Hopkins vs. Dawson post fight discussion - Please do not make new threads about this.

[game20ver]

I didn't see the fight but it sounds like a case of bad officiating. The ref needed to be 100% clear if Bernard was willing to continue or not. If Bernard said yes, let him fight & if he cannot properly defend himself you stop it. No controversy, no confusion. I thought the referees are trained to take control of situations like this.

[-Kev-]

The fight was not fixed. It was a Hopkins thing. He tried doing it multiple times in his career. Dawson came to fight, Hopkins came to fight. But when Hopkins saw he couldn't hit Hopkins cleanly because of his head movement/elusiveness, and then felt how strong Dawson was when they held eachother, he saw how long the night was gonna be. Then the opportunity for a cop out presented itself with Hopkins falling, he couldn't refuse that opportunity. GBP also gave that doctor probably double of what he would get in a year. What doctor with one brain cell would turn that down? It's not like he's ever gonna get caught. Too much power with these promoters, GBP and Top Rank.

[champion4ever]

The key word here is "retaliated", as it is this word which indicates the reality of Dawson fouling Hopkins back. This is also what I discussed in my prior post. What is more, I do not feel that there is such a clear case that Hopkins was engaged in fouling at that very moment, but it is actually irrelevant if he was, because what Dawson did was clearly a foul (whether in retaliation, or not, makes no difference. If fighter A lowblows fighter B, and fighter B retaliates, dropping fighter A with a lowblow, this doesn't mean that the ref is to begin counting to 10.) To reiterate, if Dawson acted in retaliation (which imo he clearly did, and which you also suggested in your post), this implies that he fouled, irregardless.

And the ruling in the ring was that there was no foul, which is very different from the scenario which you laid out. In effect, the ruling was that Hopkins dived out of the ring on his own strength (or so it seemed). This is obviously not what happened.

You are absolutely right and I agree. Dawson committed a foul in that particular sequence but so did Hopkins. Therefore and perhaps in referee Pat Russell's estimation, those two fouls canceled each other out; Thereby negating a penalty. However, had Bernard not committed such a blatant foul, by attempting to swing from Chad's neck, then undoubtedly Chad would've been assessed a penalty for dumping him to the canvass. Be that as it may, the referee saw two infractions committed by each principal. This is why he didn't rule in favor of one over the other. Lastly, had Hopkins truly wanted to continue to fight, then he would've gotten up, instead of attempting to sell his injury to the referee and ringside doctor. His body language left the impression of gamesmanship; As if he was looking for a way out, by attempting to get the fight called off or win by disqualification.

[-Kev-]

Bernards face told the whole story. He did not look like a man who was genuinely hurt, the facial expression he showed looked forced out, like an amateur actor. WWE wrestlers make better facial expressions than that and can sell an injury better than that, and people still know it's fake, but pro wrestlers have to take acting classes though. Which Hopkins is clearly in need of for his next cop out.

[S.J. II]

Funny pic from last night



White guy on the left is like "Bitch please..."

[-Kev-]

The fight was not fixed. It was a Hopkins thing. He tried doing it multiple times in his career. Dawson came to fight, Hopkins came to fight. But when Hopkins saw he couldn't hit Hopkins cleanly because of his head movement/elusiveness, and then felt how strong Dawson was when they held eachother, he saw how long the night was gonna be. Then the opportunity for a cop out presented itself with Hopkins falling, he couldn't refuse that opportunity. GBP also gave that doctor probably double of what he would get in a year. What doctor with one brain cell would turn that down? It's not like he's ever gonna get caught. Too much power with these promoters, GBP and Top Rank.

When Hopkins saw he couldn't hit Dawson*

[S.J. II]

The way I see it, Hopkins was put in the kind of condition, due to the fall, where deep down he knew he wasn't gonna be able to pull it off, so he looked for a way out because eventually Chad was gonna take the title from him.

At least you're honest. Chad is the new breed.

[game20ver]

Hopkins thought the ref was gonna take a point away and give him time to rest. And his plan backfired on him.

Isn't that his job? If he felt Bernard was faking, & Dawson committed no foul, isn't it still his to job give Bernard every opportunity to continue the bout? Especially when you know it's a ppv.

[Doctor_Tenma]

At least you're honest. Chad is the new breed.

Still not sold on Chad, the way he straight up let Pascal take his title threw me off. Lets see though, he is showing a new attitude now.

[S.J. II]

Still not sold on Chad, the way he straight up let Pascal take his title threw me off. Lets see though, he is showing a new attitude now.

I like Chad's eagerness to get in the ring with anyone. He wanted Hopkins, he wants the Pascal rematch, one can only hope that Cloud, Super 6 winner, etc. aren't far behind.