Dawson: I’m going to KO Hopkins in the 6th round

By Dan Ambrose: Former two time WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) figures to have little trouble taking 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) out on April 28th to capture his World Boxing Council title if Hopkins shows up for the fight. Dawson and Hopkins fought to a 2nd round no contest last October in a fight in which Hopkins fell on top of Dawson’s back after missing a punch and was then lifted up and dropped by Dawson. During the fall, Hopkins injured his left shoulder and couldn’t continue.

The referee made a decision to rule it a 2nd round TKO, which was later overturned by the WBC and changed to a no contest. Dawson and Hopkins will once again be fighting in their “Once and for all” fight on HBO at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Dawson told RingTV “I feel like those two rounds [in the previous fight] were enough to tell me that I can beat him…If it happens that Bernard Hopkins comes to fight, then it’s going to be Chad Dawson, sixth round knockout.”

I do see Dawson winning this fight based on how much stronger, larger and faster he looked compared to Hopkins the last time they fought. However, I don’t agree that Dawson will be able to KO Hopkins. That won’t likely happen unless Hopkins does a flop and the referee doesn’t buy it and tries to get him to get back to his feet but he can’t or won’t. That’s the only way I can see Dawson knocking Hopkins out and it’s definitely possible because Hopkins hit the deck the last time he fought.

With Dawson, he’s going to have to be extra careful that he doesn’t accidentally bump, push or land anything low or to the back of Hopkins head, because we could see Hopkins hit the deck from one of those things and the fight stopped right there. If things are going bad for Hopkins, I see him going down from the slightest bit of contact and staying down for one of those injury stoppages. I personally didn’t believe that Hopkins was hurt the last time they fought. It looked like he was acting to me. I’ve seen Hopkins in deck for this and that in fights against Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr., and I just don’t buy that he’s hurt when he goes down. It just looks like he’s trying to get a rest break, a disqualification victory or points taken off from his opponent.

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