By Dan Ambrose: It’s probably a truism that 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins no longer has the youth or the skills needed for him to come out on top in his rematch against Chad Dawson on April 28th. He didn’t appear to have enough left in their fight last October in his 2nd round no contest against Dawson.

Fortunately for Hopkins, he was injured in the 2nd round and that got him out of what seemed to be a bad situation against the younger, faster, taller, and stronger Dawson. The two of them will fight again and this time Hopkins is probably going to be able to fight the full 12 rounds I hope. But his problems are just as real as they were last time. Hopkins is going to have to fall back on every trick that he’s ever used before in order to squeak by with a decision win against Dawson.

Hopkins is going to have to empty out the entire drawer of tricks – both dirty and clean – in order to defeat Dawson. First of all, Hopkins is going to have to get Dawson good an angry so that he’ll be looking to over-swing with his punches and possibly try rough Hopkins up. Dawson can’t afford to foul Hopkins because he could flop and cause him to get disqualified penalized or even have the fight stopped on another injury.

It’s going to take a lot from Hopkins to win this fight because he’s not going to be able to defeat Dawson in a traditional fight because of his advanced age and lack of physical tools. Hopkins’ mind is still agile but that mind is in command of a body that probably can’t do the things he’s asking it to do in terms of fighting three minute rounds at a high pace. Hopkins needs to slow the action down so he can fight without gassing out. If Dawson is lured into a wrestling match against Hopkins on the inside, Hopkins will have a chance to win. I still think Dawson will win it in the real sense but the judges could give it to Hopkins for old times sake, and because he’s the more popular fighter. When you got a guy fighting at 47, it’s one of those things where he doesn’t need to do much to get the crowd excited in his performance because it’s a shock to see him still fighting at such a level at that age.