I don't know who else will tune into this fight, but irrespective of what you think of Benny Hopkins, his opponent – Beibut Shumenov - or the matchup itself, you have to be just a wee intrigued at the prospect of the 50 year old unifying the various light-heavyweight (12.7 stone limit) world titles. If that does piqué your interest, just keep in mind ( again, irrespective of your predispositions ) that this would be the first of the unification matches, IBF/WBA. Also consider that Hopkins successfully unified the Middleweight (11 st 6) belts, defending the IBF title a record 20 times in the process, and twice now he has set a record as the oldest man to win a significant belt. Don't wanna hear any rubbish regarding him not being a nice fellow or how he's fought tomato cans and this is how he made it to where he is ( --- please! ). Keep it impersonal (unless you're a fan) and discuss how you think the fight will proceed, if Hopkins or Shumenov (I know people from Kazakhstan, so I'm somewhat split from a personal point of view) would be able to continue the unification after this upcoming fight, etc.,.
50? Wow. At the very least you must respect him for that. B, do you know if Hopkins is showing any sign of brain damage from having fought for so long? I don't know enough about either fighter to call it :dunno:
Well...it stands to reason, ya know. As the body/brain ages...a fellow at my gym around my age was KO'd and ended up hospitalised. He tried to come back after a couple of months but ended up quitting after drills began producing massive headaches/seizure activity - or so I was informed. Some of us are more susceptible to head blows than others. Obviously Hopkins not quite so. But, yeah, it does amase me that he is able to do this and its not like he's been fighting cans over the later years, resting on his laurels - on the achievements of days gone by, though, admittedly, Shumenov is one of the least experienced of the title holders (13-1) but the Olympian is said to be quite the athlete. Its a historic fight, regardless.
It's fairly close to me, but I won't be going. Hopkins and his TRT exemption has everyone convinced that he's some freak of nature. With the right kind of test and other drugs stacking it with we would see a lot more 50 year olds out there. I don't like Hopkins anymore. He had a great win over Tarver and should have called it a career right there.
There are several supplements and drugs that make one much less susceptible to concussions. One being creatine, which is legal, but I don't know in the sports world if it is still considered so. The second is called TB-500which is much like HGH in that it has a high amount of amino acids and peptides that show faster recovery from multiple different types of injuries. TB-500 or thymosin beta 4 is becoming VERY popular with steroid users and in the sports world and is an amazing drug IMO, but it's tendency to cause cancer cell growth (if it already exists in ones body) is something that would make me shy away from it. It was used for a long time on horses IIRC
I'm not that up on Hopkins but isn't he reknowned as a solid defensive fighter and hard to hit? Very canny and able to bend the rules to his ends? Could be he's not taken as many hits as some? I bet Floyd Mayweather hasn't that many hits either?
No, to his credit Hopkins is quite solid. I do recall in his fight with Joe Calzaghe that he went to the wrong corner 3 or 4 times and his trainer almost stopped the fight. Wanted to add that even if someone is solid that signs from training, sparring, etc etc may not show up for a long time. James Toney was very hard to hit clean too, but his speech is more than terrible and I have no idea why they still allow him to fight.
Wasn't Jean-Claude Van Damme supposed to be setting some kind of record by being the oldest person to fight professionally (at 50) against that Thai Olympic boxing champ (like, 4 years ago)? Does Hopkins set that record, or has there been anyone else fighting over 50?
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=397496&cat=boxer http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Skip-Hall-2750 Larry Holmes fought Butterbean at 52 and Jack Johnson fought for the last time at 53 (though it was a pretty horrible work, by all accounts). Hopkins is definitely the record holder for fighters at a world level. P.S. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/15/sport/boxing/ - single manly tear
True, true, no doubt. However, chances are very good that any given 30 year old Hopkins is in the ring with is taking the same thing, or very similar, innit? If that be statistically within reason, then you could stretch it a bit and say that the "field is level" I can tell ya, as a 50 year old wheezing and puking after a few rounds; there ain't enough dope in Columbia, Hong Kong or Venezuela that is going to take me from where I'm at to holding the Golden Gloves Championship again and again. There's more to it than that!
Hopkins was smart enough to stay in shape and again... to his credit it was the PERFECT fight. Tarver was coming off of making "Rocky" and had to gain weight for that fight to look more like a heavy weight making it more difficult for him in training to drop weight while Hopkins had drained himself for the last time and just couldn't make 160 had a few fights at 168 and so it was an opportunist move on Hopkins' part and a smart one. Sadly, boxing is ALL about opportunists these days more than wanting to be the best. This is the one reason why I really like guys like Cotto and Bradley. Even Golovkin is going to fight Chavez in June or July (I don't know if contracts are signed yet) and I pick Golovkin by death and when I say that I have HALF kidding. If Golovkin has ANY real issues with Chavez... it will only make the smaller Martinez' win over him look even better. Though if this fight happens, it will be at 168.
I guess you could say that it levels the playing field, but a true legacy seeker would want to do things the most cleanly he could and truly defy the odds. You aren't defying the odds by using a banned substance. To be clear, I have no proof that Hopkins is using. I am simply going by what I've seen. Hopkins defense can negate most guys offense, however against a puncher, no shoulder roll is going to keep that shoulder from getting beaten up or broken against a puncher. Cloud? Easy style for Hopkins, Pascal? Easy, Pavlik? many of these guys are all offensive and have poor, if any defense. Which is why I have to scratch my head to why people think Manny would have ever beaten Floyd. A punchers chance yes... an over all chance? No.
Very good. But what do you think of the upcoming fight (Shumenov)? Know much about Beibut? - I have to admit I don't.
I really cannot say I know much about him. I know that Hopkins much like Floyd or any other fighter today only picks fights he truly believes he can win. Hopkins tricked himself when he got in the ring with Dawson and had a much harder time than he thought.. other than that Hopkins will use every dirty trick (and he knows A LOT of them) to win a fight. I always said he had 3 because he used his head so much.
Part of the era they came up in...from Sonny Liston dabbing Tiger Balm (reportedly) on his gloves during the bout with Cassius Clay (Ali) - I think they watch harder now - but who knows? That said regarding dirty tricks by Hopkins...its the tricks and the caginess that will win BHop the fight! Though Shumenov's record isn't all that, Hopkins is too wizened to step in there toe-to-toe with a much younger and fairly aggressive fighter and throw for the fences. Of course he's going to have some dirty tricks - something be wrong if he didn't.
Well...:thinking: ... I wouldn't put it exactly like that. But I don't think one would age gracefully in the ring by letting young bucks hammer them into hamburger. Hmmm...you have to come to a truce...albeit an uneasy one, with an old fighter's will to survive. Draw a line between rigged fights, doping ( to the obvious level of a Vitor Belfort ), etc., and the occasional heading...quick Eddie slipping some thinline brass into a glove... <---- just kiddin', of course
Looking forward to Saturday's action. I just finished watching Hopkins/Karo Murat. It started slow but as the evening wore on, it began to pick up quite a bit of steam (as did Hopkins!) I was quite impressed to see BeHop save the best for last, as far as aggression and skill go. Love the shoulder roll defence. He took quite a few shots - impressed also with his endurance. Master of the subtle dirty tricks dept - which keeps old geezers going.
Was looking at some B-Hop photos, didn't know if he was in a WWE match or what? I wish I was healthy enough to go to the fight on Saturday, happening not too far from where I live.
