By Allen Fox: PHOTO CREDIT: Gene Blevins – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions – If you listen to some of the statements that WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins has been making about his challenger two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson the one theme that the 46-year-old Hopkins has been sticking to is that he’s hoping that the 29-year-old Dawson takes the fight to him and tries to knock him out.

Hopkins makes it appear that he wants Dawson to come at him so that it’ll make for a more exciting fight for the boxing fans.

At the final press conference, Hopkins said “I’m challenging Chad Dawson to try and knock me out. I want to see the best of Chad Dawson.”

In other words, Hopkins is hoping Dawson will listen to what he just said and figure ‘Hey, I better box Hopkins because he wants me to try and slug. I’m not going to play into his traps.’ But the thing is Hopkins likely doesn’t want Dawson to throw a lot of punches because Hopkins literally can’t keep up with a young fighter like Dawson.
Dawson had previously been saying that he plans on throwing a lot of punches to wear Hopkins down the same way that Joe Calzaghe did in his 12 round decision win over Hopkins in 2008. However, what Hopkins appears to be doing by asking Dawson to come at him and brawl is that he’s looking for Dawson to do just the opposite of that by staying on the outside, just jabbing and throwing few punches.

If Dawson fights like this, it gives the 46-year-old Hopkins a chance to win it because then the punch stats with be low in every round just like they were in Hopkins’ two fights against Jean Pascal. Hopefully, Dawson’s new trainer John Scully is wise to what Hopkins is trying to do here, because if Dawson looks to just box Hopkins and keep away from exchanges, it’ll give Hopkins enough rest breaks to where he can win the fight by landing three or four hard shots in every round. There’s no chance that Hopkins will out-land Dawson because he doesn’t throw a lot of punches. The way Hopkins’ wins rounds is by landing the cleaner shots against guys that aren’t throwing a lot of punches.