FightHype.com was on hand at Planet Hollywood Times Square in New York City, New York, where WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins and former champion Chad Dawson announced their upcoming April 28th rematch set to take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey and televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing beginning. Check out what both fighters had to say!
“Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing, especially from a guy that people know as so vocal, but even being so vocal, I’m just as powerful as I realize when I don’t say anything, so I’m still winning even if I don’t speak. And what I mean by winning, they gonna question why I haven’t said anything. That means I’m in control…I shut him down by not saying nothing…I’m going in there, no matter what he says, to do what Bernard do, and that is to execute the best plan in camp and at fight night..the art of the game is to take a guy’s best weapon and systematically use it against him. You know what you want to do, you know what you’re capable of doing, but I damn sure ain’t let you do it…we have two rules that I set: I hit you, you don’t hit me,” stated WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who talked about his upcoming rematch with Chad Dawson. Check out what else he had to say!
Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson II Set For April 28th In Atlantic City – Will We See A Winner This Time?
By James Slater: It has been announced by a number of sources that world light-heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins will face Chad Dawson in a rematch of their controversial October 15th meeting on April 28th. The rematch was apparently agreed to by all parties yesterday. As fans know, the first fight was a huge letdown, with Hopkins being unable to continue after hurting his shoulder as he landed on the mat from a Dawson shove.
Originally ruled a 2nd-round TKO win for “Bad” Chad, the result was soon changed to that of a No-Contest, with ageless wonder Hopkins keeping his WBC title. Needles to say, the two bitter rivals have unfinished business – unfinished business that will hopefully get settled at The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in April.
Hopkins, 52-5-2(32) now aged 47 and closing in (finally) on retirement, said he is anxious to put 29-year-old Dawson, 30-1(17) in his place this time.
“I have a chance to settle the bull from the first fight,” Hopkins said. “A real athlete dont want to win something on a disqualification or a no-decision. Im ready to go. Dawson has a chance to prove to the world what he thinks he can do to me and I have a chance to prove that hes not going to do what he thinks he going to do.”
Dawsons promoter, Gary Shaw, had the following to say to USA Today:
“Theres real bad blood here. Chad knows everything that happened in the past, and hes the bigger fighter, stronger fighter, younger fighter, maybe even the more skilled fighter. We have always believed he stops Hopkins around the 8th-round. And I give credit to Hopkins for stepping up and defending the title, which everyone said he wouldnt do.”
Sure enough, it looked at one time as though neither fighter really wanted a return fight. Dawson, in his initial post-fight interview back in October said, “A rematch? No. What for?” While Hopkins spoke about maybe fighting a Lucian Bute or possibly even a Nathan Cleverly.
But now the return is on, and to make things better for the fans this time around, the rematch will not be on Pay-Per-View! Set to go out on regular HBO (a deal has yet to be signed, sealed and delivered, but Shaw is confident the fight will go out on the cable network), the intriguing sequel could also wind up having a potentially thrilling support bout.
According to USA Todays piece, Shaw and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy are looking at putting WBC 135-pound champ Antonio DeMarco in with Michael Katsidis on the card. Now, even if fans fear the Hopkins-Dawson rematch could be a largely dull 12-rounder, the planned support bout will surely be anything but dull if it goes ahead. Likely to steal the show as far as fireworks go, DeMarco-Katsidis has “war” written all over it!
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Bernard Hopkins, the guy who has fought forever, gets a chance to go, I guess, forever and a day, as he takes on Chad Dawson Saturday night in defense of his WBC light heavyweight title.
Hopkins made twenty defenses of his middleweight title, but his accomplishments have, in some ways, looked even better as hes aged, or perhaps BECAUSE hes aged. Of course, all this has had to happen as hes moved up in weight, but he has managed to do it. Honestly, how many people wrote him off entirely when he lost, not once but twice, to Jermain Taylor?
Not so fast with all that, I guess.
As he moved up in weight, he beat credible people like Antonio Tarver, Kelly Pavlik and Winky Wright, and for a minute, I thought he might be able to beat Joe Calzaghe (actually, it was almost literally a minute, because Hopkins knocked him down right away).
Its not that he hadnt surprised some people before. If you recall, he was an underdog to Felix Trinidad, who had been knocking everybody out, even as he moved to middleweight with the devastating win over William Joppy. He proceeded to make Trinidad look amateurish.
So its not like this guy took the cheap route. And then he earned his “oldest-to-win-a-title” record against a younger, aggressive Jean Pascal.
Heres a fighter who adapts to whatever hes got at his disposal, and exhibits the kind of patience that allows for him to wait for the error of his opponents ways, then pounce on it.
Chad Dawson has had a much shorter career, but you cant disparage anything about the resume he has put together.
Hes beaten, in order, Eric Harding, Tomasz Adamek, Glen Johnson (twice), Antonio Tarver (twice) and Adrian Diaconu, and all of this has come in a relatively short period of time for the 29-year-old.
He is not what you would call a dynamic personality outside the ring, and maybe that accounts for him not being a media magnet.
That might be an important factor in terms of the pay-per-view buys the fight will do, but it has nothing to do with what is going to happen in the ring.
So how does this fight shape up?
Well, to say Hopkins takes an experience advantage into the fight would be to state the obvious. Just about everyone is going to be less experienced than Hopkins. But that is not the whole story.
As we alluded to, what Hopkins feasts on are the mistakes on the part of his opponents. Sometimes that is a product of inexperience, sometimes not. But some of these people hes fought have been somewhat susceptible to a fighter who is very “cagey.”
I sense that Dawson is cagey enough.
When Hopkins fights, though, he doesnt seem to leave a big margin of error. He is often teetering on the edge of not being busy enough, or is barely busy enough to win. This is a by-product of Hopkins trying to fight the bout at his own pace, dictating how busy the other fighter can be as well.
I have a feeling Dawson is going to make him work a little more than he wants.
Dawson is pretty much a straight-up, straight-ahead boxer type, and doesnt bring a whole lot of surprises to the table. On the surface, you figure he should be the kind of guy Hopkins can take advantage of with his ability to improvise.
But Dawson is a legitimate light heavyweight who is fundamentally sound. He is not only less likely to make the kind of foolish mistakes other Hopkins opponents have made in the past but will also be active enough in this fight to score more points. Hes not a mechanical puncher type like, say, Trinidad was, but someone who can win a game of jabbing, moving and deflecting.
Hopkins is no stranger to southpaws, for sure, but Dawson isnt going to leave himself open as much as others did. And he can hit hard enough on occasion to keep Hopkins from getting overly brazen.
Hopkins has remarkable energy for a guy who is 46 years old. But lets be honest – if this was years ago, he wouldnt have had a lot of trouble with a guy like Pascal. Yes, Pascal beat Dawson, but for this particular matchup, Dawson is a better fighter and a better opponent. I expect him to come out on the positive end of a decision when all is said and done.
Read more: http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/bernard-hopkins-forever-and-a-day/#ixzz1anFJzw6X
Bernard Hopkins, in training for his Oct. 15 WBC light-heavyweight world title defense against Chad Dawson in Los Angeles, has a bit of a salt-and-pepper beard, heavy on the salt.
“There’s a lot of gray in my beard,” Hopkins said Tuesday at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym on North Third Street. “And, you know, as the gray continues to keep coming, I want the gray. I want all my gray to come in. I really want to change my name to like the Silver Fox or something.”
It fits the fight theme. Ripley’s is involved in this “Believe It or Not” fight promotion, celebrating Hopkins for being the oldest fighter to win a major world title.
“They say gray is wisdom,” Hopkins said, warming to the subject. “We’re all changing. I’m definitely changing. When you have something that shows your maturity and wisdom, why camouflage it? Society tells you when you see gray, go and paint it black so you can look young. Uh-uh. Anything that nature says is supposed to happen, I want it to happen.”
He was rolling.
“Certain part of the year the leaves turn a different color and then they fall and then the tree is naked. Then a certain part of the year, the tree blossoms. I don’t go against anything against what’s supposed to happen,” Hopkins said. “Same thing in life. We come from being a baby, being taken care of, to taking care of others . . .”
Hopkins brought the circle of life around to next week’s fight.
“I want to look like his father,” Hopkins said of Dawson. “I could be his father. I’m not. But I could be. The age difference. It’s appropriate for me to look like his father. Realistically, if you do the math, he could be my son. I’m 46, he’s 29. You know, I had him early.
“So if you really do the math, it all fits into the scheme of the professor, the knowledge, versus the good student. He could be a great student. So he has to pass a test that the professor’s going to give him. And that’s when he earns his stripes.
“Of course, he’s going to fail. But like any test . . . it’s a process. I’m that parent that’s going to be in that ring. He’s going to follow me. He don’t know he’s following me. I’m going to have him follow me, and I’m going to set traps, and he’s going to come, and he’s going to pay a price, and I’m going to actually physically show him that he’s going to fight my fight, when he’s supposed to be fighting the fight that him and his trainer put together. That takes an education he’s hasn’t gotten yet. He will, hopefully.”
Then again, maybe Hopkins just likes the gray look.
“Some people think it’s sexy, especially if I keep it groomed nice,” he said.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/boxing/20111005_Bernard_Hopkins_likes_being_the_graybeard.html#ixzz1aaWGx8lw
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