Bernard Hopkins At 47: Like Archie Moore, But Different

Published

12 years ago

January 15, 2012

Today, January 15th, light heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins 52-5-2 (32) turns 47 years old. And at age 47 he’s no doubt one of the top 10 pound-for-pound boxers in the world along with being the ruler of the 175 pound division. Hopkins is also among the top three successful world champions to fight after age 40, with Archie Moore and George Foreman being the other two.

Foreman was a physical freak of nature aided tremendously by his overload of strength and punching power. George didn’t out-box or fox any single opponent during his career. He walked them down and/or beat them down before he knocked them out. Comparisons between Foreman and Hopkins are never made because as fighters, outside of their great chins and toughness, they share nothing else in common.

The old fighter Hopkins is most often compared to because of their ring acumen and guile is former light heavyweight champion, Archie Moore (185-22-11 with 130 KOs), who retired at age 49. But really the only thing they share aside from age is intelligence. Moore had an equalizer in both hands and was a threat to end the fight at anytime during the first through 15th round. Even as an old fighter Archie tried to lull his opponents to open up and engage with him. Sometimes he’d do it by laying back and going into a shell, only to open up and explode when he felt his man over committed or extended himself. Other times he’d put the pressure on and try to force them into a mistake and trade with him.

Another area where Hopkins and Moore differ is, Archie wasn’t nearly as well conditioned as Hopkins is as an old fighter. Moore went rounds by fighting completely loose and relaxed the way an older Roberto Duran did. Archie’s bouts were also more exciting and had more give and take than the bouts we’ve seen from the post 40 year old version of Hopkins. Even as an older fighter, Moore seldom lost many exchanges. Whereas Hopkins does everything he can to avoid exchanges as an older fighter, unless he is certain that he can get the upper hand or neutralize his opponent if they happen to catch him in between punches.

There’s also another thing in which old Archie and Bernard are dissimilar and that’s in their pre-fight antics and tactics. Sure, Archie would say that he used some ancient tricks to lose weight that he garnered from a witchdoctor he met when he was a teenager, but other than sometimes invoking evil spirits and voodoo, that was about it. On the other hand Hopkins will do whatever it takes by any means necessary to win the bout before a single punch is thrown. And that’s because Hopkins isn’t as physically capable of engaging with and straight up fighting his opponents as Moore was. As it’s been mentioned here before, Bernard has to strip his opponent’s gun of its bullets and then try to go in and rough them up or inflict a little physical or mental damage onto them if he can.

Because Hopkins has had so much success as a world championship caliber fighter after the age of 40, he’s often compared to Archie Moore. And there’s no doubt about it, they’re the two best fighters over age 40 in terms of boxing skills. But the way in which they went about winning fights is a lot different. Moore had all the experience and wisdom of a fighter with over 200 professional fights, yet he retained a lot of his power and even into his late 40s it carried him and was something he could rely on to win. Trickery was no doubt a part of his game, but it was more of a Plan B than the single purpose of his strategy and fight plan.

Hopkins is great, but due to his lack of fight altering power, especially during his late thirties and forties period, Bernard needs to rely more on smoke and mirrors and a little deception and trickery to win. In addition to that, Bernard isn’t above stretching the Marques of Queensberry rules in order to gain an advantage over a tough opponent. And that’s not meant to be a shot at at him. Hopkins is of the mindset of most other great fighters, “whatever it takes to gain the upper hand and win.” And that’s something he’s perfected.

If you really think about it, because of his lack of big finishing punch, Hopkins actually has had to fight harder and keep himself in better shape than Archie Moore had to as an older fighter/boxer. With Hopkins, it starts at the press conference announcing the fight and becomes more intense with every interview as the bout draws near. And this isn’t something that should be held against him. It’s more the case of him taking advantage of every thing in his tool box that’s at his disposal. That makes him a smart fighter and partly the reason why he’s never absorbed a single beating in the ring and is still fighting at an extremely high level at almost 50.

Forget about trying to compare the opponents of Bernard Hopkins and Archie Moore to determine who’s the greater old fighter. Just embrace how they both used what they were blessed with as fighters and how they exceeded their limitations so late into their careers. And if you must make a distinction, how’s this: Moore was more exciting and provided better action packed fights for the fans viewing as he was crowding 50 and Hopkins was better conditioned along with being more cunning and tricky, and as a result was hit less and endured less physical abuse and punishment.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Frank Lotierzo

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Published

2 hours ago

September 26, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Charlo-Gets-All-the-Ink-but-Don't-Overlook-This-Compelling-Match-in-Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

Applerose2

In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

3 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Tedious-Fights-and-a-Controversial-Draw-Smudge-the-Matchroom-Boxing-Card-in-Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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