Hopkins Wants the Winner of Dawson vs. Johnson – Boxing
July 25th, 2009
By Matt Stein: Former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KO’s) dropped a bombshell last night when he suddenly announced on Friday Night Fights that he’s interested in fighting the winner of the November fight between Chad Dawson (28-0, 17 KO’s) and Glen Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KO’s) next. This is a shocking revelation for the 44-year-old Hopkins, because he’s been hesitant to fight Dawson previously, saying that he didn’t want to hurt the sport of boxing by destroying anymore of it’s future stars.
I frankly don’t think Hopkins can beat Dawson now or ever. Dawson is like better version of Jermain Taylor, who twice beat Hopkins in 2005. Hopkins may be ale to act as a spoiler by clinching Dawson frequently the way that Antonio Tarver did in his second fight with Dawson in May, but it won’t work. Even with Hopkins’ punch and grab technique, he won’t be able to catch the eyes of the judges, who no doubt will be more impressed with the better speed, power, combinations and work rate from Dawson.
Now that Hopkins has gotten old, he’s adopted the John Ruiz punch and clinch strategy and it keeps fights close, but not close enough for him to get the wins against good opponents like Joe Calzaghe and probably not against Dawson. I expect Hopkins to take a lot of punishment against Dawson if they ever do fight and end up looking his age by resorting to clinching and other stalling tactics.
Against Kelly Pavlik, a slow one dimensional middleweight, Hopkins didn’t need to use these tricks because he was the much superior fighter. However, Dawson is better than Hopkins in every department – taller, faster, stronger, better mover and a southpaw. It’s a bad match up for Hopkins no matter what stage of his career.
Dawson, 27, is considered to be far and away the best fighter in the light heavyweight division. Besides Johnson, 40, there are few fighters that can compete with Dawson in the division. Dawson previously fought Johnson last year in April, beating him by a 12-round unanimous decision that many people felt should have been a victory for Johnson.
Dawson will be trying to clear that up the rematch with Johnson later on this year. I had Dawson winning the fight by four rounds and didn’t see it as close as some people did. Dawson made the mistake of taking rounds off and covering up. That wasn’t a wise thing to do because Johnson was able to win a lot of rounds easily without having to contest for them. However, when Dawson was motivated and fighting hard, he easily won the rounds as if he was turning on a switch and putting his offense in overdrive.
The problem is, Dawson has a problem staying active at times in his fights and that was a clear problem in his fight with Johnson. I expect Dawson to dominate Johnson in November using his speed, jab, work rate and movement to control the action. Johnson is good, but he wasn’t competitive when Dawson was actually fighting him and not just lying on the ropes and covering up.
Hopkins has been undecided what to do with his career since that fight, briefly looking at a fight against International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek but then reportedly giving him a lowball offer that Adamek wasn’t interested in accepting. Hopkins win over Pavlik might have scared away other middleweight contenders that might have considered a fight with the 44-year-old Hopkins.
However, mostly, though, there’s too few fighters that have the appeal for Hopkins to waste time fighting. There was talk of Hopkins fighting WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch, but that was shot down because Froch said that he would probably not get enough money in the fight to make it worthwhile.
From Hopkins’ perspective, the younger less well known fighters like Froch should be willing to take the short end up the pay scale because it would give them a great opportunity to build up their name by fighting a legendary fighter like Hopkins.
Tags: 12 Responses to “Hopkins Wants the Winner of Dawson vs. Johnson – Boxing”
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HOPKINS WILL DOMINATE ALL OF THEM…. DAWSON, JOHNSON, JONES.. WHOEVER….
I like both fighters. It will be an interesting match up. The greatest obstacles for Dawson are his heart and his stamina. Dawson tends to get frustrated when his punches are not having as good effect as he thinks they should. In the second Tarver fight, as well as in the Johnson fight, he showed some let down when his opponents would not go away. I think if Hopkins can frustrate him with his hit, maul, and move tactics Dawson might let down. Also, stamina has been an issue. Dawson tends to fade down the stretch. Maybe it won’t be an issue with an older Hopkins, but we know that Hopkins always comes to fight in good shape.
I think it is going to be a tough fight for Hopkins, and he is going to have to do some major work to pull it out, but it is possible and I wouldn’t count him out.
Hopkins has been inactive for over a year but I think hes got the motivation now due to the fact it will be his last fight . And this is oversly his last big pay day. I think hell make Dawson look silly like Pavlik.
Hopkins showed against Pavlik that he has the skills and the condition to take on guys much younger than him. He tired against Calzaghe, simply because of Calzaghe’s work rate and hand speed. I’d like to see Hopkins against Dawson…and I think Hopkins has a good chance of edging out a win there.
Off topic…I think boxing really needs to step it up a gear. Top name fighters fighting once a year just wont be good enough when the likes of MMA are turning over exciting shows quickly, with none of these long drawn out contractual negotiations etc etc!
I havnt been too impressed by Dawson in recent fights. Im thinking he may be some what over rated. Hopkins is a very intelligent boxer and is always in great shape. If it happens i predict a close fight probably will go to points. I’ll go with Hopkins as i think he showed against Pavlik that he is not a washed up has-been figher.
I expect Dawson to win, then Dawson to beat Hopkins, a hopkins in his prime would be a different story.
Maybe one of these guys can tempt Calzaghe out of retirement..
any one of these guys could beat each other – just depends on whos the most motivated fighter on fight night!
Opponants seem to be gettin hard to come by at the moment for an aging Hopkins and he likes that money to keep rolling in so what ever hes said before can go out the window.
Johnson did give Dawson all he could handle, and may have been robbed. But Johnson has an amazing punch output for his age still. So he will be competitive, but probably lose a UD. Hopkins is a different style, will be 45 by the time manifested,and does not have the speed or punch out to beat Dawson. But I hope I’m wrong, as I am a Hopkins fan.
Hopkins will beat Dawson easy (lol)? I would take that bet in a New York minute! Dawson is a bigger and much better boxer than Taylor. Hopkins is a legend, but at this point in his career there are way too many uncertainties to say he will beat Dawson. Let alone, that he will win easy.
Well, Adamek has stated he’s moving up to Heavyweight so Hopkins probably realizes that prospect doesn’t look well anymore. This is the best move for Hopkins because Calzaghe won’t give him a rematch. I agree with the implication that Dawson will beat Johnson and be a bad match up for Hopkins at this point in his career, especially since he will be 45 in January and inactive for a over a year.
Hopkins will beat dawson easy.