Bob Fosters LHW Reign Vs Bernard Hopkins MW Reign. Overrated?

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I don't think it really matters. There's fighters who moved up who had a longer time at MW than some of those guys did at LHW.

I disagree I think the MW's top tier is extremely packed with great fighters and talent.

Monzon, Hagler, Greb, Robinson, Fitzsimmons, Tiger, Lamotta, Cerdan, Hopkins, Burley

Who I'd put at the top of the pile which is ridiculous talent.

Then there's guys like Flowers, Walker, Steele, Fullmer, Williams the list goes on and on.

I think that "Upper Tier" is definitely better than what's on offer at LHW.

The only two divisions I'd say are as deep are Lightweight and Welterweight.

we are kinda off topic, so i will keep it short,,,

i just think that lhw is one of the hardest division to rank the top 10 guys in since there is tremendous top level talent like jones, spinks, tunney, charles, moore,, i think that crop of fighters is slightly better than hopkins, monzon, hagler, etc

Mw does have alot more fighters and is deeper, but in terms of the top 5-10 guys i think lhw is as good as any division,,

if you have moore, charles, spinks, jones, tunney etc,,, that is some of the most talented guys to ever lace them up,,

sure lhw probably goes way down after 10 guys, unlike mw where there is probably more guys and much more depth, but the top tier i would say lhw is better or equal to mw

like if you could just name the top 5 of each, i would favor the lhw talent over the mw talent IMO, once you got past 10, then it would be a landslide of mw fighters,, 10-100 mw has much better fighters than lhw, but if your sticking to the top 5 guys or so, i think lhw is slightly better

[Ray Corso]

To refer to Sugar Ray as a "blown up welter" is ridiculous! He fought as the Middleweight Champion and defeated ALL the top contenders and fought as a middleweight for 11 years! At 5'11" and 160lbs he was a "big" middleweight who also had the fastest hands and feet the division ever saw! Oh yeah could knock people out with either hand and that includes the top middleweights in the world! When he'd drop a decision he'd come back in the rematch and win via KO!

My point about Foster vs Hopkins being rated more popular and considered ahead of Hopkins in boxing laurels is because of his punching ability!
Bernard has enough power to gain respect from opponents but if you made a mistake with Foster you could be in the dark!!! Ray

[Scott9945]

I think Foster gets alot of praise because he had a more exciting style, everyone always loves a big puncher and devastating ko, and foster had plenty of those,

Plus foster fought in an era when boxing popularity was peaking across the world, whereas hopkins fought in an era when boxing popularity has waned, especially in the states

Honestly i think hopkins is the better fighter, and i would favor hopkins over foster h2h


I dont know why foster is ranked higher than hopkins, i feel like it should be the exact opposite only for the fact that lhw has so much competition for the top 10 ATG, whereas mw division its not quite as deep and most of the great mw fighters were usually blownup welters like srr, basillo, etc whereas at lhw their is alot of guys who spent their peak years at lhw like conn, tunney, spinks, foster, muhammed, charles, moore, jones, etc

I'd love to book that bet. If you couldn't hurt Foster you couldn't beat him. And no way Hopkins hurts him at 175 . If Foster couldn't catch Hopkins with anything big he just keeps him at the end of his very long left jab all night.

[Ray Corso]

Head to head Bernard gets KO's by Foster late, it will take time to run him down because Foster was a stepper. Bernard will not stand up at 175 against real punchers, sorry but thats the reality! Bernard at his best was at 160 not 175! Don't judge by what you see now, he's fighting nobodies who can't box and definetly can't punch!
Bernard has become the most over hyped fighter on this forum. I'm amazed how many young fans think he's defeating top quality fighters because these ABC titles are attached to so many guys! Pro Boxing has been moved aside for Promo Boxing and the fans today don't know the difference. Ray

[mickey malone]

Foster was a bully at lightheavy, never fought anyone nearly as big as himself.. He'd bully B/Hop too imo.. Bernard may be clever enough not to get knocked cold, but stopped on his feet in the later rounds maybe

[joseph5620]

I'd love to book that bet. If you couldn't hurt Foster you couldn't beat him. And no way Hopkins hurts him at 175 . If Foster couldn't catch Hopkins with anything big he just keeps him at the end of his very long left jab all night.

I agree. No way Hopkins beats Foster at 175. Foster seems to get underrated by many in this section.

[joseph5620]

Foster was a bully at lightheavy, never fought anyone nearly as big as himself.. He'd bully B/Hop too imo.. Bernard may be clever enough not to get knocked cold, but stopped on his feet in the later rounds maybe

Maybe not as tall, but he was a light heavyweight fighting other light heavyweights.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

To refer to Sugar Ray as a "blown up welter" is ridiculous! He fought as the Middleweight Champion and defeated ALL the top contenders and fought as a middleweight for 11 years! At 5'11" and 160lbs he was a "big" middleweight who also had the fastest hands and feet the division ever saw! Oh yeah could knock people out with either hand and that includes the top middleweights in the world! When he'd drop a decision he'd come back in the rematch and win via KO!

My point about Foster vs Hopkins being rated more popular and considered ahead of Hopkins in boxing laurels is because of his punching ability!
Bernard has enough power to gain respect from opponents but if you made a mistake with Foster you could be in the dark!!! Ray

Wasnt trying to demean SRR by saying he was a blown up welter,, Just that if i had to put him in a category i would label him a welter as opposed to a middleweight. Yes he had a great run at mw, but i think we can all agree that he was at his best at welter

I'd love to book that bet. If you couldn't hurt Foster you couldn't beat him. And no way Hopkins hurts him at 175 . If Foster couldn't catch Hopkins with anything big he just keeps him at the end of his very long left jab all night.

When i said h2h i meant if they were the same size, kinda like how i think henry armstrong would beat lennox lewis h2h, but obviously in a real fight lewis is much bigger..
I would take that bet, I have seen hopkins many times get doubted vs a big puncher only to school them. I think if hopkins and foster the same size H2H he would have a great shot at shutting down foster's offensive attack. I agree that if it was 175 hopkins in his 40s, that he would stand little chance vs foster, my statement was just h2h prime vs prime, i like hopkins to be able to neutralize foster's attack

Head to head Bernard gets KO's by Foster late, it will take time to run him down because Foster was a stepper. Bernard will not stand up at 175 against real punchers, sorry but thats the reality! Bernard at his best was at 160 not 175! Don't judge by what you see now, he's fighting nobodies who can't box and definetly can't punch!
Bernard has become the most over hyped fighter on this forum. I'm amazed how many young fans think he's defeating top quality fighters because these ABC titles are attached to so many guys! Pro Boxing has been moved aside for Promo Boxing and the fans today don't know the difference. Ray

Ok, I was talking about a hypothetical h2h if they the same size, kinda like how i said above that armstrong would beat lewis h2h.. I didnt mean it literally..
No where in any of my posts did i give hopkins praise for beating the current crop of LHW.. I have watched boxing since the 80s so i do realize the difference between todays fighters and previous generations. In fact if you have ever seen any of my posts comparing present day vs older fighters, i always slam today's competitors for not being nearly as skilled as fighters from the 70s,80s. i simply labeled hopkins as a mw,, and said H2h if they the same size roughly i think hopkins could cause foster alot of problems and probably take a decision

I agree. No way Hopkins beats Foster at 175. Foster seems to get underrated by many in this section.

I agree that foster beats hopkins at 175,,,,,, I dont even know how all this got started,, I simply said H2h prime hopkins i think would be able to avoid foster's power and win a close decision,,,,
I was never trying to say that hopkins at 175 would beat foster,, thats absurd, the guy is in his 40s and foster was a prime ATG. All i was talking about was a hypothetical showdown prime vs prime-same size, etc...
i would give hopkins of the last few years at lhw little to no chance of beat ing bob foster at 175...

[mickey malone]

Maybe not as tall, but he was a light heavyweight fighting other light heavyweights.

Bob started and ended his career at heavyweight, and frequented the division throughout his career.. Sure, he was able to make 175, but I think it's fair to say, he'd have been heavier when he stepped into the ring.. Fought at around 201 as a hw, which was probably lower than his 'walking about' weight..

[joseph5620]

Bob started and ended his career at heavyweight, and frequented the division throughout his career.. Sure, he was able to make 175, but I think it's fair to say, he'd have been heavier when he stepped into the ring.. Fought at around 201 as a hw, which was probably lower than his 'walking about' weight..

Foster may have fought at heavyweight, but he was no heavyweight by any stretch. He easily made the 175 limit which makes him a legitimate light heavyweight. They were probably same day weigh in's too.

When did Foster ever fight at 201? When he fought Frazier and Ali he was in the 180's. That's not a "huge" light heavyweight and refutes your walking around over 200 claim.