Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson

Believe It Or Not!
Date 15 October 2011
Venue United States Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States
Title(s) on the line WBC/The Ring Light Heavyweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer United States Bernard Hopkins United States Chad Dawson
Nickname The Executioner Bad
Hometown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Pre-fight record 52–5-2-1 (32 KO) 30–1-0-1 (17 KO)
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight 173½ 174¼
Style orthodox southpaw
Recognition WBC/The Ring's Light Heavyweight Champion. Former WBC/IBF Light Heavyweight Champion.
Result
Tech. Draw 2 (WBC decision); No contest 2 (official result by California State Athletic Commission)

Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson was a boxing match contested for both the WBC and The Ring light heavyweight championships. The fight took place at Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States on 15 October 2011.[1][2] Hopkins was making the first defense of the titles he won from Jean Pascal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada earlier in 2011 while Dawson was looking to win the WBC title for a second time and the Ring title for the first time. The fight was the main event of an HBO pay-per-view presentation.

The fight ended in the second round when Dawson lifted Hopkins, who stumbled, fell, and landed on his shoulder. Referee Pat Russell, seeing Hopkins could not continue, awarded Dawson a technical knockout. The result was contested shortly after the fight, and the WBC declared a technical draw naming Hopkins its champion.[3] On December 13, the California State Athletic Commission, whose results are official and binding, overturned referee Pat Russell's original technical knockout decision and declared the fight a no contest. This ruling makes Hopkins the official champion.[4]

Background

Bernard Hopkins

Hopkins fought Pascal in a rematch of a fight that had ended in controversy on 18 December 2010 in Quebec City, Quebec.[5] In that fight, Pascal was making the first defense of the Ring light heavyweight championship he won from Dawson in his last fight and the fourth defense of the WBC title he took from Adrian Diaconu on 19 June 2009. The fight ended in a majority draw, with two of the three judges voting the fight even while the third gave Hopkins the victory.[6]

During the course of the fight Hopkins landed many more punches than the champion (131 to 70 total)[7] and won a unanimous decision despite the referee not counting two potential knockdowns when Pascal's glove touched the canvas. Hopkins won a closer decision due to those calls, but with his victory he broke the record held by George Foreman as the oldest professional boxing champion ever. Hopkins was 46 when he won the fight, beating the old record Foreman set at 45 when he won his second heavyweight championship.[8]

Chad Dawson

Dawson also fought on the card for the second contest, which was his first fight since losing a unanimous technical decision to Pascal after the fight was stopped due to Dawson being cut from an accidental clash of heads.[9] Although Dawson had a rematch clause in his contract, he chose not to exercise it[10] and then signed to fight former champion Diaconu with the winner getting the first shot at the winner of Pascal-Hopkins II.[11] Dawson won by unanimous decision over Diaconu to set up the match with Hopkins.

Undercard

DeMarco defeated Linares via Technical Knockout at 2:32 of the eleventh round.
Garcia defeated Holt via Split Decision. (117-111, 115-113, 117-111)
Malignaggi defeated Lora via Unanimous Decision. (100-90, 98-92, 99-91)

Preliminary card

Hernandez defeated Collazo via Unanimous Decision. (93-96, 93-96, 93-96)
Casal defeated Anderson via Technical Knockout at 2:51 of the third round.
Livingston defeated Colvin via Unanimous Decision. (59-55, 58-56, 58-56)
Bozella defeated Hopkins via Unanimous Decision. (38-37, 39-36, 39-36)
Avila defeated Reyes via Split Decision. (38-37, 39-36, 38-37)

Summary

The non-televised portion of the undercard was noted for featuring Dewey Bozella, who was fighting his first bout at the age of 52 after being incarcerated for a crime he did not commit for twenty-six years. Bozella, fighting at cruiserweight, defeated his opponent Larry Hopkins by unanimous decision in a four-round bout. Bozella will not fight again.[12]

Former welterweight champion Luis Collazo also fought on the non-televised undercard against junior middleweight contender Freddy Hernandez, who defeated him by unanimous decision.

The three televised undercard bouts featured two former junior welterweight champions and a lightweight championship fight. In the first bout, fought at welterweight, Paulie Malignaggi defeated Orlando Lora in a lopsided ten round decision. In the second fight, a twelve-rounder for the NABO junior welterweight championship and an elimination bout for the IBF title, undefeated Danny Garcia handed former WBO champion Kendall Holt his third loss in five fights by defeating him via split decision. In the second-to-last match of the evening, Antonio DeMarco defeated Jorge Linares to take his WBC lightweight championship.

Result

After an uneventful first round, controversy marred the second round and the fight itself. While in a clinch, Dawson pushed his shoulder into Hopkins to break it. Hopkins was lifted off the ground, stumbled back and fell through the ropes, landing awkwardly on his shoulder. Referee Pat Russell checked on Hopkins, who said he could continue "with one arm". Russell elected not to let Hopkins continue and stopped the fight, awarding Dawson a technical knockout. This was the first time Hopkins had been knocked out in his career. Hopkins and his promoter Richard Schaefer both said they would protest the result; Hopkins said a foul should have been called on Dawson and the result should have been a no contest. Dawson and his promoter Gary Shaw claimed that no matter what happens, he will not fight Hopkins again. Shaw said that the former champion "didn't want to fight." Hopkins later decided to seek a change from a no-contest to a disqualification of Dawson, which would have given him the victory.

On October 20, the WBC announced that it agreed that Dawson had thrown and pushed Hopkins with intent to injure him, and its new decision is a technical draw.[13] The WBC has reinstated Hopkins as its light heavyweight champion. The WBC's move was mostly symbolic and Dawson was still the official winner by technical knockout. On December 13, the California State Athletic Commission declared that it had officially changed the decision to a no-contest and that Hopkins retained the title.[3][4][14]

Reported fight earnings

International broadcasting

Notes

  1. ↑ BoxRec Boxing Records. Boxrec.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  2. ↑ Farmer, Douglas. (2011-08-02) Bernard Hopkins to risk WBC belt against Chad Dawson. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  3. 1 2 Philadelphia Daily News. "Bernard Hopkins' camp appeals Dawson decision", October 20, 2011. Accessed October 21, 2011
  4. 1 2 Donovan, Jake. "Dawson-Hopkins Declared A No-Contest By CSAC", December 13, 2011. Accessed December 13, 2011.
  5. ↑ LaBate, Chris. (2011-05-22) Bernard Hopkins beats Jean Pascal To Make History. Boxing Scene. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  6. ↑ http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=290691&cat=boxer
  7. ↑ Robinson, Loren. (2011-06-08) Bernard Hopkins' top five fights after 40. Yahoo Sports. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  8. ↑ Graham, Bryan. (2011-05-22) Hopkins makes history yet again with latest age-defying victory. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  9. ↑ Rafael, Dan. (2010-08-15) Jean Pascal beats Chad Dawson to keep WBC title. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  10. ↑ Rafael, Dan. (2011-01-07) Bernard Hopkins may get rematch. ESPN. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  11. ↑ (2011-05-26) Bernard Hopkins says: Its me and Chad Dawson Next. Boxing Scene. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
  12. ↑ http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/7108340/exonerated-ex-con-dewey-bozella-wins-pro-boxing-debut-52
  13. ↑ World Boxing Council. "WBC Declares a Technical Draw in Fight Hopkins- Dawson. Archived April 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine." October 20, 2011. Accessed October 21, 2011.
  14. ↑ Rafael, Dan. "Bernard Hopkins gets title back", October 21, 2011. Accessed October 21, 2011.
  15. ↑ "AKTV on IBC September Schedule" (PDF). TV5. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
Preceded by
vs. Jean Pascal		 Bernard Hopkins' bouts
October 15, 2011 		Succeeded by
Rematch
Preceded by
vs. Adrian Diaconu		 Chad Dawson's bouts
October 15, 2011
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