Hopkins: I want to wipe out all the Canadian fighters

By Boxing News - 01/09/2011 - Comments

Image: Hopkins: I want to wipe out all the Canadian fightersBy Dan Ambrose: 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KO’s) is quite pleased about being given an immediate rematch against WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) by the World Boxing Council after fighting to a 12 round majority draw on December 18th. Hopkins was interviewed on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights and said that that if he beats Pascal in the rematch, he wants IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute next, saying “After I beat Pascal, I to go ahead and wipe out all the Canadian fighters.” So it looks like Hopkins is going after an entire country now instead of just one fighter. The problem is there isn’t much for Hopkins to wipe out in Canada besides Pascal and Bute.

If Hopkins does beat Pascal, which I’m not so sure of because Pascal will have fixed the mistakes he made in his fight with Hopkins, he should go ahead and fight Chad Dawson. That’s the fight that Hopkins should take, but he’s obviously angling for the money against Bute in Canada rather than facing Dawson in front of what would likely be a small crowd in the U.S and possibly getting beaten. Dawson is one of those types of fighters that Hopkins struggles against. He does good against fighters that don’t throw punches and let him work at a slow pace and don’t throw many jabs. That’s the mistake that Pascal made against Hopkins, but Dawson wouldn’t make that kind of mistake.

As far as Hopkins and Bute goes, that’s a fight that Hopkins would will lose. Bute is hard to hit because he moves a lot and has better power and offensive talent than Hopkins at this late stage in his career. It would be an interesting fight, but I can’t see Hopkins winning. The fight would have to take place in Canada, because it would draw over 10,000 easily over there.

In the U.S, it wouldn’t draw flies in comparison. I can see Bute beating Hopkins and then Hopkins protesting like he did in his loss to Joe Calzaghe and his draw with Pascal and claim he should have won. It’s one of those no-win fights because if you beat Hopkins, he won’t acknowledge it and will claim he should have won. Also, he’ll have the excuse that he’s 46-years-old and will be able to use that as crutch to explain away the loss. You never can win when you’re facing someone really old because if you beat them easily, then it’s no big deal because of their age. But if you struggle or get beaten, then you really look bad.



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