Taylor vs. Hopkins 2

[Emiliano]

Anybody here will watch??? Can't wait for it to start, but still 2 and 1/2 hours...
The first one was a good, tight match. I prefer Hopkins, but Taylor is a great boxer too. Should be a great contest.

Tale of the Tape (http://www.hboppv.com/events/taylor_hopkins2/tape.shtml)

[Cringer]

Wow, I forgot about this and just rushed over to ESPN.com to see how it turned out.

Taylor wins again, woohoo! I like the guy.

ESPN says basically a mirror match of the first fight. Can't wait to watch it nextweekend on HBO.

[waltwal]

these guys are good boxers but their matching styles just dont make for a great or even really good fight. i did watch both and they were both almost identical fights but the action was somewhat limited. i think now that taylor is through with hopkins he will go on to be a good and more exciting champion.

[Emiliano]

ESPN says basically a mirror match of the first fight.
Pretty much. Taylor clearly won the first 5-6 rounds, Hopkins waited way too long to make a move. Then, in the second part of the fight, Hopkins came back but not enough to win. He scored with a couple of punches on Taylor's face, but that was all. He said he won the match, but IMO he knows he didn't. Really, I like B-Hop a lot, but he should have fight a lot of better than that to re-gain the title.
these guys are good boxers but their matching styles just dont make for a great or even really good fight. i did watch both and they were both almost identical fights but the action was somewhat limited. i think now that taylor is through with hopkins he will go on to be a good and more exciting champion.
I agree on this. They're both smart, technical and somewhat similar boxers. Obviously they fear each other, so the outcome is just an "average" match for a world championship. Anyway, I can't wait to see Taylor in action versus other challengers as well.

[sabotai]

I watched it (I said I wouldn't, but my dad offered to split to the cost of the PPV so it became a lot cheaper for me to see it). Very good, tactical fight as the commentators said. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it. Of course, I'd prefer to see action packed (disciplined action) fights, but I respect good, tactical fights too. Much like you'd respect a good battle of defenses in a football game.

It was almost identical. A few things were different. Hopkins did throw a bit more and started opening up earlier. But Taylor was able to get the jab in there and he wasn't exhausted in the last few rounds (although Hopkins was still more fresh than Taylor).

Some of rounds could have gone either way. 115-114 for Taylor was a fair decision, and I would have thought 115-113 for Hopkins would have been a fair decision too (anymore than that either way would be a bit much).

I really hope Hopkins retires now. These loses, especially if Taylor goes on to be a great, long term champion, will actually add to his legacy. A 40 year old ending his career in 2 extremely close decision fights against a young, great fighter is just amazing. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him in one or two more fights, possibly at light heavyweight.