I wouldn't be surprised either way, but I'll take Hopkins narrowly I suppose. One thing I definitely envision is an ugly fight.
I'd say this fight once again illustrates the short-comings of the current fight game. Pascal has no skill, stamina or determination to speak of, only a decent amount of athleticism. Hopkins worked him over with "old school" tactics, basically a left hook to the body that Pascal had no answers for.
Hopkins definitely took this I think the draw was bull**** espescially since that was a horrible call on the first knockdown
I thought Hopkins won the fight but he definitely won the event. You just don't see guys especially his age do what he did and I have him above guys like Pacquiao-RJJ-Floyd TBH. I might still be high on the performance from yesterday but ah well, he's still one of the greatest older guys to ever lace em up.
I actually had Pascal winning by a point. My card: 115-114 Pascal Hopkins: 4,6,7,9 and 11. Pascal 1,2,3 and 5. Rounds 1 and 3 being ten-eight rounds. Rounds 8,10 and 12 being even. Another either way Bernard Hopkins kinda fight for mine. I will say one thing though, what a dumb fighter Pascal is. Throwing 20 punches per round and hardly ANY body shots against a guy in his mid-40's? Really? Getting outhustled by a guy old enough to be your dad? Really? Pascal was landing the cleaner, harder shots, but Bernard stayed in the fight and arguably won just by his willingness to let his hands go. Even at 50% Bernard is holding his own against these guys... Hats off to him, but he really showed how average Pascal is tonight more than anything imo.
It was a very close fight, I think I actually had it even (there's 2-3 rounds I want to watch again). Some of the rounds were close as hell. Pascal's speed was causing Hopkins some problems early, he was getting caught when coming in. Once Hopkins worked this out, he started going to the body, clinching when they were close so Pascal really wasn't getting many punches off. Pascal seems very one dimensional, he just didn't know what to do once his plan stopped working...he was hardly throwing anything some rounds. He didn't go to the body, wasn't aggressive enough and seemed lost for ideas for the most part. All in all in was another great performance by Hopkins, he's one of the old school for sure, such a smart fighter.
I loved the way he created the angle on the left hook to the body. I felt he won it, wider than most actually. Pascal really did not do much and Hops outworked him, and had the better defence.
I thought it was a domination by Hopkins something like 9-3. I did score 1 and 3 as 10-8rounds, but as Hopkins was winning them, there's a case for them to be only 10-9s or evens imo. SS you can't have 3 even rounds
Outside of the Jones fight, every fight Hopkins didn´t win after that I always thought he proved he was the better fighter. But this does not mean you win a fight, sadly. This was a close fight, considering that the champ fought in his hometown I don´t have a big problem with the decision.
Why not? I'd score 12 even rounds if I thought a fight warranted it. I'm sure if I went over it again looking to split hairs I could carve those rounds out to a certain fighter, but whilst giving it a first watch, that's how I saw it.
116-112 Hopkins. I don't think you can class it as a robbery though. There were a few rounds that could have gone either way. I was not surprised at the judges scorecards.