Chad Dawson Beats Bernard Hopkins in Rematch

He did quite well for a 47 year old, and truth be told, fought well for 37 year old. But Bernard Hopkins didn't have the energy needed to hang with Chad Dawson in their rematch in Atlantic City last night. The 29 year-old Dawson took a majority decision, by scores of 117-111,117-111 and a fairly inexplicable 114-114, as he was too active for the boxer who cannot was readily be called an “ageless” wonder at this juncture in a bout that no one will remember even a near classic.

Hopkins (52-6-2), ever pugnacious and prideful in the arena of the spoken word, asked after what Dawson (31-1) did to win the do-again of their October No Contest. Well, he threw a few more punches and connected a bit more, to name two things. Dawson went 151-431 (35%) while Hopkins went 106-400 (26%). Neither man draped themselves in glory with their workrate, so the calls for a third scrap to get total clarity on who is the better man do not exist. The smart money like Dawson going into the bout, based on what they'd seen in the abrreviated first clash, but all had to consider that Hopkins could do it one more time, pull off a stunner, show the fightworld that they are fools to even wonder if he's not a ultra-master of craft.

Dawson gave Hopkins props after, calling him dirty, but admitting he is a future Hall of Famer. The victor called out Andre Ward after; the fan reaction, judging by a scan of Twitter feeds, wasn't across the board positive. Both are cautious pugilists, and the fear is that only ultra-purist would dig their dance.

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