Hopkins-Dawson II: Bernard in a tough fight on 4/28

By Jason Kim: WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) hopefully won’t hit the deck and get injured again when he faces #1 WBC contender Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs) on April 28th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Hopkins, 47, was given back his WBC title after following down in the 2nd round and hurting his left shoulder the last time he fought Dawson. The referee gave the win to Dawson, but both the WBC and California State Athletic Commission overturned the results, ruling it as a no contest. This allowed Hopkins to keep his title. However, a second injury may put the WBC and the New Jersey State Athletic Commission in a tough situation where they would have to sort out whether or not Hopkins deserves to keep the title again.

Having one fight end with injury is one thing, but two in a row would be bad, especially if Hopkins was to keep his title and then move on. Dawson needs to make sure he avoids bumping or lifting Hopkins off the ground for the rematch because another injury would be bad.

Dawson seemed to be the stronger fight up until the injury occurred last October and it’s too bad because it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had it gone the full 12.

Dawson has a lot of advantages in this fight – speed, power, size, ring movement, defense and youth. Those are a ton of advantages and the only things that he falls short on compared to Hopkins is experience and inside fighting ability. However, he may not need a lot of inside skills to win this fight as long as he doesn’t bump Hopkins and send him to the canvas again. He needs to avoid coming in contact with Hopkins because that might cause an injury and that would mess things up.