Hopkins-Dawson: Can Bernard slow the fight down enough to defeat Chad?

By Dan Ambrose: It’s going to be tough for 46-year-old WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins to match the speed, power, youth and boxing skills of challenger Chad Dawson on October 15th.

Hopkins is a great fighter, to be sure, but he’s been slowing down in the past couple of years and doing well with his match-making. Dawson isn’t slowing down and is fighting in the prime of his career. He’s been chasing Hopkins for the past three years, and is finally going to be fighting him on October 15th.

Dawson sees a vulnerable fighter in Hopkins and already sized him up and knows he can beat him. The only thing that can really keep Dawson from winning this fight is if he plays into Hopkins’ hand by letting the old warrior slow the fight down to a crawl the way he likes to do.

Hopkins has specialized in fighting in a mauling, inside game for many years, and he’s tough to beat when you make the mistake of fighting his fight. I think Hopkins isn’t unbeatable on the inside, but it would take a fighter with super inside fighting ability like Andre Ward to beat him.

Dawson doesn’t tend to fight on the inside and doesn’t generally grapple with his opponents the way that Hopkins does. This is why it would be a mistake if he allows Hopkins to get him stuck in a slow punch grab fight.

It’s easier said than done trying not to get caught in Hopkins’ slowdown type of fight, because he likes to throw his punches first and come diving forward at the same time he’s throwing. If his punch lands, he’s on top of you with both arms ready to maul. If he misses, he’s still on top of you and prepared to maul.

It takes a quick fighter to get out of the way of Hopkins before he’s on you, leaning, holding and wrestling. The last guy that did a good job of evading Hopkins’ punch and grab routine was Jermain Taylor, who beat Hopkins twice in 2005.

Taylor kept the fight on the outside and was too quick for Hopkins. He never tried to wrestle and would break free of Hopkins’ mummy-like grabbing hands to drill him from the outside. This is what Dawson needs to do.