Dawson ready to finish off 47-year-old Hopkins in rematch on April 28th

By Boxing News - 04/09/2012 - Comments

Image: Dawson ready to finish off 47-year-old Hopkins in rematch on April 28thBy Dan Ambrose: In a training photo sent by Chad Dawson’s trainer today, you can see that Dawson, 29, is in excellent shape for his rematch with WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) slated for later on this month on April 28th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Hopkins is about to lose his title and become passe unless he can come with some new tricks to try and get past Dawson like he did last time.

Maybe Hopkins didn’t have any choice in the matter in his last fight when he injured his shoulder early on in the fight, but it sure worked out well for him. Had the injury occurred later in the fight rather than in the 2nd round, it would have gone to the cards and Dawson likely would have won. But the timing of the injury worked in Hopkins’ favor and likely saved him from taking an embarrassing defeat.

Hopkins will have to come up with a useful plan that will actually work, and I don’t know that he’s going to be able to flop on the canvas and get points taken away from Dawson, if that’s something that Hopkins might do. He’s going to have to beat Dawson the old fashioned way by getting in there and grinding out a decision on the inside with holding, pushing and throwing short punches.

Hopkins will have to fight like Andre Ward to get this win, and Dawson will have to go along with the program by letting Hopkins. It’s a tough ask, though, because Dawson is someone that’s not easy to wrestle because he moves a lot and he’s so strong that he can’t be pinned against the ropes by shorter fighter. Hopkins will have to figure out along the way how can try and make Dawson fight his fight. I don’t think it’s possible being as old as Hopkins is.



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