By Dan Ambrose: WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KO’s) will be the one that has the job of putting 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KO’s) out of his misery tonight in their fight at the Pepsi Colosseum, in Quebec, Canada.

Hopkins has done a great job of making the most of his diminishing skills by adopting the clinch and grab technique to slow down his fights enough so that he can compete against the faster and younger fighters that he’s been facing.

Hopkins has been able to win like this in ugly fights that have been almost unwatchable. However, if you look at the kinds of guys that Hopkins has been facing since his loss to Joe Calzaghe, they’ve been slower guys without good hand speed, endurance and the ring smarts.

Pascal, 28, has all the qualities in his game that Hopkins has struggled against in the past. Pascal has some of the fastest hands in the light heavyweight division, and he’s got great defensive skills and an ability to fight hard for the entire fight.

In contrast, Hopkins has become a fighter that only fights hard for a small portion of each round. The rest of the time is spent on wrestling and clinching in close. It’s definitely effective, because Hopkins has been able to get away with this stuff without being penalized by the referees.

It won’t matter tonight whether Hopkins is allowed to clinch or not. Pascal is simply too good for Hopkins and will give him a boxing lesson. I expect Hopkins to look all of his 45 years tonight, and be made to look like an old man in losing.