No problem fellas and thanks
Sounds like everyone cashed this week...congrats
Hoopsguru
I played Hopkins small at -157 but I'm not recommending the play. I think this line will move quite a bit in each direction, so I played Hop when he bottomed out, hoping to get a +200 later on Taylor.
IMO there are too many variables that may or may not influence the outcome of this fight. Hopkins is forty freaking years old and he has to hit the wall eventually. But since he's constantly in perfect shape, lives a very clean life, and hasn't taken many beatings, he may make it through the last year of his career before hitting that wall.
Physically Taylor has the advantage here, Hopkins is a very small middleweight. At 39 he weighed in at 156 to fight DLH. Talyor is a strong legit middleweight, he's much younger and fresher, and possibly hungrier at this point in Hopkins career.
However
IMO Taylor is not mentally ready for a chessmatch with Hopkins. His competition has been relatively light compared to Hopkins and he doesn't have the big fight experience to fall back on when the nerves start to set in prior to fight time. Talyor is a presentable soft spoken guy, but he doesn't seem very bright to me. He also doesn't seem very confident about this fight. Hopkins may look like a slightly crosseyed thug who's missing a tooth but he's one the most inteligent fighters inside the ring of my time. The guy knows all the tricks, both legal and illegal, and he may just outsmart the untested Taylor.
Having said that...
Hopkins hasn't looked real good in his last 3 fights. Eastman and his long, slow, predictable punches were custom made for the quick counter puncher but he didn't win in impressive fashion. A younger Hopkins would have picked Eastman apart. DLH was holding his own and winning rounds in the first half of the fight, he was just too small. And Hopkins didn't look too good against Robert Allen either.
Anyway
I played Hopkins at -157 b/c it was a very cheap price and I can scalp it later if I want to. I'm not recommending anything right now.
gl bl
