LOS ANGELES, CA — Vehement boos rained down from the Staples Center Saturday night (October 15) after Chad Dawson (31-1, 18 KOs) was awarded a 2nd round TKO victory after Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KOs) was deemed unable to continue from a shoulder shove to the canvas.
Hopkins’s attempts to rush inside lead to several clinches in the opening round. Dawson was the pursuer and spent the majority of round trying to find range with his jab. The only clean punch of the round came from Dawson, who scored with a solid straight left as Hopkins back pedaled into the ropes.
Hopkins found a little more success in the second round by “holding and hooking” Dawson during clinches. Dawson implemented his own rough-housing by pushing his forearm into Hopkins’s neck. Dawson also found success when he countered Hopkins’s rushes with right hooks. During a clinch which led to Hopkins leaning on the challenger’s back, Dawson’s pushed off with his shoulder. His momentum resulted in Hopkins falling backwards onto the canvas.
Hopkins immediately began grimacing and writhing on the floor while holding his left shoulder. After informing the referee Pat Russell that he could no longer use his arm, the fight was called off. Initially, there was confusion on if the fight would be called a no contest or possibly a disqualification. Since Dawson’s push was not ruled a foul, and Hopkins verified he could not continue, Russell deemed the bout a TKO victory for Dawson.
Dawson was irate with Hopkins and berated him as a “pussy” after the fight was called. As the crowd nearly drowned out his words with boos, Dawson told HBO’s Max Kellerman that Hopkins let down the fans and did not deserve a rematch.
“I gave ’em a shoulder. Bernard Hopkins disappointed a lot of fans tonight,” Dawson fumed. “Bernard cut my night short…. He ain’t no ‘gangsta.’ A ‘gangsta’ would have got up and kept fighting. This shows why he didn’t want to fight me. I want [Jean] Pascal next to avenge my loss. Rematch [Hopkins]? For what? He’ll be 47 soon. No!”
Hopkins claimed he never told the referee he couldn’t continue. Citing his fight with his Antwun Echols, where he was received a shoulder injury from a slam and kept fighting, Hopkins sees the verdict as a conspiracy to force his retirement.
“I was ready to go with one arm. The ref said you can’t continue with one arm,” said Hopkins. “They want me out of boxing. This is one of the ways to do it. Chad Dawson doesn’t deserve to be champion. It should be a ‘No Contest.’ He threw me down with a foul. This ain’t the UFC and MMA. Football comes on tomorrow!”
At press time, Bernard Hopkins is expected to file an appeal to overturn the verdict.
Down big on the cards, Antonio DeMarco (26-2-1, 19 KOs) coerced Jorge Linares (31-2, 20 KOs) into a bloody brawl and scored a dramatic TKO in the 11th round. Linares dominated the early rounds with fast flurries and straight right counters. At times, Linares would taunt DeMarco after landing a clean shot. DeMarco did his own taunting and by the middle rounds both fighters were standing their ground in toe to toe exchanges. Linares was winning these rounds, but his face began to show much more damage. Heavy bleeding flowed from cuts on Linares’ right eye and the bridge of his nose.
After smartly using movement and outboxing DeMarco in round 10, Linares became much more flat-flooted in the decisive 11th. Exchanging heavy leather inside, Linares’s right eye cut covered half his face in blood. DeMarco took over by strafing Linares with hooks and uppercuts. Two devastating hooks drove Linares to the ropes and several more unanswered punches prompted the referee stoppage.
Also on the undercard, Danny Garcia (22-0, 14 KOs) remained undefeated with a split decision win over Kendall Holt (27-5, 15 KOs). Both men were very respectful of each other’s power. Garcia staggered Holt early on and kept a consistent body attack that slowed Holt in the later rounds. Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KOs) survived a big shot from Orlando Lora (28-2-1, 19 KOs) in the first round to score a unanimous decision.
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Just what boxing needed, back to back controversial and unsatisfying endings to high-profile (and high-priced) pay-per-view fights. The two final bouts of tonight’s card seem to sum up how boxing has lately been shooting itself in the foot. For every positive step forward (DeMarco vs. Linares), something immediately happens to push the sport two steps back (Hopkins-Dawson debacle).
I’ve read comments from a lot of people who think Hopkins quit. Even Max Kellerman hinted at it by citing how Hopkins faked low blows against Joe Calzaghe to buy time. We won’t know for sure until we hear from a doctor on B-Hop’s condition, but I seriously doubt the Executioner would pull a quit stunt. In the Calzaghe fight, Joe had been pressuring Hopkins for rounds and rounds and it was late in the fight. In the one and a half rounds we saw on Saturday, Dawson hadn’t done anything yet that would make Hopkins look for a breather or a way out. Let’s also remember that last December Jean Pascal dropped Hopkins twice in the early rounds only for B-Hop to turn it up and sweep all the late rounds.
*******UPDATE**********
Bernard Hopkins has been released from the California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles after being x-rayed and examined by Dr. Sam Thurber, MD who diagnosed Hopkins with a separation of the acromioclavicular (A-C) joint which connects the collar bone and shoulder blade.
Let’s hear it. Who do you blame most for tonight’s controversy?
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 