WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard “the Executioner” Hopkins defends his light heavyweight title against former champion Chad Dawson in the early hours of Sunday morning live on BoxNation Sky ch 456 at 3.00am.
The 46-year-old (55-5, 32 KOs ) continues to defy me and all logical thinking. He is in ridiculous shape for a man of his age and puts a sprightly 34-year-old like myself to shame.
Despite promising to retire at 45, Hopkins continues to beat fighters who are young enough to be his offspring. He never ceases to surprise me mixing his sneaky old pro style where he likes to stalk, fire off sneaky shots and hold, but he does bring a indestructible will to win – beating top draw fighters like Jean Pascal(former Carl Froch Victim), Kelly Pavilk and Ronald Wright in recent years.
Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs) is a smart boxer and looks to be a similar style of test that Jermaine Taylor posed for Hopkins when beating him twice. The sole blemish on “Bad” Chad’s record is a loss to Jean Pascal – a fighter Hopkins beat handily last time out. In that fight Dawson’s now trademark lack of focus took over and for many parts of the fight he seemed to enjoy admiring his work rather than putting his foot to the floor and digging deep for the win. However it must be noted that he had been hurting Pascal before the fight was stopped because of an accidental head clash. In his fight against Tomas Adamek (which in context looks a fantastic result) he utterly dominated his opponent and looked a future pound for pound star.
A month or two before this fight I noted that Chad was a huge price. Bernard was dropped twice in the first fight against Jean Pascal and I felt his punch resistance had deserted him a little.
Also in Chad’s last fight he had legendary trainer Emanuel Steward in his corner and I felt he was the right trainer for him as he can keep focused during the fights and bring the best out of him for the whole fight rather than little one or two minute spurts.
However things don’t seem to work out too smoothly in the land of Chad, who was once called retarded by former trainer Floyd Mayweather senior when he decided he didn’t want to be trained by the greatest trainer in the world anymore because he needed to be nearer to home.
Chad will attempt to outwork Hopkins, keeping the champion busy with consistent punches. If he takes time off during a round, Hopkins will take advantage and steal it which is the big worry for Dawson backers in this fight.
Hopkins will attempt to set traps and steal rounds with his sneaky punch and grab style. This is unquestionably a close fight which could go either way I just think Chad will defy us again and eek out a close points win.
Daily Sport Recommended Bets:
1pt win Chad Dawson to beat Bernard Hopkins- 10/11 William Hill
Also…
1pt win Treble Dawson outright 4-5 Cleverly Ko 11-10 and Degale Ko – 8/11 Ladbrokes