Bernard Hopkins: record, next fight and profile →
WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-1, 17KOs) says it was far from easy on Saturday night, when he secured a twelve round unanimous decision over Bernard Hopkins at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
As exultant as promoter Gary Shaw was in victory after Chad Dawson took the light heavyweight championship from Bernard Hopkins on Saturday, he still made sure to direct some ire at the judge who had scored the bout a draw, Luis Rivera.
Bernard Hopkins is furious. The 47-year-old veteran believes he was robbed on Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. He lost a twelve round majority decision, and the WBC light heavyweight title, a rematch with Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KOs).
Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City - Chad Dawson (31-1, 17KOs) won a twelve round majority decision over Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32KOs) to capture the WBC light heavyweight title. The scores were 114-114, 117-111, 117-111 for Dawson.
Light heavyweight contender Chad Dawson is the busier fighter and landed more punches per round. Dawson also landed 47% of his power shots in his 10 fights at 175-pounds. Can WBC champion Bernard Hopkins blunt Chad's attack? Opponents landed just 25% of their total punches vs. both fighters.
Bernard Hopkins is 15-0 in Atlantic City since losing his four-round pro debut by majority decision there to Clinton Mitchell in October 1988. Three of his biggest wins in recent years — against Kelly Pavlik, Antonio Tarver and William Joppy — occurred at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. And fighting in Atlantic City, about a 60-mile drive from his native Philadelphia, is about as close to a hometown fight as Hopkins could get without actually boxing within the limits of “The City of Brotherly Love.”
BoxingScene.com: What did the two rounds that was the first fight show you, if anything, about Chad Dawson? Richardson: “Not much of anything. Two rounds of boxing shows me the same thing it showed me in the Robert Allen fight when we went out of the ring in Vegas. There’s nothing that Bernard hasn’t seen in this sport. The only thing that Bernard hasn’t experienced in this sport is Fan Man coming into the arena. Anything else, he’s been a part of.”
Ask any fighter heading into a major bout what the future holds in store and the answer you’re most likely to get is that they’re focus is squarely on their next fight and nothing else. Bernard Hopkins refuses to speak on anything beyond Saturday night’s HBO-televised light heavyweight championship rematch with Chad Dawson in Atlantic City. The 47-year old history-making two-division world champion no longer speculates on the future, but for different reasons than for most of his peers.
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (Dawson): “I just think that Chad has a lot of youth, and the experience goes to Bernard, but youth, speed, and all the rest of the stuff goes to Chad. You know, boxing is a young man’s sport. There’s very few people that can take it to another level when they get to a certain age. But I think Bernard already took it another level by beating Pascal, so I don’t think he can go no higher.
HBO’s unofficial ringside judge, Harold Lederman, is in Atlantic City for the April 28 rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson. Lederman spoke briefly with BoxingScene.com the day before about what he expects for Hopkins-Dawson 2.