Saturday night brought some closure to the strange history that is Hopkins/Dawson. Following the controversial October 2011 fight, which ended with a throw down of Hopkins by Dawson, who was awarded a TKO by the judges. (Due to a hurt shoulder of Hopkins.) The win was later stripped of Dawson and ruled a no contest. The two squared off again in Cesar's Palace in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
With limited expectations from fight fans base upon the previous match and Hopkins age (47). The fight lived up to it's "hype". With it's non-stop tie-ups and feints, the fight lacked any real action. Dawson was the busier fighter and won the majority decision.
Some things I found interesting about this fight:
Hopkins at the age of 47 still showed he is capable of taking a hit and being one of the hardest fighters in the game to actually land a clean punch on.
Hopkins still has his same old tricks. Hopkins opened up a huge cut over Dawson's left eye early in the fight. Hopkins continued to try and use his head throughout the fight.
Dawson and his corner seemed to keep emotions in check throughout the head-butts and showboating by Hopkins. Dawson kept from the inside and stayed active.
It was hard for Dawson to look like the boxer he is. Then again Hopkins has a history of doing that to his opponent.
I would have paid for that fight based upon the Undercard of Mitchell/Witherspoon. ( Post to follow)
Hopkins did not say much after the fight. Either way no matter what happened Saturday night, Hopkins will go down as one of the greatest boxer's of our time.
Dawson is now is the 175 lb. Champion and would like to explore the opportunity to fight Andre Ward. (I'll second that!)
Dan Rafael has a great recap on ESPN: http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/7868314/chad-dawson-dethrones-bernard-hopkins-175-pound-title
Until next time fight fans...
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