Sports
In reply to the discussion: Boxing: 4-27 thru 5-5 [View all]H2O Man
(73,331 posts)While both ESPN and ShowTime have solid cards on tonight, the boxing community is more focused on tomorrow night's return match between Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson. Last October, after a lackluster first round, B-Hop began to increase the pressure on his young challenger in the second round. This era's "Old Mongoose" threw a wide overhand punch, and then attempted to place his upper body over Dawson -- an old tactic to wear the opposition out -- when Chad used his strength to remove Bernard. Hopkins fell through the ropes onto the ring apron, and hurt his shoulder in the process.
The referee initially ruled the fight as a second-round TKO victory for Dawson. I thought then, and still believe, that this was the correct outcome. However, under pressure from promoters, the state commission reviewed the incident, and the referee agreed to change the outcome to a "no contest." This served to return the light heavyweight title to Hopkins, and lead to the return match.
One big difference is that while the first fight was Pay-Per-View, the return bout will be on HBO. This is an improvement: while Bernard is highly respected as one of boxing's truly legendary greats, his style rarely produces excitement. More, despite Dawson's natural talents and solid skills, he is not an exciting fighter, either. His last knockout victory, for example, came in September of 2007.
Hopkins is 47 years old, while Dawson is 29. Despite Bernard's uncanny ability to defy the laws of aging in boxing, this age difference is a significant factor. First, like most aging fighters, Hopkins tends to have "up fights" followed by "down fights"; for example, he was decked twice in his draw against Jean Pascal, but came back to easily outpoint Pascal in their return bout. Also, Hopkins -- who was not a tremendously powerful puncher in his prime as a middleweight -- has to outbox naturally larger opponents. This fight is being fought two full weight classes above where Hopkins was best.
Dawson, on the other hand, is coming into what should be a light heavyweight's prime years. Although both are 6' 1" tall, and Chad only has a 1.5-inch reach advantage, Dawson is the bigger man, and will likely -- in the 24 hours after the weigh-in -- put back on several pounds. (Bernard carries no extra weight -- not inside or out of the ring.)
This is going to be a grudge match. Neither man likes the other. Nor do they respect one another, as fighters or men. Thus, Hopkins will pull out every trick in his bag: his thumbs, forearms, elbows, and the top of his head will suppliment his fists as weapons in the ring. And he will land as many low-blows as he can get away with. The prospect of losing a point in an early round will not stop Hopkins from trying to insure that Chad doesn't have his strength late in the fight.
Hopkins will try to dictate the geography inside the ring. That means he will move with Dawson, either forward or back, and trying to catch Chad with quick aggressive flurries, followed by clinching and wrestling. Dawson needs to control the distance between them with his jab -- which must include frequent double-jabs. This is his best option for frustrating Hopkin's strategy.
If Chad can land the jab (and it can be to Bernard's chest, which will be easier to find than his head in those early rounds), he can begin to put rapid combinations together. It is hard to land consecutive clean punches on Bernard, for he is a master of defense. But if Dawson can connect with the jab, and keep B-Hop busy avoidingthe follow-up, Dawson will be in a position to move Hopkins around the ring to his advantage. By increasing this type of pressure, round by round, Dawson increases his chances of taking the fight away from Hopiks; more, in doing so, Chad will increase the chances of Bernard forcing offensive opportunities.
If that happens, this could quickly become an exciting fight.