By Dan Ambrose: 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins has gotten back his WBC light heavyweight title after the World Boxing Council gave it back to him after reviewing the results of Hopkins’ 2nd round technical knockout loss against Chad Dawson last Saturday night.

The WBC looked over the video of the fight where Hopkins climbed over the back of Dawson and was shucked off, and came to the unanimous conclusion that the fight result needed to be switched from a technical knockout loss to a technical draw. With the fight being ruled a draw, Hopkins retains the title. Had Hopkins not injured his shoulder, he would have had a very tough fight ahead of him against Dawson and things going well for Hopkins at the time he fell over Dawson’s back after missing a right hand. Hopkins looked slow and very small compared to Dawson.

The California Athletic Commission still needs to meet to make a determination as to whether the fight will count as a loss for Hopkins, but as far as the WBC is concerned the Hopkins-Dawson fight is a draw. However, the result really doesn’t hide the fact that Hopkins was struggling against Dawson and looked to be on his way to losing the fight when Hopkins fell down.

In reading some of the boxing forums, a lot of fans still think Hopkins flopped and got away it. I don’t know that Hopkins flopped, but if this is the only time he’ll ever face Dawson, it sure did work for him that he got injured. Had Hopkins had to fight Dawson for the full 12 rounds, I don’t think it would have worked out well for Hopkins. The injury leaves Hopkins with his title and he can move on to other fights.

However, Hopkins didn’t prove that he was better than Dawson and by moving on he’ll leave unfinished business a lot of doubts in the minds of boxing fans. It’s not going to sit right with a lot of boxing fans that Hopkins was given back the title and isn’t fighting Dawson again. That’s really the biggest fight for Hopkins right now. Hopkins has talked about wanting to fight IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute but that fight isn’t going to be happening anytime soon, and by the time it can take place Hopkins will be 47.

Hopkins looked feeble against Dawson. Can you imagine how old he’ll look a year from now? WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward sees Hopkins as a mentor and I doubt he’d want to fight him. WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch might be up for it, but again I doubt it until late 2012, if then. Let’s face it, the biggest fights for Hopkins is about a year away and he’ll be really old by then. He might as well fight Dawson again and hope for the best.

I personally see Dawson easily beating Hopkins and continuing where he left off in controlling the old warrior. But that’s about the best option for Hopkins unless he feels like taking on some of the other light heavyweight champions like Tavoris Cloud, Beibut Shumenov and Nathan Cleverly. Not sure what the advantage would be for Hopkins to fight them, because they’re not big stars and he could lose. It’s one thing getting beaten by Dawson, who is considered by many boxing fans to be the best fighter in the light heavyweight division, but it’s another thing to get beaten by the other top fighters. Unless Hopkins faces and beats Dawson in a rematch it’s going to be hard to still consider Hopkins the best fighter in the division. I know The Ring still has him ranked at the top of their rankings but I really don’t think Hopkins is the best fighter anymore at this weight. Dawson seemed to have his number.