By Dan Ambrose: WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins feels he doesn’t have to play it rough for him to beat challenger Chad Dawson, but I’m not so sure about that. I think Hopkins is going to fall back on that part of his game to give him an extra edge in facing the younger 29-year-old Dawson on October 15th.

The wrestling that Hopkins likes to do may not be considered dirty compared to what some other fighters like to do in terms of landing rabbit punches and headbutts, but wrestling on the inside can have the same negative effect on Dawson if he allows Hopkins to trap him into that kind of game on the 15th.

If Dawson allows Hopkins to dictate where and how the fight takes place, then he’ll lose. Dawson simply can’t beat Hopkins at his own game. He’s got to avoid getting in wrestling matches on the inside where he’s held and hit and other such things. Dawson has to use his quick feet and hands to outbox Hopkins and show his old age. When you got a guy as young as Dawson fighting someone nearing 50, you don’t want to let them fight on the inside because that slows things down for them. Dawson has got to stay on the outside and focus on throwing a lot of shots. Hopkins will no doubt land counter punches from time to time, but as long as Dawson isn’t staying in close, he should have a huge advantage in this fight.

We also could see Hopkins flopping on the canvas over and over again in order to get rest breaks if Dawson fights at a really fast pace the way that Joe Calzaghe did against Hopkins in 2008. Hopkins seemed to be milking the flops for time so that he coould catch a breather. There’s not much Dawson can do if Hopkins flops other than getting a rest as well and coming back doubly hard to make sure that he keeps the pace so that it will tire Hopkins out.