This past Saturday night Bernard "B-Hop", "The Executioner" Hopkins challenged Jean Pascal for his WBC Light Heavyweight, IBO Light Heavyweight, and Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight titles. The fight was held in Quebec City, Canada, which just so happens to be Pascal's adopted city. Pascal is originally from Haiti but moved with his mother and brother when he was very young. Hopkins is a future Hall of Famer who is already a legend of the ring and has absolutely nothing left to prove. (Oh by the way, Hopkins happens to be 45 years old and 17 years older then Pascal)
I have to be honest and say that I was not looking forward to this fight. It's not that I don't like Hopkins or Pascal. I just didn't think Hopkins's style (mostly defensive) when mixed with Pascal's style (mostly lunging, reaching punches) would result in an exciting bout. Boy was I ever wrong, this was actually a fairly entertaining fight. For those who don't know who won the fight the judge's scores, followed by comments on the result by me, will be at the end of the post.
Below are my scores for each round with comments on the rounds that stood out to me.
December 18th, 2010
Colisée Pepsi
Quebec City, Quebec
Jean Pascal vs. Bernard Hopkins
Round 1
9-9
Hopkins started the fight off with a strong jab and pushing the action. He nailed Pascal with a few solid rights and was on his way to winning the round when he was caught by a right hook that sent him to the canvas for the first time in 16 years. Watching the fight at full speed I saw a solid punch land and the resulting flash knockdown. Watching the slow motion replay I saw a solid punch land on the side of Hopkins's head. Now we all know that in boxing a punch to the back of the head is completely illegal. The side of the head, I feel, is a gray area and Hopkins just happened to take one of those gray area punches and went down.
You'll notice that I scored this round even, let me explain. I do not believe that scoring a knockdown, especially a flash knockdown automatically wins you a round. Without the knockdown the score of this round would have been 10-9 Hopkins, I don't believe that he lost the round, even with the knockdown against him. Another example of this is the first round of the Shumenov-Uzelkov fight back in July in which Shumenov dominated but got knocked down in a flash knockdown.
Round 2
10-9 Pascal
Round 3
10-8 Pascal
Once again Pascal caught Hopkins with a right and dropped him to the ground. Hopkins looked a little more hurt this time but I was not worried about him.
Round 4
10-9 Hopkins
I don't understand how you come out of your corner after knocking down your opponent and let him dictate the action. All credit to Hopkins for his digging body shots and ring generalship to bounce back big after two early knockdowns. The only way this could have gone worse for Pascal is if he went down.
Round 5
10-9 Hopkins
Round 6
10-9 Hopkins
Round 7
10-9 Hopkins
I almost scored this a 10-8 round for Hopkins. He clearly dominated from bell to bell in this round and the only reason I scored it 10-9 was because Pascal was never in danger of going down.
Round 8
10-9 Pascal
I hate myself for scoring this round for Pascal. This was a comparative round for Pascal so I gave it to him. Hopkins might have taken this round off but either way he didn't win the round and Pascal did just enough to look better then he had in the previous 3 rounds.
Round 9
10-9 Hopkins
Round 10
10-9 Hopkins
This was a very close round with lots of action from both fighters. Hopkins won the round because he worked the body and head while Pascal head hunted. Pascal landed a decent number of hard shots but I am a stickler for fundamentals and hard shots to the body are about as fundamental as it gets.
Round 11
10-9 Hopkins
Round 12
10-9 Hopkins
My final score
115-111 Hopkins
Judges Scorecards
114-112 Hopkins
113-113 Draw
114-114 Draw
Majority Draw
I don't know what to say about this fight. The decision didn't surprise me one bit. I scored it for Hopkins but I could see how some of the rounds could go to Pascal. I could also see the judges scoring that first round 10-8 Pascal as it seems that everyone but me did so. I don't and won't buy any notion that the judges were crooked and even though the fight was in Pascal's hometown only one of the judges is from Canada.
One thing I do want to say about the disappointment felt by Hopkins at the end. You are a former champion, you are a future hall of famer, you walked into Pascal's hometown and you let the decision go to the cards. In boxing there is a saying that if you want the championship of the world you have to take it from the man that is holding it. Hopkins relied on the judges to give him the championship instead of taking it from Pascal in the most definitive way possible, with a knock out. I fully expect Pascal to give Hopkins a rematch even though he is contractually obligated to give Chad Dawson a rematch as Hopkins and the "controversial" decision will give the promoters all they need to make it a big money fight.
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