Hopkins/Murat & Smoger too – As myself and so many others predicted, Bernard Hopkins(54-6-2) abducted Murat(25-2-1) to beat him down in unanimous fashion. The first 4 rounds or so, I felt that Hopkins looked very rusty and appeared that father time had finally arrived at his doorstep. But then, Bernard stepped it up and got into his groove and began to beat Murat to the punch with sneaky straight right handed shots. Murat seemed lost and at one time seemed to me that he was begging for a way out of the fight by hitting Hopkins as Hopkins was down after receiving a football like charge. I have always been a fan of referee Steve Smoger, but to me, this was not one of his better nights. In my opinion, Smoger was playing cop with a badge. You having that badge does not give you the right to put your hands on someone. Smoger placed his hand on Murat?s face and pushed it back after it appeared that Murat was trying to head butt Hopkins, Victor Ortiz style. It was an act of frustration on Murat?s part, but that still does not give Smoger the right to react in the manner in which he did. Maybe I am getting too sensitive in my old ways, but that is how I felt about it then, and still feel about it now after seeing the fight again. I know that it is very unlikely, but I hope that Hopkins decides to walk away now. I would hate to see him get hurt, a master technical boxer is what he has always been, but he clearly seems to be more about employing sneaky street fighting tactics to get him over to the other side these days. I have too much respect for B-Hop the living legend and feel that the sharks surrounding him in his division smell blood, and unlike Murat, these blood thirsty sharks (Stevenson&Kovalev) are beyond starving. Quillin/Rosado, a rematch is needed to give us a clear cut winner! – As I watched the fight the first time, I felt that even though Rosado(21-7) was coming on, I still had Quillin(30-0) up. As I watched it the second time, I had it a dead even fight and felt that Rosado was on his way to pulling ahead. The tide was rapidly turning as Rosado did a great job at turning Quillin and forcing him to retreat and punch off of his back foot. As I mentioned before, Quillin is very much like Felix Trinidad in the sense that their feet must be completely set for them to get off on their shots. I was being told that if Golovkin who is a murderous puncher couldn?t knock Rosado down, then there was no way that Quillin would be able to either. But you see, Quillin and Golovkin both fire out their most damaging shots very differently from one another. The fight itself reminded me of Cotto/Margarito 2, Cotto to me was clearly winning, but I felt that Margarito was coming on and his intense signature pressure style was showing face and Cotto was starting to retreat. Yes, one of Margarito?s eye was closed up, but he begged and begged just as Rosado did to be allowed to at the very least finish the round. The ring side physician felt that too much blood was coming out of Rosado?s open cut and had to have felt that the fight needed to be stopped right then and there. If you were fine with the Cotto/Margarito stoppage, then you should be ok with this one as well. If you ask me, I felt both fights were a case of premature ejaculation. Rosado should have at the very least been allowed to finish the round, he wasn?t allowed to, so a rematch should be enforced to make things right. Both fighters owe it to themselves and the fans deserve to get a clear cut winner. Ah, but it?s politics as usual that shall dictate the next step.
