Are Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins Overrated?

In the past six months, a 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins dominated a 26-year-old middleweight champ in Kelly Pavlik. Also, a 37-year-old Shane Mosley destroyed a 30-year-old Antonio Margarito.

Are Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley that great, or is the competition just that bad?

Pavlik vs. Hopkins Revealed

Kelly Pavlik, though limited, is not as limited as his one-sided loss to Bernard Hopkins would suggest. The fact that Pavlik fought Hopkins at 10 pounds above his best weight should definitely be factored into Hopkins’ victory.

For those who say the weight had nothing to do with it, maybe Hopkins should have gone down 10 pounds back to middleweight to face Pavlik at his strongest weight and really prove something.

This game Hopkins is playing is really getting tired, and I’m surprised that more people don’t see through the sham. Bernard Hopkins biggest wins are against smaller guys than him fighting at Hopkins’ weight for only the first or second time in their career.

When Hopkins fought accomplished fighters his own size, he either struggled or lost. When Hopkins fought a green Jermain Taylor twice, he lost. When he fought Roy Jones, he lost.

He tried to play the “you come up in weight to fight me” game again with Joe Calzaghe and it backfired, as Calzaghe had been at 168 pounds so long it was naturally time for him to move up in weight anyway. Hopkins lost that fight too.

Hopkins did beat Antonio “One Hit Wonder” Tarver, but I am not sure how much credit Hopkins should get for that, in light of Tarver’s whole career being based on catching a faded Roy Jones at the right time.

So Hopkins beats the 160 pound champ, Pavlik, at 170 pounds and some ridiculously want to call him the next Ray Robinson or Archie Moore for this. This is the same thing that Hopkins did with 154 pounder Winky Wright.

When Wright was the 154-pound champ and Hopkins was at 160 pounds, Hopkins wanted no part of Wright. However, after Hopkins fled to the 175-pound division and got settled there, he called out Wright for a fight but only under the condition that they fight at 170 pounds.

Wright accepted the challenge and looked out of shape at the higher weight, as he lost a 12-round decision to Hopkins.

Verdict: The young champs don’t suck, Hopkins just knows how to pick fights to his advantage. Let’s see Hopkins dominate Chad Dawson, a true light heavyweight.

Mosley vs. Margarito Revealed

“Sugar” Shane Mosley had a lot riding on his fight with Antonio Margarito as far as legacy, since he had been on the downslide in his last couple of fights and time was running out.

Up until his fight with Margarito, Mosley’s last truly significant win was his first win over Oscar de la Hoya back in 2000, eight years ago.  In Mosley’s losses to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, he failed to show the resourcefulness of the other “Sugars,” Ray Leonard and Ray Robinson.

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