Bernard the baby Hopkins loses again

Joseph, I believe it was 115 to 113 on all three cards and AP had it 115 to 114 for Taylor.

 

Some boxing writers said if Hopkins wins. He would be in the top 5 of all time greats in that weight class and so did Hopkins of course . Lets see was he better then theses guys ? Both Sugar Rays .Monzon ,Haglar and Ketchel ,Basillo, Flowers, Harry Greb, Roy Jones ,Tony Zale ,Turpin ,Toney hum I don;t know if he could break into this group .I could be wrong what do you think ?

 

Hopkins had a good run. His only loss for years was to Roy Jones Jr. who was then in his prime. After that, he held sway among the middles for years.

Best middle in my lifetime, I believe, was Monzon. I believe he woulda beat Hagler. Monzon won his last 81 bouts, over the likes of Emile Griffith, Bennie Briscoe, Jose Napoles, & Nino Benvenuti.

Not that Hagler was any slouch who didn't have any real opposition. We all know Hearns was a very good fighter, and so was Juan Roldan. True, Hagler had less quality opposition during his championship reign, but he'd fought'em all before getting the title. Having seen many bouts of both Monzon & Hagler, I believe Monzon was the better boxer, with their power being about equal.

Most likely, the best middle of all was Stan Ketchel, who was murdered at age 24. Mosta his fights were against bigger men who were top fighters themselves. Good as SR Robinson was, he had a spotty record as a middle and not a solid, dominant reign. I don't believe SRR was quite big enough to consistently beat top middles.

Hopkins held at least a piece of the title for ten years, making 20 title defenses over that time. However, Hopkins didn't have the quality opposition that some middle champs had. And as for being a crybaby...Do we know of any boxer losing a close decision to not say, "I wuz robbed"?

I place Hopkins among the top 12 middles. As for taylor, he now has the chance to become an elite middle if he stays focused & fights often.