Wayne McCullough wonders what the future holds for Bernard Hopkins after his controversial loss.
Wayne reviews Chad Dawson's win over The Executioner
Bernard Hopkins turns 47 on January 15 next year.
Having broken the record for the most title defences of the middleweight belt he became the oldest world champion in history when he defeated Jean Pascal for the WBC light heavyweight belt in his most recent fight in May of this year.
In his first defence at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, he faced 29-year-old Chad Dawson, who is 17 years his junior. He once held the same belt he was fighting Hopkins for but was stripped in 2008.
Dawson and Hopkins had a mutual opponent as he had also faced Pascal in 2010 but was stopped in the 11th round because he got cut over his left eye. He was well behind on all three cards at the time of the stoppage.
In that fight Dawson didn't come alive until the final rounds and he had let Pascal steal the early part of the bout. Dawson, who stands 6'1" tall and is an awkward southpaw, needed to get his punches off first against Hopkins and finish last.
Hopkins just keeps on going. After losing two back-to-back fights against Jermain Taylor in 2005 it looked as though his skills had diminished. He was 40-years-old but instead of retiring, he came back as a light heavyweight and beat Antonio Tarver.
He has had eight fights since the Taylor fight and has only lost one, which was to Joe Calzaghe in April 2008 by split decision. It would be interesting to see if Hopkins got old during his fight with Dawson.
Responding
In the first round there were clear signs that The Executioner, Hopkins, was not on his A-game as he was trying to do things but his body wasn't responding the way it should have.
Dawson took control of the fight from the start, pushing Hopkins backwards. He landed hard straight lefts from his southpaw stance and short right hooks off Hopkins' head. A short left hand to his opponents chin seemed to hurt and momentarily shake Hopkins as the round ended.
Going into the second, Hopkins started moving around trying to avoid Dawson's long jabs and it was working, at times. Dawson got his right jab working again in the final minute of the round and then, with about 20 seconds to go, and with Hopkins jumping at Dawson with a straight right, they got close and Dawson threw Hopkins off his right shoulder.
Hopkins fell to the canvas on his butt, rolled onto his left elbow and finally onto his arm. The referee, Pat Russell, called time. Hopkins was complaining about his left shoulder or arm and stayed on the canvas. The bell rang but Russell said he did not call a foul which meant Hopkins had to get up and continue or he would lose the fight.
A similar thing happened to Hopkins in December 2000 in his second fight with Antwun Echols. Hopkins got body slammed by Echols in the sixth round and dislocated his shoulder. However, he decided to fight on rather than take a win by disqualification. He went on to stop Echols in the 10th round.
Continue
In the post-fight interview Hopkins said told the ref that he could continue so why wasn't he allowed to? Or did he tell the ref and the decision not to continue was taken out of his hands?
Hopkins will protest the result but if he really wanted to fight he could have got to his feet right away to show the ref that he could fight on.
Hopkins went to hospital after the fight and a doctor confirmed that he has a separation of the AC joint which connects the collar bone and shoulder blade. Is this the end of Bernard Hopkins or will he go on to win a world title at an older age?
I thought because four rounds had not been completed that it would be a no contest but the ref called it and Dawson got the win. Dawson won back his old WBC belt and talked about fighting Pascal again in a rematch.
