Dawson Throwing & Hopkins Catching
HAVE THE DAYS OF HOPKINS CONNING PEOPLE FINALLY COME TO AN END?
San Francisco, CA– Having fought a little bit myself, I have to say I despise dirty fighters and Bernard Hopkins is one of the dirtiest fighters I have ever watched. Fighting almost like Eusebio Pedroza did in a WBA 126 lb. title defense against Juan Laporte in 1982, a fight overturned by the New Jersey Athletic Commission because Pedroza had committed in excess of 120 fouls, yet he was only penalized twice and lost two points. The WBA refused to undo the injustice. That being said, referee Eddie Cotton broke Chad Dawson and Hopkins around 120 times tonight and that again was because Bernard Hopkins, and I don’t give a s*it how old he is, Bernard is more than a dirty fighter, a stronger term applies, maybe filthy might be more appropriate.
DAWSON WINS FIGHT THAT WAS A MAJOR TURN OFF!
Chad Dawson won easily on my card, 118-110, while judges Dick Flaherty and Steve Weisfeld tabbed Dawson a 117-111 winner. Inexplicably, the third judge, a former fighter who should never be allowed to work a major fight again, Luis Rivera had the one-sided match 114-114, a travesty to put it mildly. Dawson, working behind his long right jab, won the first two frames without a lot of fireworks. The Delaware based fighter, a southpaw may have taken the third and fourth rounds off. But after that, all Hopkins did was throw, land on occasion, then grab, attempt tackles and head butt.
NEVER SAW A COMBINATION HEAD BUTT PRIOR!
In the second round, Hopkins landed a one-two head butt. I’m not joking as I saw it live and again on the replay. Had Eddie Cotton done his job, he would have taken points away from Hopkins, instead of separating the boxers some 120 times. Because of Bernard’s fouling, something every boxing official and fan knows is what he does best, Cotton broke the fighters before Bernard could do something so blatant that he would have had to disqualify the Philadelphia born fighter.
REFEREE LACKED DECISIVENESS AND OR GUTS!
At one point in the late rounds, Hopkins tackled Dawson with impunity and yet Cotton, who in my mind did everything he could to screw Lennox Lewis when he beat Mike Tyson in 2002, did nothing but wipe off the gloves of Dawson and Hopkins before prompting them to continue. If ever there were ever a need for two instructional videos of how not to referee a boxing match, the Lewis-Tyson and tonight’s Dawson-Hopkins fight are the ones that should be utilized, for it was Cotton’s ineptness, Hopkins’ fouling, and Luis Rivera’s scorecard that were the “low lights” of the HBO broadcast.
DAWSON DID HIS THING….BUTT, BUTT!
With his left cross landing with regularity, Dawson controlled the fight with power punches. Yes, he used the jab to set it up, but each time he would land, Hopkins would grab and hold, sometimes butt, this before Cotton almost instantly broke the two fighters. Dawson complained about the head butts after it was over, and I only noted one time when Cotton admonished Hopkins, who in essence was a three handed fighter who grabbed Dawson with the two gloved ones, while spearing him with the other.
HOPKINS VOWS TO CONTINUE
Bernard Hopkins hasn’t had an exciting win since September 2001 and his rout of Felix Trinidad. His win over Kelly Pavlik is called into question because Pavlik was a drunk! Outside of that, in the 11 years that have passed since Trinidad, Hopkins been less than impressive. What in the hell are the HBO brass thinking by putting B-Hop on TV? There was no way a casual sports fan would want to watch another boxing match after witnessing the holding, clinching, spearing and tackling exhibition put forth by Hopkins. Afterwards, Hopkins stated he would continue to box, when at 47 and after so many horrid fights, Bernard has gone far beyond wearing out his welcome!
CREDIT DAWSON WHO WAS IN A PRECARIOUS POSITION
Although trainer John Scully got Dawson in good shape, he should have been on referee Cotton like white on rice. But knowing John, who was a never a whiner or a complainer in his fighting days, but tonight he should have been in Cotton’s ear if not his face. “Bad Chad” wasn’t “bad” but he didn’t look “great” either, something Hopkins made sure of for he knew after five rounds that there was no way in hell he was going to win.
WITH HOPKINS OUT OF THE WAY, MAYBE DAWSON CAN BE “BAD CHAD”
With a record now of 32-1, 17 KOs, Dawson will need four to six months for his head-butt caused cuts to heal. Hopefully he can fight somebody that will not only engage, but won’t resort to clutching as Bernard did. Hopkins is now 52-6, 32 KOs. Not trying to be religious here, but if there is a boxing God, I pray that he never again allows Hopkins to steal precious television time away from young fighters and at the same time drive away boxing fans in droves! As for his career in boxing, “May It Rest In Peace,” because “Bernard’s no pro, he’s a con!”
Pedro Fernandez