By James Slater — The controversy sure is raging over the ending to last night’s world light-heavyweight title fight between Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins. Everyone, it seems, has their own opinion on the bizarre 2nd-round TKO victory “Bad” Chad was awarded; here’s mine:
No way should Dawson have been awarded with a win, when the foul he committed on Hopkins was so clearly a foul. Lifting Hopkins up and dumping him on the mat as he did, Dawson plain and simple broke the rules; how then, can he call himself a winner today? Okay, at the time of the incident, 29-year-old Dawson – who had been fighting a good, aggressive fight – may well have thought 46-year-old Hopkins was faking the injury. But now, in light of the ex-ray info being released from the hospital that examined Hopkins (where a separation of the acromioclavicular of B-Hop’s left shoulder was diagnosed), it’s clear Hopkins was badly hurt by the slam-dunk to the canvas..
The question is, what now?
In my opinion – though some writers have suggested the injury is Hopkins’ ageing body’s way of telling him to get out – I feel there is no way the proud, stubborn Philly warrior will go out like this. Bet money on it, B-Hop will appeal referee Pat Russell’s decision, and try to get the verdict overturned for that of a No-Contest. Will Hopkins be successful? There is a very good chance he will be. Hopkins will then shoot for a rematch, of this I have no doubt.
Dawson, however, has expressed more interest in facing the only man to have beaten him: former champ Jean Pascal. If this rematch goes ahead instead of a Dawson-Hopkins II, where will that leave the soon-to-be 47-year-old “Executioner?”
We will know more when the appeals get dealt with. For now, though, even if Dawson is saying he “feels like a champion,” many fans are unable to look at him as one. It is strange though, that two other legends of the sport suffered similarly nasty injuries at the end of their careers, injuries that led to TKO defeats. Upon seeing last night’s odd ending, I immediately thought of Tommy Hearn’s 2000 TKO loss to Uriah Grant (when Tommy twisted a keen and was unable to go on in the 2nd-round) and of Pernell Whitaker’s 2001 4th-round TKO loss to Carlos Bojorquez (when “Sweet Pea” suffered a broken clavical and was unable to continue).
With these two greats, age HAD caught up with them, as their ailing limbs showed. Has age at last caught up with Hopkins too? Maybe, but there is still no way he walks away off of the back of this pride-jarring loss.