Brilliant Old Man

What to make of 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins' brilliant performance last night in a decision win over Kelly Pavlik, just a few months after he looked like a spent bullet for the last few rounds of the Calzaghe fight? As always, styles make fights. Once he got used to Hopkins' precise counterpunching/mauling strategy, Calzaghe was able to adjust, and he threw a lot of crazy-angled punches that swayed the judges, even if they didn't hurt Hopkins. Calzaghe shortened up on his shots like a batter with two strikes, and he took a majority of the rounds. Calzaghe also moved well laterally very well, jumping in and out of range from different spots. Pavlik, on the other hand, wasn't able to adjust; he is a forward-moving jab-jab-cross bomber, and that's about it. Hopkins had that jab-jab-cross figured out from the first minute, and Pavlik couldn't change up.