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| Bernard Hopkins revealed to the public in 2013 that he is an alien. |
Hopkins vs Shumenov
April 19 on Showtime
DC Armory Washington DC
12 rounds for :
Hopkins IBF light heavyweight title
Shumenov’s WBA and IBA titles
PREDICTION : Hopkins by decision.
Bernard Hopkins has been fighting professionally for over 25 years. Now at the age of 49 he defends his title against the tough Kazakh Beibut Shumenov. Strange to think at his age that Hopkins is actually the comfortable favourite in this fight until you take into consideration his revelation last year that he is in fact an alien from Pluto where apparently there is no ageing.
Hopkins is obviously a complete hall of fame fighter and a full breakdown of his strategy for this fight is beyond this blog but there are a few points of interest to look out for.
In this fight look for Hopkins to circle to his right in order to move away from Shumenov’s best punch, the right cross. This movement also makes it easier for Hopkins to throw his favourite shot which is his lead right cross.
In this fight look for Hopkins to circle to his right in order to move away from Shumenov’s best punch, the right cross. This movement also makes it easier for Hopkins to throw his favourite shot which is his lead right cross.
Hopkins moves very well on his feet for a light heavyweight and he always uses his mobility early in a fight. Along with great head movement and anticipation, his defence is excellent and he uses this to great effect early to make his opponent miss. The more his opponent misses the more they become frustrated and confused. The volume of their punches consequently drops and with this decreased threat Hopkins opens up a little more. In this fight look for Hopkins to circle to his right in order to move away from Shumenov’s best punch, his right cross. This movement also makes it easier for Hopkins to throw his favourite shot which is his lead right cross.
This will be the main point of interest. Hopkins is very tricky when he throws the lead right as it is very sudden and unpredictable. This is in contrast to Shumenov who, while having a very strong right hand tends to telegraph it which will make it fairly easy for Hopkins to avoid. Hopkins will be very wary of throwing the right against Shumenov as Shumenov had a lot of success countering that same punch against his previous opponent Kovacs.
Hopkins clinches a lot after throwing the right hand lead with the main goal to smother any potential counter shot. This is a safe way to fight when throwing single punches and not combinations.
Hopkins clinches a lot after throwing the right hand lead with the main goal to smother any potential counter shot. This is a safe way to fight when throwing single punches and not combinations.
Avoiding the counter should be no problem for Hopkins however as he showed in his previous matchup against Murat. Hopkins dominated that fight with his lead right hand and while Murat made a solid effort to try to counter this shot Hopkins was just too slick and tricky. The two main ways Hopkins avoids the counter is to duck or clinch after throwing the punch. Ducking to avoid a counter to the head is self explanatory but Hopkins seems to prefer to clinch with the main goal to smother any potential counter shot. This is a safe way to fight when throwing single punches and not combinations. This is also a favourite method of Floyd Mayweather who has a very similar fighting style.
Bernard ‘The Alien’ Hopkins is a great character outside and inside the ring and his previous fight against Karo Murat was very entertaining to watch. This Shumenov fight should be no different with Hopkins using all his arsenal of cheeky tricks and mind games. The main two things to watch for is Hopkins moving to his right to avoid Shumenov's big right hand cross and also Hopkins continually tagging Shumenov with right hand leads while avoiding the counter. Hopkins has not knocked out an opponent for 10 years and has never been knocked out himself. This is unlikely to change in this fight. Shumenov is too tough and Hopkins too slick and elusive for this to happen and the result should be a fairly easy decision win for ‘The Alien’ Bernard Hopkins.
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