Two early flash knockdowns cost Bernard Hopkins a chance to become the oldest fighter in boxing history to win a major world title. After WBC light heavyweight champ Jean Pascal knocked Hopkins down in the first and third rounds, it looked like it might be a long night for the 45-year-old future Hall of Famer. Instead, Hopkins rallied and won most of the remaining rounds by outworking the 28-year-old champ. Pascal was never in danger of being stopped but he was consistently outboxed and outhustled in a fight that featured more action than expected.
Punch stats had Hopkins throwing and landing more jabs and more power punches and it appeared he had done just enough to squeak out a decision win. Pascal, however, was fighting in front of a hometown crowd in Quebec City and the judges, as is so often the case, awarded him just enough rounds to hold on to his title belt. American judge Steve Morrow scored the fight 114-112 for Hopkins, but Canada's Claude Paquette (113-113) and Belgium's Daniel Van de Wiele (114-114) both had it even, making the decision a majority draw. The Hopkins camp is calling for an immediate rematch.
Comments
As usual, the champion, especially fighting in his hometown will always get the decision. In a rematch out of Canada, I think Hopkins would do his homework and win hands down as he actually won the fight in Canada-if u remember hewas winning the rounds when the flash knockdowns occured, so it wouldn’t be a 10-7 or 10-8 round-he deserved the decision.
I was surprised the fight had as much action. I certainly could not see why the champ ran most of the fight. I am not a Hopkins fan but thought he won the fight and it was not even close.
I have watched fights for over sixty years and it is a damn shame that a fighter in the middleweight division would put on such a lousy performance as Pascal.
Bring on the the real middleweights and then we can call it championship boxing.
Bernard Hopkins was great in his day but the man is 40+ and still better than most.
as i said before,,these chumps from canada wil always win a decision in canada.American fighters should not go to canadaand fight.the odds are stcked against them/ crooked judges,referees,etc.
THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE “WORLD”CHAMPIONS”BUT THEY WONT DEFEND OUTSIDE OF CANADA???GET MY DRIFT?????
One can only be impressed by the performance of Mr. Hopkins. Desoite the behind the head knockdowns, he was aggresive, set the pattern of the fight, and clearly had the advantage, and just as clearly won the fight. The Canadian style of partisanship is a great disadvantage to non-Canadians. It is just as certain that Canadians understand Mr. Hopkins was the winner. I doubt if the “champion” will grant a rematch, and certainly would not fight Mr. Hopkins in Atlantic City or Las Vegas, for example. The question now for Mr. Hopkins is whether he chooses to continue fighting.
You can’t argue with the decision but I gave to fight to Bernard by one point. If B=Hop wants a return match, he should be given one.
I’ll be surprised if Pascal is able to hold onto his belt for another fight or two. His lack of conditioning is really becoming evident in the later rounds, much like with Jermain Taylor. Chad Dawson had him damn near knocked out and BHop just outright dominated the later rounds. Fighting in Canada will only allow him to keep the belt but for so long, reality will soon set in.
Even if a fighter is winning a round, if he gets knocked down he loses it 10-8, because a knockdown is a landmark event. The only way it can be 10-9 or even is if the knocked down fighter was otherwise winning the round 10-8 or 10-7 (etc), i.e. a real drubbing… or, obviously, the other fighter also gets knocked down.
Al Bernstein saying (paraphrasing) “he was winning the round but was knocked down so that makes it only a 10-9 round” is completely wrong.
+ as its a WBC title fight. It automatically gets scored 10-8 regardless of how the round went