Chad Dawson dethrones Bernard Hopkins: Did Father Time Finally Catch Up To The Executioner?

By Ronald "RC" Cameron

About 4 years ago, current pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather (who was retired at the time) told several boxing reporters that "Bad" Chad Dawson was the best fighter in the sport. And while Dawson has had some impressive wins along the way, beating former Light-Heavyweight champions Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver twice, nothing compares to what Dawson accomplished Saturday night as he dethroned WBC Light-Heavyweight king and future Hall of Fame legend Bernard Hopkins, winning a workman-like majority decision over the cagey veteran.

Dawson kept his composure, as he fought most of the fight with a badly cut left eye (due to an "accidental" head butt) and he dominated the fight by out-working and at times man-handing the champion, beating him at his own game. This was not a crowd pleasing fight, but Dawson stuck with his game-plan and was clearly the aggressor for most of the fight. Dawson was effective when he took the fight to Hopkins, landing several clean left leads and some good uppercuts when they fought in close.

As for Hopkins, he had his moments, but not enough of them. He did not go the body with any sort of consistency and he was not as accurate as usual. He did manage to land some solid right hands but he rarely followed up with anything else. It was mostly one punch at a time for Hopkins and when he did occasionally throw more than one punch, Dawson blocked them and counter-punched well. Not since his loss to Roy Jones in 1993 have we seen Hopkins clearly dominated in a fight.

And I hate to bring this up, but this can't be avoided—while two judges scored the fight 117-111 (I scored it the same way) judge Luis Rivera scored this fight a draw (114-114).  I've said it before and I will say it again—judges and referees should be interviewed (and possibly drug-tested) right after each fight, especially when there are questionable scorecards or bad judgement calls by referees.  It's getting to the point to where I'm not surprised when I see a terrible scorecard, I now EXPECT to see it and I'm shocked when I don't see at least one bad scorecard when a decision is announced. And until someone investigates these judges and referees, I will continue to expect the worst when it comes to most judges and referees.

After the fight, Hopkins refused to give an interview in the ring, but Dawson had a lot to say. The new champion said the he wants to face Super-Middleweight king, Andre "S.O.G." Ward next and he would be willing to move down to 168lbs to fight him. Ward responded on his twitter account saying, "Why is my twitter blowing up?  Y'all know how the game goes. We can get it done!" It's a fight I would love to see take place at some point, but not before Dawson seeks revenge against former Light-Heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. I know Pascal was exposed against Hopkins but styles makes fights and Pascal's awkward style did pose some problems for Dawson and maybe he could do the same if they fought again, who knows.

As for Hopkins, he has nothing left to prove.  I know there are a lot of boxing fans out there who despise the man and are happy that he lost this fight, but no one can take away the fact that he's a first ballot Hall of Fame fighter who has done some amazing things during his career.  And with the possible exception of Archie Moore, NO fighter has accomplished more after the age of 40 than the Executioner. Hopkins was clearly out-worked tonight, but my question to boxing fans is simply this: Did "Father Time" finally catch up to the 47 year old Hopkins, or is Chad Dawson just that good?  I believe it's a combination of both, but I give the majority of the credit to Dawson, who fought Hopkins similar to how Joe Calzaghe fought him 4 years ago, but Dawson was more effective and more aggressive.

Have we seen the last of Bernard Hopkins? Who knows? If this is the end for him, whether you like him or not, Bernard Hopkins did things HIS way and when he does decide to retire, Hopkins will end his career on his own terms. Let's just hope that he makes the right decision before it's too late. Far too often, fighters stay around too long and suffer terrible beatings late in their careers and they pay for it physically and mentally later on. Hopkins has had 60 pro fights, yet he's never really took a beating in any of his fights and I for one hopes it stays that way.

Bernard Hopkins vs Chad Dawson II Preview: Will This Be A Retirement Party Or Will The Professor School The Student?

By Ronald "RC" Cameron

In this day and age, most elite fighters seem to be more interested in low risk, high reward fights. Back in the late 1970's, the Light-Heavyweight division was filled with elite, Hall of Fame caliber fighters.  Guys like Mathew Saad Muhammad, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Victor Galindez, Marvin Johnson and others all fought each other and sometimes they fought on the same card. The Light Heavyweight division will never be as competitive as it was back in the late 1970's but this Saturday night in Atlantic City, Light Heavyweight champion and former Undisputed Middleweight king Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins, at the ripe age of 47, will once again take on challenger and former Light-Heavyweight champ, "Bad" Chad Dawson.

The two faced each other last October and the fight ended in major controversy.  Near the end of the second round Dawson and Hopkins got tangled up and Dawson threw Hopkins off of him which resulted in Hopkins falling to the canvas and landing awkwardly on his shoulder. Hopkins was in obvious pain after the fall and the referee asked Hopkins if he could continue and Hopkins replied, "With one arm, yes!"  The referee decided that Hopkins could not continue with one arm, so he stopped the fight and awarded the fight and the title to Dawson, which caused a lot of drama and outrage from boxing fans. After the fight, Dawson accused Hopkins of faking his injury, stating that Hopkins was looking for a way out while Hopkins insisted that he was hurt and he even referenced another incident where he was pushed down in another fight (the Antwun Echols rematch in 2000) and he injured his shoulder, but he continued fighting and stopped Echols in the 10th round.  Hopkins filed a protest, stating the fight should be ruled a no-contest thus making their fight null and void which would give Hopkins his title back. A month later, the WBC did the right thing (for once) and declared their first fight a technical draw and reinstated Hopkins as the WBC champion.

One more thing that needs to be mentioned before I continue with this preview--early in the second round, Hopkins caught Dawson with a short, counter right hand which caused Dawson to lose his balance and his glove clearly touched the canvas and that should have been ruled a knockdown. Referee Pat Russell made two terrible mistakes in this fight-- missing the knockdown and of course, not explaining to Hopkins that if he did not continue fighting with his injury, he would lose this fight.

So why should people be interested in this rematch? For me, I'm always interested when Bernard Hopkins fights. I know his style isn't for everyone; he's a defensive guru and he knows every dirty trick in the book, but Hopkins is also a survivor who's at his best when he's considered the underdog. Many boxing experts thought that Felix Trinidad would beat him 11 years ago and Hopkins annihilated him, few people gave Hopkins a chance against Kelly Pavlik a few years ago and Hopkins exposed him and last year and there were some who thought that Jean Pascal had Bernard's number and Hopkins took him to school in their rematch.  It's usually not a wise choice to bet against the Satchel Paige of boxing.

As for Chad Dawson, he has a wealth of boxing talent, and not for that unfortunate cut in his fight with Pascal, I thought Dawson was on the verge of stopping Pascal late in the fight. When Chad is focused, he's one of the best fighters in the sport. He whipped Thomas Adamek and he defeated  former champions Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver twice, so he's familiar with fighting crafty veterans. And throw in the fact that these two don't like each other and they both feel that they have something to prove to each other, to me that's the perfect formula for a good fight.


Keys To The Fight




Chad Dawson

• Out-work Hopkins: The one knock on Dawson is that he doesn't always fight aggressively, especially late in fights.  He must out-work the crafty champion in the same manner as fellow southpaw Joe Calzaghe did 4 years ago. 

• Go to the body early and often: Hopkins always comes into his fights in excellent condition and he always fights well in the later rounds, but most guys who fought Hopkins did not throw body shots early in the fight. If Dawson goes to the body early and sticks with it through the course of the fight, this could pay dividends for the challenger if the fight goes into the championship rounds. 

• Stick to your game-plan: Dawson cannot afford getting caught up into a street brawl with Hopkins. We all know that Hopkins can fight that way if he needs to and Dawson has already shown that he can lose his cool. If he sticks to his game-plan, Dawson's hand speed and youth could pose some major problems for the champion. 

Bernard Hopkins

• Be a counter-puncher: As I mentioned earlier, Hopkins had some success in their first fight by counter-punching, especially with lead right hands, which work well with southpaws.  Hopkins knows he can hurt Dawson with that shot, so he needs to stick with what works.

• Keep the fight in the center of the ring: Hopkins can adapt to any style, but he has had some problems when he's been forced to fight off of the ropes. Hopkins is at his best when he's methodically moving around the ring, surveying his opponent and when he sees an opening, he attacks. Hopkins is no spring chicken, so moving around the ring may not be the wise thing to do for 12 full rounds, but he can't allow Dawson to trap him along the ropes and out-work him.

• Play a few "mind games" with Dawson: This is something that Hopkins is famous for doing in most of his fights. I'm not saying he should do something illegal (He's famous for that as well), what I'm suggesting is for Hopkins to do something that will irritate Dawson and get him to deviate away from his game-plan. I'm not going to suggest anything for Hopkins to do because I'm sure if Hopkins plans on doing something along those lines, he will come up with something creative because he's done it so many times in the past. 

RC's Prediction

This is a tough fight to predict because there are several questions that needs to be answered going into this bout. Can Dawson maintain his game-plan for 12 rounds? Will Hopkins turn this fight into a brawl and if so, who does that favor?  Will Father Time finally show up and rain on Bernard's parade?  To me, this fight will be come down to which fighter is in better condition and who has more discipline.  As we saw in their brief battle last year, I think we will seen a chess match early on. Hopkins will have some success landing counter right hands and Dawson will be effective when he forces Hopkins to fight going backwards. But once this fight starts to heat up in the later rounds, I believe Hopkins will gradually take the fight over by turning this fight into a war and taking advantage of Dawson's mistakes. Dawson will have his moments, but in the end, Hopkins will out-smart Dawson and win a hard-fought majority decision over Dawson. 

Leonard vs Hagler: 25 Years Have Passed, But The Debate Lingers On

By Ronald "RC" Cameron

April 6th, 1987 was supposed to be a massacre. Very few boxing experts believed this fight would unfold any other way and there were plenty of reasons why people believed that to be the case. On one side of the ring was the Undisputed Middleweight Champion, Marvin Hagler--who was considered by many as the best fighter in the world who had not lost a fight in 11 years. Some boxing experts also believed Hagler was one of the best Middleweight champions of all time and the greatest southpaw that ever laced them up.

And waiting for him in the opposite corner was former Undisputed Welterweight king Sugar Ray Leonard-- who only fought once in 5 years and when we last saw him, he did not look anything like the Leonard who dominated the Welterweight division a few years earlier. Many boxing fans had been anticipating this showdown for over 5 years and finally the boxing world would finally get to see the dream matchup they had been waiting for. But before the two faced each other, both fighters had to go through some trials and tribulations along the way.

After turning pro in 1973, Hagler went on to win his first 17 fights before fighting to a disputed draw against the 1972 Olympic Gold Medal winner "Sugar Ray" Seales, a draw that Hagler would avenge several years later.  Hagler would suffer two setbacks in 1976, losing close decisions to Bobby Watts and Willie Monroe. Both of those fights were fought in Philadelphia, which happened to by the hometown of both Watts and Monroe, so you can draw your own conclusion. But just as he did against Seales, the skilled southpaw atoned for his two losses, knocking out Monroe (twice) and Watts in their rematches a few years later.

After being avoided by champions for many years and compiling a record of 47-2-1, Marvin finally received his first title shot against then-Middleweight king Vito Antuofermo in 1979 and the two fought to a controversial draw( On the same night Leonard fought Wifred Benitez). A year later, Hagler earned another crack at the Middleweight title, this time against Englishman Alan Minter, who dethroned Antuofermo a year earlier. Just as he was forced to do early in his career, Hagler traveled into hostile territory and fought in his opponent's hometown. Before the fight took place, Minter made an unfortunate racial comment, stating that "No black man would take my title!" Hagler didn't need any more motivation going into this fight, but that statement added more fuel to the fire.  With his second crack at the Middleweight crown, Hagler would make the most of his opportunity as he annihilated Minter, destroying him in three, one sided rounds. But unfortunately for Hagler, he was unable to celebrate his big win inside of the ring because several irate fans threw beer bottles and debris into the ring towards the new champion and he had to be escorted out of the area.

Hagler was a fighting champion, as he dismantled former champion Vito Antuofermo in their rematch, he whipped  top contender Mustafa Hamsho twice, he barely got past the legendary Roberto Duran but a year later he chopped down Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns in three of the most brutal rounds in Middleweight boxing history. Hagler proved to the world that he was one of the greatest Middleweight champions of all time by taking on all comers, yet there was one man left that he so desperately wanted to face before calling it a career--Former Undisputed Welterweight king Sugar Ray Leonard.

Unlike Hagler, Leonard traveled a different road to get to the top. After winning the 1976 Light Welterweight Olympic Gold Medal, Leonard was unsure about turning pro because his hands were in bad shape, but he reconsidered when his parents had some unfortunate health issues that required immediate attention. So in order to earn money to help with his family's medical bills, Leonard decided to turn pro.  But before he made his official decision, he received some advice from a man he idolized-- Muhammad Ali. Sitting in his dressing room right before his third fight with Ken Norton in NY, Ali advised Leonard by telling him, "If you do turn pro, just make sure you don't do what I did. Don't let anyone own you. Remember, you are the one in the ring and most of the money you earn should belong to you!"  And Ali also suggested that if he does turn pro, he should hire his hall of fame trainer, Angelo Dundee. Leonard took his advice, hired Dundee and instead of signing a deal with promoter Don King or Bob Arum, Leonard hired lawyer Mike Trainer to handle his business and promotional affairs, but Leonard was his own boss and he called his own shots. 

After compiling a 25-0 record, Leonard would finally receive his shot at the WBC Welterweight crown, but he had to face the young counter-punching wizard, Wilfred Benitez on November 30, 1979. This was a fast-paced chess match, but Leonard's power and blazing hand speed proved to be the difference in this fight. Leonard went on to stop Benitez in the final seconds of the 15th round, winning his first world title. After anesthetizing Davey Boy Green in his first title defense, Leonard would battle the former Lightweight king and future hall of fame great, Roberto Duran. Before the fight, Duran made some crude comments about Leonard's wife and this infuriated him. Instead of trying to out-box him, Leonard decided that he was going to stand toe to toe with the Hands of Stone and try to knock him out. In a fight that was fought mostly in close quarters, Duran out-worked Leonard and won a razor-thin decision over Leonard, taking his WBC Welterweight title in the process.

The two would meet again 5 months later but this time around, Leonard would fight HIS fight.  Leonard out-boxed the champion by using a stiff left jab and scoring with accurate counter right hands and uppercuts when Duran tried to attack him. After being embarrassed for most of the fight, in the 8th round Duran shocked the boxing world by turning his back to Leonard and waving him off as if to say that he didn't want to fight any longer. After some confusion, it was now clear to everyone-- Roberto Duran quit. Leonard regained his WBC Welterweight title that night and this was a great accomplishment, but there was another man who held a portion of the Welterweight crown and that man was undefeated WBA Welterweight kingpin, Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns.

On September 16th, 1981, in a fight that what was billed as "The Showdown", Leonard and Hearns put their WBC and WBA belts on the line and battled in what proved to be the greatest Welterweight fight of all time. With his left eye swollen shut and behind on the scorecards, Leonard rallied to knock Hearns down in the 13th and he closed the show by stopping Hearns in the 14th, thus being declared the undisputed Welterweight king.

After beating Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard was now on top of the boxing world, as he replaced the now- retired Muhammad Ali as the new face of the sport, but he now faced another obstacle that put his boxing career in major jeopardy. When training for a title defense against Roger Stafford, Leonard started to notice spots out of his left eye and his visibility started to become less clear to him when seeing out of that eye. Leonard went to see a specialist and he was diagnosed with a detached retina. Leonard had no choice but to cancel the Stafford fight and have surgery on his eye. After a successful surgery, Leonard was faced with a tough decision-- risk further damaging his eye by continuing to fight, or retire. Leonard was financially secure, but there was one potential mega-fight that fans really wanted to see-- Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

Leonard considered all of the possibilities after his surgery and he mulled everything over during the summer. He decided to make a formal announcement on his future plans on November 9, 1982. Ray invited his family and friends (including Hagler) and most people expected Leonard to announce that he was ready to move up and face the Middleweight king but to their surprise, Leonard announced his retirement.  Hagler was not too pleased about being tricked but he told reporters that eventually Leonard would come back.

And just as Hagler predicted, Leonard could not stay away from boxing and he returned in 1984 to face a relatively unknown contender named Kevin Howard. Leonard suffered his first knockdown in his career and did not look great, but he recovered and stopped Howard in the 9th round. Leonard retired again right after that fight and continued to work as a boxing analyst for CBS and HBO and when he wasn't commentating, he would often attend major fights. Leonard may have been retired at that time, but he still loved boxing and he still had some unfinished business to deal with.

On March 10th, 1986, Hagler faced the undefeated knockout artist, John "The Beast" Mugabi and sure enough, Leonard was at ringside watching this fight. This was a brutal battle; Hagler took a lot of punishment from Mugabi and at times looked like he was a step slower than usual.  But despite absorbing some enormous bombs from Mugabi, the champion shook them off like rainwater and responded in kind. Hagler wore the challenger down in the later rounds and stopped him in the 11th round, but after watching Hagler struggle with Mugabi,  Leonard felt that now was the time to challenge the undisputed Middleweight king.

But this time it was Hagler who had leverage and he did not forget how Leonard embarrassed him years earlier so he decided to make Leonard wait a while before he made his decision. After stalling for a few months, Hagler finally agreed to face Leonard in what was billed as "The Super Fight." Hagler was so confident that he was going to win, when Leonard requested a bigger ring and for the fight to be scheduled for 12 rounds instead of 15, Hagler agreed to everything.

Not only was Hagler confident, most boxing experts did not give Leonard a chance of surviving 12 rounds with Hagler, let alone winning the fight. How could a guy who only fought once in 5 years be competitive with a guy who hasn't lost a fight in 11 years?

On April 6th 1987, the two would finally face each other to settle this one and for all.  In the first round, Leonard moved around the ring laterally and to his surprise, Hagler came out fighting right-handed instead of southpaw. Midway through the round, Leonard caught Hagler with a solid left hook that got his attention. There were not a lot of punches thrown in this round, but Leonard beat him to the punch when they did exchange and he won the round. For the next three rounds, Leonard continued to move and jab and at times he would get the best of Hagler when they stood toe to toe. The champion did switch back to fighting southpaw in the third round and was clearly the aggressor but he was not effective while being aggressive.

But Hagler stepped it up in the 5th round as he focused on going to the body and near the end of the round, he hurt Leonard with a short right uppercut. Leonard did recover, but the champion did enough to win the first round on my scorecard.

Both guys landed some good shots in the 6th round but Leonard's counter punching and accuracy did enough to pull it out. Leonard was clearly winning the fight at this point, but he was starting to show some signs of fatigue.

The champion responded by winning the next two rounds, as he continued to reach Leonard with his right jab and some good body shots when they fought in close quarters.  Leonard was searching to find his second wind and Hagler was taking advantage of it. Leonard had his moments in rounds 7 and 8, but Hagler was the busier, more effective fighter.

Midway through the 9th round, Marvin rocked Leonard with a short left hand, which was by far the best punch of the fight. Hagler applied constant pressure as he tried to end the fight right there and he scored with several hard shots while Leonard was on the ropes, but out of nowhere, Leonard reminded the world that underneath that million dollar smile lies a warrior who refuses to quit. Just as it appeared as if the challenger was on the verge of being knocked down, Leonard fought Hagler off by throwing a flurry of punches that forced Hagler to momentarily stop moving forward. Leonard landed some good counter shots after that but Hagler continued to apply non-stop effective pressure and he clearly won this round.

If there was a round that could have been scored even, it was the 10th. Both guys landed some clean shots but I gave the slight nod to Hagler because he landed the harder shots and he closed the round strong.

The 11th round was Leonard's best round of the fight. The challenger scored repeatedly with right hands and short left hooks and while Hagler pursued Leonard, he could not land any clean shots on him. The Middleweight champ looked frustrated as the round ended, while Leonard was very confident, as if he knew he had the champion right where he wanted him.

In the final round, Leonard, who thought he had the fight in the bag, taunted Hagler while the champion made the mistake of trying to showboat with him. This was also a close round to score as neither guy threw a lot of punches, but Leonard landed the cleaner shots and he did enough to win it.

Soon after the bell sounded to end the fight, Leonard was carried to his corner by two of his corner men and what really shocked me was seeing Hagler dancing, which seemed out of character for him.

As we all know, Leonard dethroned Hagler, winning a controversial split decision. I scored the fight 115-113 for Sugar Ray and I have no problem with anyone who believes that Hagler won by the same score, but there is one thing that needs to be mentioned-- Judge Jose Guerra, who scored this fight 118-110 should have been fired on the spot. If there was any controversy in this fight, it had to do with that corrupt scorecard Guerra filled out. This was a close fight, but to call this fight a robbery is laughable to me.

Sugar Ray Leonard--who had only fought once in 5 years, moved up in weight and upset the best fighter in the world who was arguably the greatest southpaw of all time. He never hurt the champion, but his defense, his accuracy and how he counter-punched Hagler when they did fight toe to toe won the fight for him.  Hagler didn't do himself any favors by starting slow and fighting right handed instead of southpaw early in the fight. He was clearly the aggressor and at times he did land some good shots, but as I mentioned earlier, he was not always effective when he was aggressive. Hagler missed a lot of shots and he did look slow and tired late in the fight.

There was some talk of a rematch between these two and Leonard had no problem giving Hagler one, but Hagler decided to hang up his gloves for good. I always wondered why Hagler, who took this loss hard and believed that he beat Leonard, did not want to face him again to avenge his loss. He lost two other times in his career and he avenged both of those losses, so why not do it again? Nevertheless, Hagler retired and unlike many other fighters, he actually stayed retired for good.

As for Leonard, he continued to fight for a few more years. He was lucky to walk away with a draw with Thomas Hearns in their rematch (To his credit, Leonard admitted to Hearns on national television that he lost that fight) and he beat Duran again, but as is the case with so many great fighters near the end of their careers, legends die hard. Leonard lost his last two fights, losing to future hall of fame Jr. Middleweight king Terry Norris via a lopsided 12 round decision and was stopped by Hector Camacho in 5 rounds before finally retiring for good at the age of 40.
.

For many years after their showdown, Hagler remained very bitter about their fight but last year at a WBC convention, Hagler and Leonard finally talked and buried the hatchet. I don't believe that Leonard ever harbored any bad feelings towards Hagler, but it was good to see that Hagler finally put it all behind him.

I've read some reports that Leonard, Hagler, Hearns (who will be inducted this year) and Duran will all be in attendance at the IBHOF (International Boxing Hall of Fame) this year and that's GREAT news. I have a suggestion for them--How about putting together an autobiography/movie with all of those fighters? Remember the movie "Champion's Forever", where Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Ken Norton all got together and talked about their battles against each other? Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran could all get together at the IBHOF and make it happen.

And also, why not add Wilfred Benitez to the mix? Sadly, he's in no condition to travel but he's faced all of the guys I mentioned except for Hagler. And I have one last suggestion-- They could all donate a portion of the proceeds to Wilfred's family so he can pay for his medical bills and help him moving forward. Just a thought.

One thing is for sure, when those guys do get together, whether it's at the IBHOF or somewhere else, they will not end their conversation without discussing the "Super Fight" between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard. Many fans thought this fight was controversial, some believed Hagler got robbed, but in my opinion the right guy won this fight. Let the debate continue!!