Bernard Hopkins is banging the drums for an immediate rematch with Jean Pascal.
Last Saturday (December 18), Hopkins battled back from two early knockdowns to dominate Jean Pascal over the bout’s second half. However, Hopkins’s rally was only enough to earn him a majority draw with scores of 113-113, and 114-114 from a Belgium and Canadian judge. The sole American judge awarded Hopkins a decision win with a score of 114-112.
Hopkins was livid during his post-fight interview. After reviewing the fight, The Executioner is now convinced he was blatantly robbed.
“I knew if they could they take it from me, they would. And now that I have had the chance to review the fight on tape, I clearly know I won that fight,” Hopkins stated. “Jean Pascal, his corner and all of the Canadians in the arena and on television know I won the fight too. The crowd was loud in the beginning, but the silence was deafening as I dominated Pascal from the middle rounds all the way to the end of the fight. After the last round Pascal went back to his corner with his head and hands down.”
“I am sure he is still hanging his head today to think he let a 45-year old man beat him up the way I did. If I were him, I would want to redeem myself and my reputation immediately after what happened Saturday night.”
Hopkins suffered a flash knockdown in the first round off a looping right hand, and in the third from a shorter counter right. Despite two 10-8 rounds, Hopkins went on to outpunch and outland Pascal over the ensuing rounds. Also, it was Hopkins who pressed the fight to a Pascal in constant retreat. Based on this factors, Hopkins cannot see any way Pascal could have escaped without a loss.
“Again, it is crazy to think that a 45-year-old fighter like myself threw and landed more punches than this so-called young gun, the current champion, and still I am not given the win,” Hopkins explained. “Watch the tape. The poor guy was running scared, winded and backing up from round six and on. He seemed to just be holding on for dear life. But he knows what happened in there and he has to live with it too. The film doesn’t lie, but I bet he doesn’t even watch the tape. So he, and all his people around him, can tell him something other than the truth. He lost the fight. The whole thing is bad for boxing, bad for Pascal and especially bad for Canada. Pascal knows he should do the right thing and fight me as soon as tomorrow.”
The last time Hopkins was knocked down multiple times and received a draw, it was against Segundo Mercado in his first middleweight title shot on December 17, 1994. The controversial fight had been held in the champion’s home country of Ecuador, and resulted in an immediate rematch five months later on April 29, 1995.
Hopkins dominated the rematch, and knocked out Mercado in seven rounds.
Hopkins sees a similar scenario unfolding if Pascal takes the rematch. He believes the Canadian has to take a return bout if he wants his reign to be accepted by fans.
“Pascal is hard punching, a young gun who gave it his all Saturday night,” Hopkins conceded. “But he is 18 years younger than me and that speaks for itself. It showed Saturday night too by just getting a draw, which everyone knows is really a loss, against a 45-year-old man. If this guy has a backbone and wants to walk around with any kind of dignity and self-worth, the only thing he can do is fight me again. If that was me, I know that is the only way I could really live with myself.”
At press time, Jean Pascal has not responded to Hopkins’s challenge.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 