Youth Conquered by Experience: Hopkins Defeats Pascal to Claim Light Heavyweight Crown

By GM Ross: Tonight, in Montreal, Quebec, Bernard Hopkins defeated WBC, IBO and Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion of the world Jean Pascal of Montreal, Quebec, via unanimous decision to become – at forty-six years of age – the oldest man to ever hold a world title.

Quebec’s boxing fandom was firmly behind Pascal, their provincial hero, as the champ made his way to the ring amidst a roar of appreciation. The support continued into the first round of action as the Bell Centre was filled with chants of “ole, ole ole, ole” – a favorite at Montreal Canadians games. There was little to cheer about, however, as neither man did much in the way of boxing. Nonetheless, I thought Pascal was the more active fighter, earning a 10-9 edge in round one.

In the second round, Pascal managed to land two left hooks and appeared the sharper of the two. He put together a ineffective flurry that, while failing to land, looked good and sparked some commotion from the audience. Again, I gave Pascal round two on superior activity, although neither man was particularly offensive.

In the third Hopkins began to take control, putting together an exciting flurry that stopped Pascal in his tracks. Pascal managed to score with a left hook before being slammed with a big right hand. The champion looked stunned, and was dinged by a left and a right before mounting a flurry of his own to close the round.

In the fourth and fifth rounds Pascal put together combinations of wild punches that rarely connected. One right hand, however, did sneak through in the fourth that appeared to momentarily rattle “the Executioner.” Although Hopkins was able to score once to the body and mount a flurry of his own, I felt Pascal edged out rounds four and five, again with his superior activity.

As was the case in Pascal-Dawson and Pascal-Hopkins I, the champion seemed to fade towards the middle rounds of the fight. Pascal looked tired and clinched consistently despite warnings from the referee. In round six Hopkins came speeding out of his corner, cracking Pascal with a one-two combination. Hopkins followed up by capitalizing on Pascal’s obvious fatigue, hurting the champion with a hard right hand. As the round neared completion Hopkins scored again, this time with a left hook, and was able to doge a wild punch from Pascal. The force of Pascal’s punch, combined with fatigue, sent the champion sprawling, his gloves making contact with the canvas. The referee rightfully deemed this a slip and refused to score a knockdown. Nonetheless, Hopkins coasted to his second victorious round of the fight with little opposition from the champion.

Rounds seven, eight, nine and ten, were all Bernard Hopkins. Pascal seemed unable to mount a successful attack and acted as a punching bag for the veteran. Hopkins hurt Pascal in round seven with a huge right hand and scored repeatedly throughout rounds eight, nine and ten with crisp, effective punching. Pascal tried to rally at the end of round ten, but was largely unsuccessful.

Rounds eleven and twelve were closer. I had Hopkins taking round eleven, despite increased punching by Pascal. Hopkins simply landed the cleaner, crisper shots. In the twelfth Pascal had more success and likely took the round by hurting Hopkins during a wild flurry. Pascal had a small opening for a knockout while Hopkins was hurt, but appeared to tired to follow up and deliver a knockout punch.

I scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Bernard Hopkins. The judges also picked Hopkins, declaring him the new light heavyweight champion of the world, 115-114, 115-113, 116-112.

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