If the press conference for Saturday night's fight between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal is any indication, Hopkins may have just won the preflight psychological battle over Pascal. There was a brief scuffle over Pascal’s title belt in which Hopkins appeared to dominate and then in the following stare down, Pascal couldn’t or wouldn’t meet Hopkins gaze. Hopkins came off as cool and in control, while Pascal seemed flustered and intimidated. We’ll see how that plays out in the fight.
Hopkins, at 45 years of age, has been through this countless times and has a huge edge in experience, especially in the quality of opponents. But Pascal, at 28, has the advantage of youth. Hopkin’s fights can sometimes seem dull and tedious but he always has a plan and he almost always sticks with it. If Pascal goes into the fight angry it won’t take much for Hopkins to frustrate him. Hopkins knows every trick in the book and my gut feeling is that Hopkins is going to give Pascal a spanking Saturday but the fight will go the distance.
There’s no way tp honestly predict what will happen but if hard work counts for anything Hopkins should be in great shape. Hopkins has the height and reach advantage and you can bet your last dollar that he’ll use that advantage to the fullest.
If Hopkins wins, he’ll become the oldest boxer to win a prominent world title, replacing the venerable George Foreman, who recaptured the heavyweight title by knocking out Michael Moorer in 1994, twenty years after losing the title to Muhammad Ali in 1974.
I’ll be rooting for Hopkins to win this fight. If he wins it’ll be good for boxing and it’ll be good for us old guys, but win, lose or draw, you can be sure that we are seeing the end of an amazing career and one that has had it’s share of adversity. Someday he can tell his grandkids that no one ever handed him anything on a silver platter, he earned everything the hard way. Can’t fault a man like that.
Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal will fight on Satursay night at the Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Both the WBC light heavyweight title and the International Boxing Organization light heavyweight title will be at stake. The fight will be Shown on Showtime Championship Boxing.
As always, let the best man win.
 |
| Photo and weights courtesy of Fightnews.com |
By Dave Spencer at the scale
Photos: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
Bernard Hopkins 174.6 vs. Jean Pascal 174.10
(WBC light heavyweight championship)
Paul Malignaggi 148.8 vs. Michael Lozada 148.6
Peter Quillin 164.14 vs. Martin Desjardins 164.5
Pier Olivier Cote 138.12 vs. Cesar Soriano 138.12
Tyson Fury 268.14 vs. Zack Page 212.3
Kevin Bizier 148.10 vs. Ronnie Warrior 149.2
Daniel Jacobs 164.12 vs. Jesse Orta 164.10
Eric Martel Bahoeli 239.4 vs. Ruben Rivera 261.5
Mikael Zewski 157.3 vs. Leonardo Rojas 159.9
No comments:
Post a Comment