Bernard Hopkins vs Jean Pascal - Shades of Archie Moore vs Yvon Durelle

First off, who the **** said Canada doesn't give bad decisions? Bull****, bull****! Every place gives bad decisions. Shades of Archie Moore vs Yvon Durelle with the much older Moore coming back after being knocked down 3 times in the 1st round only to stop his younger, faster opponent. What a great fight! This was actually a very exciting chess match with Hopkins commanding the center ring and actually bossing the younger Pascal. Not half of the clinch-hold fest most predicted. Pascal basically won the fight on a incredibly debatable "rabbit" punch knockdown and the fact that the fight was in Canada. Look at the body language after the fight... he was demoralized. Hopkins controlled the center of the ring, landed more punches, worked the body, landed some combinations, and landed clean punches. The old man ****ing outworked the 20's something guy.

RD 1 - 10-8 Pascal
RD 2 - 10-9 Pascal
RD 3 - 10-8 Pascal
RD 4 - 10-9 Hopkins
RD 5 - 10-9 Hopkins
RD 6 - 10-9 Hopkins
RD 7 - 10-9 Hopkins
*RD 8 - 10-9 Hopkins
RD 9 - 10-9 Hopkins
RD 10 - 10-9 Hopkins
RD 11 - 10-9 Hopkins
*RD 12 - 10-10 Draw

Hopkins 115-112

Stars by the two debatable rounds. Round 8 could've been given to Pascal for cleaner shots. Round 12 you have an old man out-working and trying to take the title away from the young guy. Pascal looked demoralized at this point. I think he landed some clean counter shots, though, so I did score that round a draw. I think Hopkins could've won it based on the fact that he was being aggressive, pushing Pascal, and landing his fair share of shots. The worst case scenario for Hopkins is you give Pascal those two star rounds. That could be his only best case, and the only way for him to get a draw. But when you have an old guy giving the fans a fight and creating excitement and actually bossing the other guy back and making him look a beaten fighter in the 12th round its hard to score the other guy the round just because he landed a few cleaner shots. Don't forget, Hopkins out-worked him in that round. And Hopkins essentially played the role of bull, matador, and counter-puncher. Scoring either the 12th or 8th for Pascal is possible, but scoring both rounds for Pascal feels generous.

My take? A pretty close, but clear win for a legend. Either way, Hopkins is a legend and reiterates his greatness regardless of how "not so great" Pascal is. He came back and proved greatness through adversity. Unfortunately, they did their best to take it from him.

 

Bump. Essentially Hopkins got the worst case scenario. Really sucks. He earned it.

 

An error on my part. I had it 10-8 Pascal and that score conveys the 115-112 score I had. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

Yeah. I never thought so much of Pascal. But he was mobile and he is fast. I think he's harder to stop than Durelle regardless of whether he's better or not. I'm not sure at this point anyway... they're probably comparable. Both can punch for sure.