By Dan Ambrose: Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) not only wants to beat 47-year-old WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) next month in their long awaited rematch on April 28th, but he also wants to send Hopkins into retirement so that new blood can move in and have their time at the top.

Dawson told Boxingnews “I want to get Bernard Hopkins out of the sport so I can make room for other young fighters coming up.”

Dawson will probably end up beating Hopkins soundly by a lopsided 12 round decision – if Hopkins doesn’t come down with some kind of injury – but I don’t think Hopkins will retire from boxing. I believe Hopkins will linger on into his 50s, and become more careful about the fighters he competes against. WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly already said he’d be still interested in facing Hopkins next even if he loses to Dawson next month. In other words, Cleverly wants Hopkins no matter what happens. You can see that Hopkins will still opportunities to fight but with his skills starting to show some wear, he could end up being just an opponent for the top fighters if he continues to decline as a fighter.

It would be risky to put your money on Hopkins in the Dawson rematch because of how uncomfortable he looked against the bigger and stronger Dawson last October. It may have only last two rounds due to Hopkins falling down and injuring his left shoulder after Dawson lifted him up in the 2nd, but Hopkins didn’t look good and seemed to be on his way towards losing the fight by a 12 round decision. The rematch will have more pressure on Hopkins to stay in one piece but I can see some kind of injury occurring that will knock him out of the fight somewhere along the line in the fight.