Hopkins is Fred Sanford, Is Pascal Aunt Esther?
New York, NY – Typifying a stretch of seven consecutive weekends of pugilistic madness at its best, boxing closes 2010 with hopefully a bang! Come Saturday night, Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KOs) will attempt to join George Foreman as being the only other fighter in the history of the sport to capture a major world title past the age of 45 when he challenges the durable WBC light heavyweight (175 lbs) champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs) for 12 rounds or less at a sold out Bell Centre Arena in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, live on Showtime at 10 PM ET.
SAME “OLD, OLD, ANCIENT” STORY
For the better part of the past 22 years, Bernard Hopkins (while defiantly kicking ass in the process) has been calling out the biggest names in the sport. The boxing world took notice of the bombastic talents of Hopkins when he displayed a masterpiece performance against Felix Trinidad (W KO 12). After his artistic beat down over Trinidad, Bernard’s take no prisoners “back alley” brawling style had allowed him to go toe-to-toe with (and beat) world elite combatants such as Oscar De La Hoya (W KO 9), Antonio Tarver (W UD 12), Winky Wright (W UD 12) and Kelly Pavlik (W UD 12) with relative ease. Bernard has many people critical of him fighting in spurts for years now, which enabled Joe Calzaghe (L UD 12) to out hustle him, Jermain Taylor (L SD 12, L UD 12), and Roy Jones (L UD 12, in their first fight). Coming into Saturday’s contest, Hopkins has seven wins against four losses in his last eleven bouts (1 KO). In his last fight, Hopkins earned a unanimous decision over Roy Jones Jr.
PASCAL SEEKS VALIDATION & WORLD RECOGNITION
Haitian born Jean Pascal has made a name for himself in his adopted home land of Canada. Facing durable opposition, Pascal was unbeaten in 21 previous contests before lacing up the gloves with current WBC super middleweight (168) belt holder Carl Froch. In that affair, Froch easily handled Jean in route to his first defeat (L UD 12). After the setback to Froch, Pascal regrouped, moved up a class in weight, and in a stellar performance against then unbeaten champion Adrian Diaconu, Pascal captured the light heavyweight crown (W UD 12). After picking up the WBC strap, Jean has thrice defended his title. In his first defense, Pascal predictably blasted out oversized Silvio Branco (W TKO 10), impressively out pointed Adrian Diaconu in their rematch (W UD 12) and in his third title defense, managed to earn a technical decision victory over then undefeated former IBF champion Chad Dawson (W TD 11).
OTHER (“SLEEPER”) TELEVISED FIGHT ACTION ON SATURDAY!
ESPN Deportes, 10 PM ET: Mexican ring legend Erik Morales (50-6, 35 KOs) battles journeymen Francisco Lorenzo (35-8, 16 KOs) in a slated 12 round jr. welterweight (140) tilt.
Fox Sports Net, 10 PM ET: Action fighter Jorge Arce (55-6-2, 42 KOs) takes on unheralded scrapper Adolfo Ramos (18-10-1, 10 KOs) in a scheduled ten round super bantamweight (122) affair.
RING TALK READERS: Check back early next week for my annual “Signorella’s 2010 Boxing Year in Review”!
John Signorella