Hopkins to face Dawson next

By Boxing News - 05/22/2011 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) needs to savor his 12 round decision win over Jean Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KO’s) last night because his job is now getting much more difficult in the near future, as the 46-year-old Hopkins now faces former IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) next and that’s a fight that is a really bad match-up for Hopkins.

Dawson is hard to hit, very fast and someone capable of fighting tall behind his jab and not running out of gas like Pascal did last night. It’s a fight that Hopkins would have to really raise his game to win because all the things that he’s been able to get away with in recent fights against Pascal, Kelly Pavlik, Roy Jones Jr. and Enrique Ornelas, he wouldn’t be able to get away with it against Dawson. There won’t be any inside clinching nor will there be inside fighting.

Dawson won’t allow it and will move away from Hopkins and counter him when he attempts his punch and grab tricks. The over-muscled Pascal didn’t have a clue on how to defeat Hopkins with his side step forward while throwing jabs to try and get in close.

Dawson will easily catch Hopkins with shots when he tries this old trick and make him pay. The 6’1″ Hopkins had the height advantage over the 5’11” Pascal. Against the 6’3″ Dawson, Hopkins will find himself in the rare position of being the shorter man. Hopkins has problems with speed, and Dawson has a lot of it. Pascal has speed as well, but the problem for him is that he ran out of gas so early in the fight that his speed was useless to him.



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