By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com spoke with promoter Gary Shaw, who wanted to respond to the recent comments made by Bernard Hopkins, with respect to a potential fight with Chad Dawson. During a recent conference call to promote this Saturday's rematch with Roy Jones Jr., Hopkins was pressed for an answer as to why he was unwilling to take a fight with Dawson, who many experts regard as the top guy at light heavyweight.
"What do I gain fighting Chad Dawson? What is attached to Chad Dawson that enhances and changes Bernard's career? How does that change Bernard's life? He just beat up a guy 17 years [younger and a] star of boxing in Kelly Pavlik. Why do ya'll want me to continue to destroy the future of boxing? And once I'm gone I might want to promote the guy later on," Hopkins said.
"Chad Dawson has not sold out any arena, even in Hartford, Connecticut. He has no history in pay-per-view. He hasn't beaten nobody of significance other than who? Tarver, who lost to a middleweight [in] Bernard Hopkins? I think it was a split, 1 and 1 [against Glen Johnson]. He beat and lost to Glen Johnson, who I beat [when he was] undefeated and knocked him out."
Shaw is not buying what he calls "excuses" from Hopkins. He is very skeptical about Hopkins' pledge to fight the winner of this Saturday's heavyweight bout between David Haye and John Ruiz, and said the former two-division champion is the wrong person to criticize a fighter's ability to sell tickets.
"My friend Bernard Hopkins, who keeps coming up with reasons on why he's not going to fight Chad Dawson. I think once and for all, Bernard Hopkins should just come out and say 'Chad Dawson is younger, stronger, faster, more skilled at this stage than I am, and I am NEVER going to fight Chad Dawson.' To say he's fighting for the history of boxing, by taking a fight with Roy Jones, who got knocked out in his last fight in the first round, is laughable even to the unknowledgeable people in boxing," Shaw told BoxingScene.com.
"To say Chad Dawson is not a draw. My understand, from people in Las Vegas, they only sold 800 tickets to his fight [ against Jones on Saturday]. And we are talking about sales. To say he's moving to cruiserweight and heavyweight - it's all lies and posturing. He wouldn't even fight Danny Green. Chad Dawson is the single best fighter at 175-pounds. For the sake of boxing, for the sake of his legacy, he should just come out and say 'I'm don't want to fight Chad Dawson.'"
Additionally, Shaw had a few choice words for super middleweight Allan Green. In an earlier news brief, Green, who watched the fight from ringside at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, told BoxingScene.com that he believed Andre Dirrell could have continued in Saturday's fight with Arthur Abraham - if referee Laurence Cole had given him a five minute period to recover.
During the eleventh round of the fight, Dirrell had slipped to the mat while trying to fend off an incoming Abraham. While he was down on one knee, Abraham drilled him with a right hand. Dirrell fell flat on the mat, unconscious, and required immediate medical attention. Cole disqualified Abraham.
"First of all, Allan Green should go and learn the rules of boxing. The five minute rest period is for a low bow, where the fighter has a cup protector and the referee can give him a five minute rest period to see if he can continue. This was not the case. This was a case of a fighter being down on one knee and receiving an intentional foul. The referee has the right to determine if the punch is intentional or not and to issue a disqualification," Shaw said.
"Allan Green is not a doctor. Andre Dirrell was knocked out, and it took us nearly ten minutes to get him out of the ring and then he went on a stretcher right to the hospital. Allan Green needs to focus on his next fight, and not whether or not Andre Dirrell could have continued. I'm sure in retrospect, he's very sorry for what he said. I think he should have said 'what a great fight Andre Dirrell had fought.' If he wants to retract his statements, he can use my quotes."
According to Shaw, too many people are focusing on Dirrell's post-punch condition and not on the actual rules. He says the referee had the right, under the governing rules, to disqualify Abraham for committing an intentional foul - and it doesn't matter whether or not Dirrell was physically able to continue in the contest.
"Too many people are focusing on the wrong thing. It doesn't matter whether Andre could have continued or not, it was still an intentional foul where he would have been disqualified in any state and even suspended in some jurisdictions," Shaw said.
