Hopkins: Prove people wrong by beating Dawson

By Dan Ambrose: Age appears to have finally caught up with the 47-year-old WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) as he heads into his fight tonight against the younger, more talented 29-year-old Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall In Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hopkins said to fightnews.com “I will see a rabbit out of a hat. I’ll just say I’ll continue to kick the naysayer’s a**.” Hopkins may end up with pie in his face tonight if he looks as bad as he did last time he fought Dawson last October when Hopkins went down with an injury in the 2nd round. Some people still believe that Hopkins was faking the injury so that he could get out of the fight with his title still in his possession. As it turns out, Hopkins was able to keep his World Boxing Council title after appealing to both the WBC and the California State Athletic Commission to have his 2nd round TKO overturned and changed to a no contest. But it didn’t help things any, because Dawson and his promoter appealed to the WBC to get a rematch and it was given to them by the WBC. Additionally, a lot of boxing fans soured on Hopkins after this performance, many of which thought Hopkins flopped to get out of the fight. Hopkins has to fight a lot better tonight, and he’s got to find some way to stay on his feet and not hit the deck when there’s contact or punches to the back of the head of on the belt line. It’s not that Dawson will do any of these things, but rather Hopkins has fallen down in past fights from belt line shots and punches to the back of the head, and it hasn’t endeared him with some boxing fans. It’s better if Hopkins stays on his feet and tries the best he can to fight hard for three minutes of every round. That’s key for him right there. He can’t just run in circles, clinch and flop all night if he wants to win the fight. Hopkins has got to actually fight and hold after every punch thrown. Last time they fought, Hopkins had a routine where he’d throw a shot and immediately grab Dawson in clinch. Between this and Hopkins’ constant circling of the ring, he was able to lower Dawson’s normal work rate to a crawl. However, it didn’t look good and Dawson continued to be the one that was taking the fight to Hopkins throughout the two rounds of action.