13.12.2003 Bernard Hopkins vs Wiliam Joppy WBC, WBA & IBF world middleweight titles (possibly the first case of WBA super and ordinary titles being 'unified')
BoxRec bout
boxrec.com
Bernard Hopkins vs. William Joppy
(Redirected from
Fight:689087)
Jump to:
navigation,
search
Bernard Hopkins 160 lbs beat William Joppy 159 lbs by UD in round 12 of 12
Notes
- Joppy held the WBA middleweight "regular" title and Hopkins held the WBA middleweight "super" title.
- Joppy was Hopkins' WBA mandated opponent.
- Hopkins broke the CompuBox record for total power punches landed by a middleweight at 375. He landed 419 of 819 total punches.
- Hopkins defended The Ring Magazine world middleweight title.
- After Joppy lost, the WBA declared the middleweight "regular" title vacant.
- Hopkins bet Joppy $50,000 that he would knock him out. Joppy only had to put up $25,000 and took the bet. After the fight, Hopkins said, "He earned that $50,000."
I was looking forward to Bernard getting through another of the champions of his era, as I though Joppy might pose a problem or two
Reading the stats for this fight, I'm now looking forward to watching an utterly brutal beatdown. Scoring may be a tad meaningless
1. 10-9 Hopkins. Both coming to fight, Bernard working harder, looking to take this fight inside. I've been surprised at how good Joppy has been inside before but Hopkins is an entirely different prospect in the clinch
2. 10-9 Hopkins. Joppy is good inside when his hands are free to throw and can use his speed and varied combinations. Bernard using old man tactics, tying him up, roughing him up outmusclimg him. When they are at distance both score nice crisp jabs but not a lot else
3. 10-9 Hopkins. It isn't the clean punching display of power and accuracy I'd hoped for, scrappy inside.
4. 10-9 Hopkins. First half he bullies Joppy inside, rough stuff, spoiling and mauling. Gets outside and everything is at arms reach, doesn't want to be in between with the faster shorter man. Bernard's jab is well timed and he lands a couple rights, one of which by far the sweetest shot of the fight so far p
5. 10-9 Hopkins. Much more comfortable letting his hands go and not thinking too tactically or too much about staying out of range, just using his skill and good timing
6. 10-9 Hopkins. Very high output in the first minute, throws a barrage with Joppy against the ropes. Mid round is quiet with Joppy trying to jab from outside before it gets rough inside again and I struggle to follow the action with the ref involving himself constantly trying to stop anything close to holding
7. 9-10 Joppy. The refs gave one round to against Hopkins, I wonder if it was this one. Joppy slightly better inside I thought, a lot of Bernard's connects were just kind of banging the glove off the side of his head and body while holding, not real punches. Both scored 2 maybe 3 decent shots outside.
8. 10-9 Hopkins. Busier than Joppy, we often see one score and the other counter but Nernard keeps throwing after that in range or right up close. Chris Byrd makes a good point about Joppy not scoring inside, William more worried about getting hit, so as much as Bernard is effective smothering him, Joppy is also choosing not to free his hands which he really needs to do if he's to have any chance
9. 10-9 Hopkins. Wide round, using his physicality inside but also his intelligence as he uses his arms and head position brilliantly to prevent Joppy getting off while creating and capitalising on openings. He also rolls so well when throwing shots in the pocket, making him hard to pins down while using that motion to add momentum to his own shots. It's not always pretty but clever and effective. He ends the round on a couple cracking uppercut
10. 10-9 Hopkins. Scores a number of hard clean shots as he moves in to range. He then bullies Joppy inside. I feel for the ref as he has a lot to deal with with the inside work and holding. But he really has been a bit too involved with the grappling, while maybe being a bit lenient with low shots and Joppy clearly hitting on the break there
11. 10-9 Hopkins. Just doing more and working Joppy over. His engine is remarkable for a 38 year old. Not just the number of shots thrown which is impressive but the energy expended with the clinchimg and wrestling.
12. 10-8 Hopkins. No knockdown but Bernard put a real beating on Joppy looking for the stoppage. Several sustained flurries with Joppy against the ropes, relentless pressure inside, with Bernard refusing to stop punching even when his head is on Joppy's chest, rocked his head back a number of times. Massive credit to the durability of William Joppy and he did indeed earn his $50k winnings from their side bet.
119-108 Hopkins. Brutal performance, really beat Joppy up in there but not the display of clean power punching I expected when I read "Hopkins broke the CompuBox record for total power punches landed by a middleweight at 375."
Tactically spot on again, showing a different game plan again, tailor made for a world class opponent, to almost totally shut him out. Physically too much for him, ring smarts on a different level and output for a 37 year old man was sensational.
Bit of rough stuff, he no doubt did too much holding and boring in with the head. Not as guilty of actually holding and hitting or with the low blows and Joppy was the one hitting on the break.
Interesting that Hopkins couldn't stop Joppy after their $50k bet. I didn't mention bidy punching in that 12 round scorecard I wonder if a bit more of that might have broke him down as it did seem to be absent from his strategy in that bout
.jpg "2003-03-29 - Bernard Hopkins vs. Morrade Hakkar (Poster).jpg")
.jpg "2003-12-13 - Bernard Hopkins vs. William Joppy (Poster).jpg")
.jpg "Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Sturm, Bernard Hopkins vs. Robert Allen (poster).jpg")
