By Rey Anthony: Last week the World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered the rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson for the light heavyweight title. The two fighters first met last October 15 2011 at the Staples center in Los Angeles, CA. It initially ended in a controversial 2nd round TKO win for Dawson after he accidentally lifted Hopkins off the ground and pushed him through the ropes.
Hopkins lied on the canvass appearing to be in pain claiming that the fall dislocated his shoulder. Gary Shaw, Dawson’s promoter was visible from ringside gesturing in anger and showing his disbelief on Hopkins’ actions.
A hearing by the California State Athletic Commission last December 13, 2011 overturned the decision to a No Contest after referee Pat Russell admitted to the commission after seeing the fight on video that he “saw some things that he did not see during the fight.” The decision came in too late notably for the people who bet on Hopkins winning the fight because of the excellent performance that he showed against Jean Pascal when they fought in December of last year that ended up in a Majority Draw and again in May of this year when Hopkins won a 12th round Unanimous Decision.
Many skeptics are stating that a rematch will not make any business sense especially after the fact that the fight sold less than 40,000 Pay-Per View buys and less than 3,000 ticket sales. It has been reported that during fight night, another 3,000 tickets were given away for free just to fill the empty seats in the Staples Center.
Golden Boy promotions made it clear since the beginning that they have no interest in a rematch with Dawson.
Dawson’s camp is not excited about the ordered rematch either. He accused Hopkins of “faking” his injury so that he (Hopkins) can move on to another pay day with Jean Pascal. But right after the fight, Chad Dawson also called out Jean Pascal. He wants a rematch against Pascal since their first fight in August of 2010 ended in a technical decision after Dawson suffered a gash over his left eye that was caused by an accidental head butt.
Whether these two fighters will meet again in the ring or not remains to be seen. It is safe to say that fight fans have little to no interest on this fight happening again. However, it will be interesting to see if Business (Promoters) will prevail over Authority (WBC).