Jean Pascal Teaches Bernard Hopkins The BHOP Style: GIF Spotlight

In HBO's Face Off with Max Kellerman, Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal talk about their upcoming rematch - a record-breaking victory for Bernard Hopkins, it would be, back in 2011. During the conversation, Hopkins seemingly gets the better of Pascal throughout, but Pascal shined in making a bitter, yet hilarious, imitation of Hopkins' defensive stylings. . .

Bernard immediately turned this around on Pascal and asked why he couldn't knock out someone who only does this.


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Bernard Hopkins stares down Don King at a weigh-in, after years of animosity

Hopkins quietly sits down and waits.

Bernard Hopkins does push-ups for Jean Pascal during fight

Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal do push-ups after rematch

GIF Spotlight: BHOP Starts Push-Up Contest!

In 2011, The great Bernard Hopkins, not long after doing push-ups during the fight, decides to show again how daisy-fresh he is. This time, his opponent, Jean Pascal, refuses to make concessions and dives to the canvas in the background. In the lead-up, Hopkins taunted Pascal for being a "four-round fighter" to insult his stamina. Hopkins defeated a man 18 years' his junior that night. With respect to Pascal, he won the push-up contest too.




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GIF Spotlight: BHOP Fitness Exhibition 2011

Bernard Hopkins, for when you're sitting down and being quiet: Reaction GIF Spotlight

Bernard Hopkins Gives Don King Malocchio Pugilistico: Reaction GIF Spotlight

GIF Spotlight: BHOP Fitness Exhibition 2011

The great Bernard Hopkins' record-breaking performance against Jean Pascal in their 2011 rematch did not lack humour anymore than it lacked drama. Here is the old man doing pushups for what is likely a mix of showmanship and psychological warfare as his opponent watches on. I wonder if Referee Ian John-Lewis ever had to warn a fighter for exercising during the round before.



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Bernard Hopkins, for when you're sitting down and being quiet: Reaction GIF Spotlight

Bernard Hopkins in a Showtime 'I am a fighter' promo. Perfect for the nuanced forum usage of when you're just going to listen.



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BGB's Classic Boxing GIF's Page: Spotlight On Us

Bernard Hopkins stares down Don King at a weigh-in, after years of animosity

Faces of what's at stake: Isaac Chilemba: Quote Spotlight 

PED's Accusations & The Leonard/Hearns II Lead-up: BGB Throwback Article Spotlight

Click here to read: Hearns Angers Leonard, Steroid Accusations No Laughing Matter

During the lead-up coverage of Sugar Ray Leonard's rematch with Tommy Hearns, in June of 1989, in an article by Bernard Fernandez, quotes like these remind us of the now lengthy history of PED's working its way into publicity for big boxing contests:

"Monday night's scheduled 12-rounder between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, which is likely to become the highest- grossing prizefight of all time, is now a running gag about the possible use of anabolic steroids by Leonard."
 ~Bernard Fernandez

"I take it personal. . . It's so ludicrous. It's a slap in the face to me and to boxing. We have enough criticism of this sport."
~Sugar Ray Leonard

"We would like for (Leonard) to take a physical before and after the fight. We've been hearing too much that Ray's been taking steroids. I can't give you the source, but we've heard it before we got out here."
~Emanuel Steward

"I was on the promotional tour with Ray and he wasn't all pumped up. It seemed like it happened overnight."
~Tommy Hearns

"Without a basis (for conducting such a test), it is disrespect to such a great champion as Sugar Ray Leonard,"
 ~Jose Sulaiman (then WBC president)



It seems so recent in boxing that PED accusation is part of "trash talking" and pre-fight negotiation gamesmanship, if not for truly genuine concern. In recent years, I've heard Floyd Mayweather Junior repeat "Take the test." to Manny Pacquiao (through media), as well as Jean Pascal, rather directly, at his ancient tormentor, Bernard Hopkins. I've also heard Alexander Povetkin and Kubrat Pulev both goading Wladimir Klitschko about it, all casting doubt on the validity of their propspective opponents, and in each mentioned case of the fight happening (all but Mayweather VS Pacquiao), what happened to be their conquerors. Of course, these are cases where tests do get taken, just not the tests the opponent has desired, and/or the way they desire them, and/or from who they desire to administer them. It's a giant, and exasperating trap for boxing fans. In a way, no one is ever above reproach on this topic, simply because there are no requirements for any form of suspicion and there is no way to eliminate all forms of suspicion with something like this, no matter what tests you take. It doesn't mean you shouldn't try, but it does mean if you want to cast doubt on someone, anyone, it's always an available option. It doesn't matter if you have proof. It doesn't matter if you have evidence. It doesn't matter if you're doing it because you believe it or because you are preparing an excuse for a future loss, or are already a sore loser.

All testing may be insufficient. All testing may be wrong. All testing may fail where a cheater succeeds or, hey, where an innocent athlete is found guilty. Hey, maybe the person doing the testing is wrong! All the testing has experts trying to figure out how to cheat them. No testing is a guarantee you've got any kind of level playing field. All of the world of true sport (i.e., not poker) seems to have some degree of PED paranoia or frustration about testing inadequacy, and boxing, being influenced by many different outlooks from its fighters, athletic commissions and sanctioning bodies has been developing quite a high degree of PED paranoia and testing dissatisfaction for some time now. It did not start with Money and Pac Man, of course. Nor will it end with Doctor Zerokiller and The Bulgarian Cobra. Not to mention, this complex and broad-ranging of a subject is far beyond the average layperson's fundamental knowledge, just as it was in 1989, if not much more so, as it stands now. I see that worsening as time goes by, not that your average fan wants to admit ignorance to something they'd love to understand, which plays such a large part in their sport. It's like having someone living in your house and you don't really know who they are or where they come from or what they're doing. It might even be easier to pretend they aren't there, if you can. 

Boxing fans seem to have three main groups that make up the overwhelming majority of this issue, from my observation. There are the vehement deniers or the rabid accusers that certain fighters are on what is vaguely under the PED's umbrella, or banned substances list, less vaguely, most seemingly arguing out of false certainty, and then, thirdly, those that realistically admit they have little idea what is going on either way. The deniers and accusers seem well in the lead, ahead of group number three, to my reckoning. Maybe the admitted ignorance group is larger than I think, and their silence has fooled me. I commend their restraint, whether they're much fewer or greater in number than I've noted. In any case, it's a strange feeling to look back on 1989, with two legends going into a giant fight, bickering over PED's accusations. All these years later and it seemed to be a major enough sticking point between our pound-for-pound icons that they went to court over it and still didn't fight. Also, noting that Wladimir Klitschko's camp, much like Pacquiao's, decided to take Kubrat Pulev to court, I'm seeing in the headlines today. Ah, 1989. My, how you've grown.


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Ray Leonard Gets Chummy Behind Tommy Hearns: GIF Spotlight

Longevity Corner Spotlight: Bernard Hopkins VS Sergey Kovalev - The Amazing Fact

When Bernard Hopkins made his professional boxing debut, the eleventh of October, 1988, Sergey Kovalev was five-years-old.




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Bernard Hopkins Gives Don King Malocchio Pugilistico: Reaction GIF Spotlight

. . .or. . .Bernard Hopkins weighs in for his fight with Tavoris Cloud, then telepathically conveys to Don King that one of them is from Philadelphia.

(weigh-in footage from ringpolskapl)


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Bernard Hopkins' Weight, With Unofficial/Rehydration Weights List

For our resource regarding all rehydration weights in our file, please see this link:
Fight Night Boxing Weights: A List Of Unofficial Weigh-in Weights After Rehydration



This page is here for your reference, comprised of all talk of Bernard Hopkins' weights in the ring that I find relevant, with as full a list as I can find of his unofficial/rehydration weights (and where they went unlisted), or what he likely weighed on fight night, going into the ring, as opposed to his listed official weigh-in weights, which are often misleading in a fighter's career. If you have a source to a missing weight you want to see up here, please link me to a source, so that I may verify it myself. Same for all corrections would be helpful. I will update this page as new information is collected. Thanks to HBO for their focusing on this detail when they are able in their broadcasts, as they have led the pack on this for all other channels. Please note, earlier fights before HBO that I've seen from other channels do not ordinarily do unofficial weights, so little will be found about what Hopkins weighed on fight night for most of his early career.





From latest to earliest:


2011:


May:

Bernard Hopkins VS Jean Pascal II (rematch) - Contested at Light Heavyweight

Hopkins: 186
Pascal:    186

Note: Jim Lampley was quoted during the Tale of the Tape feature as saying:
"Bernard Hopkins needed three trips to the scale to ultimately make weight."


2010:

December:

Bernard Hopkins VS Jean Pascal I (first meeting) - Contested at Light Heavyweight

Showtime's Tale of the Tape did not include an unofficial weight. 


2008:


October:

Bernard Hopkins VS Kelly Pavlik - Contested at Light Heavyweight, with a catch-weight limit of 170 pounds.

Hopkins: 180
Pavlik: 174


2007:

July:

Bernard Hopkins VS Ronald Wright - Contested at Light Heavyweight class, with a catch-weight limit of 170 pounds




2006:


June:

Bernard Hopkins VS Antonio Tarver - Contested at Light Heavyweight

Hopkins: 182
Tarver: 187

2005:


December: 

Jermain Taylor VS Bernard Hopkins II - Contested at Middleweight

Hopkins:169
Taylor: 169

July:

Jermain Taylor VS Bernard Hopkins I - Contested at Middleweight

Hopkins: 168
Taylor: 171


2001:

September:

Bernard Hopkins VS Felix Trinidad - Contested at Middleweight
  

2000:

December:

Bernard Hopkins VS Antwun Echols - Contested at Middleweight

Hopkins: 166
Echols: 163

1998:

August:

VS Robert Allen (first meeting of three) - Contested at Middleweight
This match was broadcasted on Showtime and there was no unofficial weight listed on their Tale of the Tape.


1993:

May:

VS Roy Jones Junior (first meeting) - Contested at Middleweight

HBO did not show an unofficial weight for this match in their Tale of the Tape.




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Faces of what's at stake: Isaac Chilemba, Quote Spotlight

The 27-year-old Isaac Chilemba is a top shelf man in today's Light Heavyweight Division. He is, despite maybe being best known for his matches with recent lineal title challenger Tony Bellew, getting an official win in neither match. He is currently ranked by Ring Magazine as the number eight contender in his division. He's set to face Cory Cummings, next month, in what I say is hopefully a stay-busy showcase. Because, I do think he's a very interesting player in this division. He gave all the subtle angles to the teak-tough Denis Grachev on NBC Sports, back in March of this year, and he should have set himself up for another big TV date with that technical domination.

I would not write him off against any of the division's top three-Stevenson, Hopkins or Kovalev. He's a legitimate contender, in my opinion. He may not have the exciting punching power of "Krusher" or "Superman" by a very long shot. . . but he's got the craft, and after his matches with Bellew and Grachev, as well as Edison Miranda, the experience is there too. I was impressed by his performance against Grachev and recently reviewed that match, leading me to spotlight this quote from Chris Mannix during the NBC Sports broadcast:


"Welcome back to Fight Night. Well, Isaac Chilemba is in the ring and he has taken a very perilous path to get here. Chilemba grew up in Malawi, a small country in Southeast Africa, a country that has been ravaged by HIV and with a high infant mortality rate. Chilemba's mother actually died of HIV when he was seventeen years old. Chilemba turned pro shortly thereafter. In addition to becoming a world champion, Chilemba has vowed to create a better life for his brother and sister. He's done exactly that. Both of them are enrolled in university in South Africa, and Chilemba's footing the bill for it."



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Nadjib Mohammedi VS Anatoliy Dudchenko: Dudchenko Takes A Beating!

The setup:

France's Nadjib Mohammedi was the former Light Heavyweight champion of France and the former Light Heavyweight champion of Europe, as well as, to no blame of his own, the champion of a joke world title that no one unaffiliated supports and I won't bother naming. He is 29 and has not lost since 2011. Anatoliy Dudchenko is 35. He had two back-to-back losses in 2007/2008 and has not lost since. The Ukrainian has fought almost exclusively in America, uniquely. Both fighters have a win column composed almost of unheralded opponents. Mohammedi, having fought almost exclusively in France (note the pattern), takes two of his three losses when he's traveled. Neither fighter has a background that makes them a strong hopeful for major world title hopes coming into this match. However, both have strung together double-digit win streaks coming in tonight. They may not be strong hopefuls but they are legitimate fighters. On paper, a good choice by NBC Sports, and a title eliminator.


The action:

In the beginning, the first three rounds, Dudchenko started out well enough. It was a competition. Dudchenko's style reminds me of a much lower level Vitali Klitschko. Mohammedi has a bit of trouble with Dudchenko's ranginess and jab. By the end of the second it's starting to turn very awkward, Dudchenko being spun stumbling headfirst into the ropes, grappling, some shoving, some leaning. Mohammedi does find his range once in the middle of the round and sets up a combination leaping left hook and right cross over top of Dudchenko's guard, left hook missing, right cracking flush. That was pretty nice but it's still mostly a struggle to get inside enough to land flush for the shorter man, that one right the exception.

Mohammedi keeps stalking and probing and they get tied up when he rushes in. Mohammedi is really trying to work out Dudchenko's leaning back from punches and keep-away jabs. Mohammedi is starting to land some more where he fires two, falls short with the first, reaches in with the second and connects. It's not a feint first, then a punch. It looks like both shots are meant for landing. They both follow through. He's making it work a bit through round three. A few times he gets Dudchenko backed to the ropes and does a fair job of taking advantage of having him stuck. Dudchenko clearly doesn't like it in close. Jesse Reid Senior warns Dudchenko in the corner not to let Mohammedi wrestle with him.

In round four, the competition ends. The beginning was some feeling out from both men but in the fourth Mohammadi is starting to plaster Dudchenko without concern. He's got Dudchenko timed and Dudchenko has nothing when Mohammedi is up on him. It's a beating now, not a fight. Mohammedi has adjusted and taken everything away from Dudchenko. Round five, Dudchenko still cannot find a way to land flush on Mohamedi and he has no defense to challenge him from getting in. He cannot fight on the back foot against this guy. He's getting swamped. The body language for Dudchenko looks awful. He turns away from Mohammedi once, stumbles helplessly back to the ropes as the smaller man rushes in; he's looking awful now, taking massive overhand bombs.

Dudchenko's not capable of planting his feet and catching Mohammedi coming in. No uppercuts, no check hooks, not even keep-away jabs now; he's got nothing to make Mohammedi respect him. This is getting bad. In the corner after the fifth, Jesse Reid says "This is your life. You've got to let your hands go. Look at me. Let your hands go!" but Mohammadi has him baffled and beaten. Dudchenko tries, he really does, lands a few flush shots in round six but it doesn't look like he has any power in them anymore. None that the crazily active Mohammedi is worried about, for sure. Another beating of a round suffered in six. Mohammedi pins Dudchenko to the ropes again in the beginning of round seven and batters him from both sides, smelling blood for rounds now and acting on it like a fighter should, up and down with hooks and uppercuts. The referee calls it. It's a GOOD CALL from referee Shawn Clark, who's done a good job in this match. Dudchenko just had no ability to defend himself from this. It was not in his arsenal to win this fight tonight. Dudchenko is marked up, bloodied, cut on the bridge of the nose, dominated. There was no point in letting it go, even considering Dudchenko didn't get taken off of his fight.

As Mohammedi struggles to pull a glove off, the commentator, Kenny Rice, gets off a good line, remarking that's the toughest thing he's had to do all night.


Summary and meaning: 

Dudchenko, at 35, never having won at a particularly high level, has pretty much had the last nail in the coffin of his championship hopes hammered in by Nadjib Mohammedi. Mohammedi made it very clear he wants the shot he earned against titlist Bernard Hopkins. Even at near fifty, and even with Mohammedi's clearly gutsy style, high stamina and youth, I think Hopkins is still too crafty for Mohammedi. Hopkins may yet be the smartest boxer on the face of the planet. Granted, you can never tell when a man is that age and Mohammedi is one hungry fighter with an ego to feed. But the difference in their levels of competition alone is as far apart as any could be with a title on the line, that I can think. Mohammedi did make a statement though, with the performance of a warrior, on NBC Sports. He got a big opportunity and shined. That cannot be denied. Mohammedi says he's the best and that's what a contender should believe or they've got no business bothering. Good for him. Congratulations on everything, Nadjib.



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Jean Pascal VS Lucian Bute: Pascal Mostly Plays With Bute...Mostly

Defending a well regarded North American Light Heavyweight title, former Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal uses his speed and his Roy Jones Junior inspired tricks to play with his fellow big time Canadian draw and former Super Middleweight Titlist Lucian Bute at the Bell Centre, in Montreal. Bute started well in the first round, ended well with a lot of action and guts, but simply couldn't pull the trigger on the lightning fast Pascal in a meaningful way through the majority of the fight. He was passionately urged by his trainer during the breaks but couldn't seem to figure out his former sparring partner. In some ways it reminded a lot of the rounds Chad Dawson dropped against Pascal. Jean can bamboozle with his style, as what's becoming known to many, as an "ambush style". Spurts and outbursts, in and out, speed of hand and foot, ambush, retreat, ambush retreat, lather, rinse and repeat, it goes. Only Bernard Hopkins seems to understand Pascal completely.

Whenever Bute started to get at all comfortable and land, Pascal would initiate a violent flurry to take the round, essentially. Some found his activity level lacking and losing more than a few rounds but I am not one of them. He displayed excellent ring generalship for most of the fight, though he was decidedly careless at times, showing little respect for Bute's known power. I think Bute's want to counter-punch was consistently nullified by Pascal turning the tables and waiting on him and beating him at his own game when he came forward. What I liked from Pascal tonight is that aside from the ambush flurries when they were needed, he had great success with right hand pot shots throughout as well.

Bute says he is disappointed and that it wasn't really him until the final round where there was great speculation as to whether Pascal was playing possum or seriously stunned, as he was almost without offense, being assaulted in the corner. Bute insists that he could come through in a rematch that he wants, but I think he knows he was soundly beaten, despite some very strange calls to the contrary, by the likes of Jim Watt.

In closing, Bute has heart but a sketchy future after his excellent career and Jean Pascal is definitely still a player at light heavyweight. It was a good night of boxing and a good choice of matches by HBO.

Broadcast notes: 

*HBO's TOTT listed an unofficial weigh-in weight/rehydrated weight as:
Pascal: 185 pounds
Bute: 184 pounds

*Bute's entrance/ring walk music is U2's Where The Streets Have No Name.

*Pascal's entrance/ring walk music is Roy Jones Junior's Ya'll Must've Forgot.

*Commentator Roy Jones Junior takes a break from his regular gig to coach in Jean Pascal's trainer, which Pascal thanks him for in the post-fight interview, calling Roy the best pound-for-pound.

*Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson is interviewed before the match by Jim Lampley. Max Kellerman says Sergey Kovalev is the real number one contender in the division to Adonis' throne.

*Jim Lampley says of the attendance: "We got an announced crowd of 20, 479 in the Bell Centre, which means that both Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute will be fighting before the largest crowd ever to have seen them fight, here in Montreal, and both have sold a lot of tickets, prior to tonight."





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Danny Jacobs VS Giovanni Lorenzo: The Golden Child IS The Miracle Man!

Perhaps we should switch over to "The Miracle Man" which I think is his preferred moniker now. Danny Jacobs has a nice preamble piece on this FS1 broadcast leading into the fight which begins "I was born in New York City. This is the mecca of boxing-the capital of the world."  He says his heroes in boxing were the likes of Roy Jones Junior, Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali. He also says "You can play basketball. You can play volleyball. You can play soccer. But you can't play boxing. You have to fight." and touches on his nightmarish cancer battle with, specifically, osteosarcoma, where he received 25 counts of radiation and was told he'd never box again. He says his biggest motivation to beat it was his drive to become a world champion.

The stare-down during referee instructions is humourous. Lorenzo is exaggeratedly licking his lips like a German Shepherd staring at a baked turkey that's been carelessly set down at his eye level and Danny is looking at him with a polite smirk. He might as well be looking at an annoying bank teller, let alone a guy ready to take his head off. Dave Bontempo muses "Danny Jacobs, not buying into the stare-down there. I guess when you've been fighting cancer, what's a stare-down in the ring? He smiled at him."


In round one, the first serious and arguably most meaningful punch landed in the round is about a minute in, a banging overhand right that lands flush to Lorenzo's face. Jacobs, is thoroughly in control and maintaining any distance he wants. He's throwing a hungry Lorenzo off completely with his movement and also the jab. Jacobs is putting distracting jabs out to the head and body and keeping Lorenzo from setting himself to throw. Jacobs is too quick and too smart through round one. He's coming off slick against Lorenzo, a former Olympian and former world title challenger. This is very good stuff from Jacobs.


In round two, Jacobs' athleticism and ring IQ are in a different league to Lorenzo. Lorenzo is very frustrated here, I think. Jacobs is just preventing Lorenzo from getting into the fight in any way. Jacobs has the head movement, the footwork, everything on Lorenzo. Lorenzo gets warned for a blatant rabbit punch, which is likely a result of pure frustration. As in, if you can't get them clean, get them dirty. He's certainly not getting Jacobs clean. Lorenzo is trying to take Danny's head off, but Danny's head isn't there, to his chagrin. Jacobs didn't throw too much in this round but he still won it, as much as he nullified Lorenzo. I can almost feel Lorenzo's anger at his inability to pin Jacobs down.

In round three, Lorenzo looks to stray low on Jacobs and is called for it. The ref is on the ball here and lets Danny take a moment. It could be further sign of a frustration from Lorenzo, wanting to get Jacobs any way he can, and slow him down, but to me it doesn't really look intentional there. Who knows? Lorenzo, by punch or shove or stumble, I cannot tell, finds himself between the top and second rope. The ref interrupts to make sure he's out before action continues.

Jacobs seems to be offering apology for whatever maneuver put Lorenzo there, so it must not have been clean punching. I think Lorenzo commits another intentional rabbit punch on Jacobs who is tying him up and turning away at the same time. They start brawling as commentator Bernard Hopkins is mentioning a cut under Jacobs' left eye. Jacobs switches from boxing craftily with superb defense to forcefully slugging Lorenzo back to the ropes. It's the first time Lorenzo's been more than fleetingly forced back in the fight, I think. He was stalking up to this point.

Jacobs is all over Lorenzo and his edge in hand speed and his sharp shot selection sees him finish with a face-distorting left and right hook to demolish Lorenzo, falling face first to the canvas. Lorenzo goes down, tries to get up, but he's out of it and the ref knows. It's over. What a finish! Lorenzo gets stopped for the first time in his career. As Jacobs connects with the crowd, Hopkins adds "When Danny realised he was cut, he went into another mindset, and that's the way you do it." The punch stats are very deceptively close. They were actually a perfect example of why punch stats are often awful indicators of what has happened in a match, as counter-intuitively as this may strike some fans.


I am so pleased that Jacobs is a hot prospect again. A great story, a guy with personality who can box with real skill and put your lights out? Terrific. I'm very impressed with this man and think he's a definite player in a rich division. The division he's in is absolutely overflowing with challenges for a young, hungry lion like Jacobs. Good luck to him. This shows me he's ready to jump in with the other top ten men whenever he likes and if we're lucky it'll all be getting appropriate airtime. 



PS: This match aired on the nineteenth of August, 2013-I've just received my DVR back to post about this match recently.


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Eddie Gomez VS Steve Upsher Chambers: Gomez Proves Ready For A Big Step Up!

(Aired on the nineteenth of August, 2013-I've just received my DVR back to post about this match recently)



In round one, Gomez boxed casually throughout the first half of the round, not letting the significantly taller Chambers bother him with his solid jab at all, and catching him with a few sharp left hooks. In the second half of the round Gomez let it go from slightly leading what would've been a 10/9 round on my card to bludgeoning Chambers in an easily called 10/8 round, despite no knockdowns. There would be some refs who would've jumped the gun in there, toward the end of the round. Steve Smoger, the referee of this bout, is not prone to such things. Some may even nitpick that Gomez took a chance at punching himself out but the way Chambers looked, it seemed a fair call to jump on him as aggressively as he did. Chambers didn't even seem clearheaded enough to clinch.

Gomez did not enter the ring with a high kayo ratio but he seemed very heavy-handed from the start of this one. The weigh-ins from these two may go against their height difference, as Gomez seems to be the naturally heftier man. Steve is the younger brother of Eddie Chambers, by the way. In round two, Gomez comes storming out of the gates, having smelled blood in the first. He did not appear to have any notion that Chambers got his bearings between rounds. Even as Gomez calms down, he's still, as commentator Paulie Malignaggi points out, plowing right through Chambers' guard whenever he feels like it. Chambers' guard is woefully inadequate as a single facet of defense against the arsenal of Gomez. He's not moving his head or feet or rolling his shoulders. It's all earmuffs and Gomez is loving it. This is a clash of different classes for certain. Gomez is far more offensively and defensively dynamic and has far more power and confidence behind that skill level.

In round three, Gomez is still blasting Chambers. Even jabs are landing with the thudding authority of power punches. Gomez pulls a little Jersey Joe Walcott style showboating, turning his back and walking away, no fear of Chambers following. He's smiling, he's having a good time. Chambers just doesn't belong in the ring with Gomez, by the looks of it. Gomez can pot shot, put blistering combinations together, he can essentially do anything he wants so far without any concern for the level of threat Chambers seems to carry.

In round four, it is still clear that Chambers is in over his head here. He's adjusting his trunks and eating shots because of it, as in more than once. He's trying to use Eddie Chambers' way of putting the guard up but also bending backwards and out of the way of punches. It's almost a rope-a-dope without the rope. Frankly, he just cannot do that. He does not have close to the timing and he is getting tagged cleanly while trying to do this. Chambers begins following Gomez around without throwing any punches, just allowing Gomez to tee off whenever he likes, no jabbing while stalking a man who has been hurting him consistently. I don't know if this is representative of Chambers' ring IQ at its best, but any strategy he may have had in this fight could've been knocked out of him in the first round.

I think Chambers realises here that in an 8-round fight, with him not being a puncher, he needs to be dramatically active and lay it all out on the line. To his credit, he does want to give it his best shot to do so and this leads to the most sustained trading between them. But Chambers' legs are not sturdy and as Gomez wades in for the last time and knocks him around like a rag doll, even Steve Smoger says it's all for not and calls the fight against a lucid but hurting and frustrated Chambers. Gomez's TKO4 over Chambers is a clinic and a beating. The young Bronx "Eboy" looks the goods as a light middleweight prospect. Chambers looks to need a long trip back to the drawing board. You can't take many fights like that.

There's some talk about Smoger calling it when he did, as Chambers had probably been hurt just as bad, if not worse, at multiple points in the short match. Bernard Hopkins mentions that Smoger has the opposite of a reputation for stopping fights early-which is certainly true-and that in the end you basically must defer to his viewpoint from in the ring. I think it was a good call. Chambers had the heart to make his stand as best as he could but Smoger knew he was having little to no effect on Gomez and taking very considerable punishment. Gomez and Smoger get an A from me. Somebody, please get Gomez in there for his next step up and make sure it's on television.

Miscellaneous notes:

*Bernard Hopkins, Paulie Malignaggi and Dave Bontempo are the commentators for the night on this FS1 broadcast.
*Final punch stats have Gomez landing at 52%, 304 thrown, 158 landed and Chambers landing at 24%, 192 thrown, 47 landed. I didn't count each punch. But it's believable from my view in this dominant showcase.


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