins against the ropes. Referee Joe
Cortez working hard already. Calzaghe landed two low slapping punches, no
warning. Hopkins held every time Calzaghe got close enough. Hopkins landed a
nice straight right. Hopkins overreacts to an unnoticed low blow. Hopkins used
his left arm to hold Calzaghe when in close and punch with his right. Calzaghe
countered with the same. 10-9 Hopkins.
Ref warned Hopkins corner about hitting behind the head.
Round Three
Hopkins boxed outside, moved and came in with shots aimed at the body, scoring
too. Hopkins held and hit until Cortez broke them. Calzaghe gets Hop in corner
and flurries with slapping punches. Crowd roars. They trade and both score.
Calzaghe started finding his rhythm and exchanges dirty shots with Hopkins. Ref
warned Calzaghe and crowd booed. Hopkins landed more telling shots and matched
athleticism with Joe.
Freddy Roach tells Hopkins that Calzaghe’s a sucker for the right hand.
Round Four
A sloppy start with Calzaghe chasing Hopkins, who held and hit when possible.
Cortez getting a work out. Calzaghe starting to wrest control of the tempo as
they brawled into the ropes, where Joe scored. The ref said, “Brake!” And
Hopkins threw a punch that landed. Ref paused action to warn both to, ‘keep it
clean.’ Calzaghe chased Hopkins round the ring, dropped his hands, taunting
Hopkins in. Hop scored nice off the ropes with counter punches. Lot of wrestling
initiated by Hopkins. Calzaghe pressed forward and punched his way in and out.
Calzaghe landed a left at the bell. Hopkins hit Calzaghe from behind, right in
front of Cortez, who broke them apart yet again. Momentum starting to shift as
Calzaghe started landing more and forcing Hopkins to fight his fight instead.
10-9 Calzaghe.
Round Five
Calzaghe jabs his way into Hopkins, whose only direction is backwards and
sideways, always away from Calzaghe. Calzaghe showboats a little as his
confidence starts to soar. Hopkins eats some leather as Calzaghe landed a nice
left and a flurry of little shots. Calzaghe forcing Hopkins to keep busy.
Hopkins back against the ropes as he is committed to defense as Calzaghe
pressured him. Hopkins to the body. Calzaghe landed a series of lefts to the
head and after the bell, Hopkins kept punching. 10-9 Calzaghe.
In the corner, Roach told Hopkins, “I need more than one at a time, throw
combinations!”
Round Six
Calzaghe stalked Hopkins. Hopkins backed up and held when Calzaghe got close
enough. Calzaghe pressure starting to bother Hopkins, who holds after throwing
any punches. Calzaghe started using his jab to move Hopkins around. Hopkins, one
punch and hold, every time. Calzaghe shoe-shined Hopkins until the bell, Cortez
got between them and pushed Calzaghe, who went to the floor.
Cortez told Hopkins corner, “Bernard, I don’t want any more of those tactics, I
don’t want to take any points. I want a clean fight!” Then he went to Calzaghe’s
corner and said the same thing. Calzaghe’s father was screaming at his son to
pick up the aggression.
Round Seven
Calzaghe landed jabs and got Hopkins on the ropes. Calzaghe landed more and
more, Hopkins held more and more. Hopkins led with his head and continued to
hold. No warnings from the ref either for all the holding. Calzaghe got the
better of the exchanges and Hopkins was less and less effective. Calzaghe
dropped his hands then went after Hopkins against the ropes. Calzaghe landed
slapping shots. Hopkins landed a short right that buckled Calzaghe’s balance.
Too little too late. 10-9 Calzaghe.
Round Eight
More of the same as Calzaghe pressured Hopkins, whose path was the ropes as he
backed up and waited for counter opportunities. Calzaghe landed a clean left to
the face. Hopkins held. Calzaghe threw combinations. Hopkins landed a right then
backed up. Calzaghe a left, Hopkins a right. Calzaghe threw more, landed more
and Hopkins is tricky but doing so much less. Calzaghe rallied with punches and
scored and taunted Hopkins to the bell.
10-9 Calzaghe.
Roach told Hopkins, “You need to throw more combinations.”
Round Nine
Calzaghe has his spacing down, his confidence up and his rhythm working as he
landed a straight left on the face of Hopkins. Calzaghe flurries, Hopkins held.
Calzaghe harassed Hopkins with little punches that keep Hopkins going backwards.
Hop landed a nice right. Calzaghe landed a bigger right. Calzaghe in control.
Calzaghe landed another straight left. He mimicked Hopkins, dropping his hands
and was even winning the psychological battle at this point. 10-9 Calzaghe.
Enzo Calzaghe screamed at Joe, “You won the last four rounds in big style, I
think this guys ready to be knocked out. TRUST ME! TRUST ME! TRUST ME!”
Round Ten
More of the same, with Calzaghe controlling the tempo, forcing Hopkins backward
and popping punches. At one point, they got close, Hopkins turned round and with
Calzaghe behind him, he did a little taunting dance in front of Hopkins
backside. Prior to the theatrics, Calzaghe threw a slappy uppercut toward the
body that was low but didn’t have any steam on it but Hopkins played it to the
bone, taking a knee and pretending to be in pain, while taking a few minutes to
get some oxygen as the crowd got restless and annoyed by his bullshit. Calzaghe
bounced around, spread his arms in askance of “what?” The crowd complained as
Hop milked the clock. Calzaghe incited the crowd, walking back and forth,
bouncing around, waving the crowd in…and drawing cheers in his direction and
jeers in Hopkins’. When action finally resumed, it was back to work for Joe, who
kept the pressure on. Hopkins landed a straight right as he jumped in to deliver
it. Hopkins rallied a bit but always held whenever Calzaghe got close enough.
Hopkins did score some decent shots. Calzaghe scored some too as Hopkins landed
two low shots opposite side of Cortez. Calzaghe kept fighting. The long rest
helped Hop get some energy back. They traded to the end. Good round for both
guys, Hopkins gave a good effort late. I’ll call it even, 10-10.
Round Eleven
Calzaghe pressured Hopkins and they traded shots until Hopkins held. Calzaghe
landed a sneaky right as they tussled inside. Calzaghe landed a clean combo to
Hop’s face against the ropes. Calzaghe’s pressure made Hopkins try another; ‘I
got hit by a low blow’ routine, but Cortez didn’t stop the action. Hopkins
rallied and they traded, both landed. Calzaghe outworked Hopkins and landed more
often. Hopkins did some good work but just not enough to win the round. 10-9
Calzaghe.
Calzaghe’s corner, possibly fearing a bogus decision, tells him, “You got to
STOP him!”
Round Twelve
Calzaghe reached out to touch gloves but Hopkins didn’t share his enthusiasm,
they commence to brawl and Hop landed one and Calzaghe landed about five.
Hopkins tried to land the straight right, charging in with it on a few
occasions. Calzaghe keeps Hopkins outside and kept punching. Calzaghe landed a
nice left, Hopkins landed some good shots, Calzaghe countered well and Hopkins
held. Calzaghe had too much energy and Hopkins didn’t have enough. Calzaghe
bounced and punched, Hopkins darted in with combos when he struck. Calzaghe, in
charge since about the fourth round, kept taking it to Hopkins as they slugged
to the bell. The crowd cheered wildly. 10-9 Calzaghe.
As Calzaghe jumped up onto the ropes to address the crowd, they cheered some
more. It was obvious who the crowd thought won the fight.
The Official Scores were 114-113 Hopkins, 115-112 for Calzaghe and 116-111 for
Calzaghe, who won by Split Decision. The Judge who scored in favor of Hopkins
was the only one wearing glasses. According to the unreliable compu-box stats,
Calzaghe landed more punches against Hopkins than anyone ever has.
* *
During the post fight interview, Calzaghe was told of his compu-box numbers over
Hopkins and asked how he did it and he said, “I don’t know, to be honest. I
found it really hard tonight. He caught me in the first round. I think I slipped
(laughing), but I had to dig deep. Bernard’s a great fighter.” He thanked the
fans in attendance. He went on to say that he felt more loosened up after the
fourth round and felt stronger in the fight and knew it wasn’t going to be
pretty but, a win is a win.
Interviewer: You said you felt you slipped. (Calzaghe never said that) It was a
clean knock down; did he ever hurt you in the fight?
JC: “I said I slipped. You know I’m joking. (laughs) He caught me with a flash
knock down, it’s only the third time in my career I’ve ever been on the floor
and I got up and did what all great champions do, I went on about my business
and like I said, I’m so happy right now.”
When asked about Kelly Pavlik and Roy Jones Jr. Calzaghe said he didn’t know
just yet. He did say maybe Roy Jones Jr. since he just beat Hopkins and is now a
“Legend Killer”.
Of course Hopkins said he won the fight when he was interviewed but after
Hopkins demonstration of honesty in the ring (the low blow show), how much
credibility do his words really have?
Congratulations to Joe Calzaghe, the new man to reckon with at Light
Heavyweight. There’s still three other major belt holders in the division in
Zsolt Erdei (WBO), Chad Dawson (WBC) and Antonio Tarver (IBF) and one belt that
is up for grabs at the WBA. It’s likely that Joe goes for Roy Jones Jr. next,
unless Roy out-prices himself to prevent it from happening. Can anyone imagine
Jones traveling to England to fight Joe Calzaghe? I can’t. If Roy can’t dictate
all the terms of the fight from the money to the venue to the gloves, etc, don’t
expect Roy to be a serious consideration.
I’d like to see Roy Jones Jr. finally fight Bernard Hopkins in a long overdue
rematch but we know that’s not going to happen. Hopkins may have lost this fight
but he is still way too dangerous for Jones to seriously consider. The only
thing Jones has is his name at this point and that name has lost much of its
luster since 2004. If Jones is for real, he would do well to prove it by
fighting Hopkins before 2008 ends.
Why can’t they just have a tournament at Light Heavyweight between Dawson,
Tarver, Erdei and Calzaghe and out of that quartet; the last man standing would
be the undisputed Champion. I think Calzaghe has what it takes to beat them all
but speculation means nothing until they fight in the ring. Dawson is only a
champ due to a horrendous decision win over Glen Johnson, who beat him but
didn’t get have the Judges blessings. Erdei is seriously untested and Tarver is
on the downside of his boxing career.
* * *
Comments can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com
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