By Dan Ambrose: It’s sad to see some of the old relics in boxing step up against the top fighters and then get beaten down. This is what I feel is about to happen to 46-year-old WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) in his October 15th fight against challenger Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) in a fight at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.

Hopkins has done a remarkable job of getting the most out of his body and has been helped that he’s fought guys in the past couple of years that didn’t have the physical tools and or talent to expose Hopkins’ declining sharpness, reflexes, speed and low workrate. Hopkins has fought guys like Roy Jones Jr, who is way past his best; Enrigue Ornelas, a fringe middleweight contender without much speed or power; and Jean Pascal, a pot shot fighter with a low work rate and the conditioning of a four round fighter.

These guys were tailor made for an aging guy like Hopkins. However, Hopkins has finally stepped out of the safety zone by agreeing to fight the 29-year-old Dawson. This is the fight where the boxing public are going to see Hopkins’ front and center for all to see, as Dawson is going to expose Hopkins’ declining abilities. This fight reminds me a heck of a lot of the Muhammad Ali’s bout against a young Larry Holmes at the end of Ali’s career. Ali had won 15 of his last 16 fights, but was slipping badly in the last couple of years before that and was fighting below his earlier form. Holmes went out and dominated an old Ali and stopped him in the 10th.

I see Dawson being the Holmes to Hopkins’ Ali. This is going to be a mismatch, because Dawson is too quick, too rangy and a much better technician than Hopkins has ever been. Dawson is someone that would have given a prime Hopkins a lot of problems, but now there’s no question that Hopkins is way out of his class in this fight. Dawson is like a better version of Jermain Taylor, and we saw Hopkins lose twice to Taylor six years ago when Hopkins was a little younger. This isn’t a fight that Hopkins can win just by being in great shape. It doesn’t matter how lean Hopkins is for this fight, it comes down to reflexes, timing and basically youth. And Hopkins doesn’t have those things anymore, Dawson does.