As of right now,Hopkins doesn't have a damn thing for Dawson. Hopkins can beat Pascal because Pascal can't box.So Hopkins used his craftiness and boxing skills to neutralize Pascal's reckless energy burst flurries. There no way i see B-Hop beating Dawson right now,especially by ko.The only way imo is by decision and i dont see that happening either. Dawson's a southpaw with tremendous boxing skill,fast hands and a solid defense.Dawson is taller than Hopkins,has a longer reach and is a natural light heavy weight.It appeared in the brief 2 rounds of there fight that Dawson was the stronger bigger man at 175lbs.Need i say the obvious,,Dawson is younger than Hopkins.Then again,,what active fighter isn't.All this mentioned above matters most when you have two fighters with the same skill level,or boxing ability.Every advantage counts. Pascal wasn't in Hopkins league.He's not even in Dawson's league,but because he has a loss against Pascal alot of people write Dawson off so quick and start talking "oh Dawson sucks" "Dawson's a *****" but thats not the case at all. The truth is Dawson gave Pascal his title plain n simple.Dawson is a way better fighter than a Jean Pascal.We would have all seen that already if they would have had an immediate rematch,which they should of considering the way the first fight ended.Whatever.We all know Pascal wanted to use the belts to make a few bucks so he took the B-Hop fight,giving Hopkins some more glory by beating a far less skilled fighter who shouldn't have had the title in the first place. Looks like the Hopkins vs Dawson fight will be turned to a NC. Get the rematch made so Dawson can have his titles back. IMO Hopkins dont beat Dawson and neither does Pascal in a rematch.
All three judges had Dawson winning the first round. That said Hopkins was using good footwork, basically copying what Pascal did, keeping distance and staying away from Dawson's jab, and trying to force Dawson to use his land hand more to get him off balance. Because Dawson is a right-handed southpaw his strong hand isn't his left. Dawson knew this that's why he was trying to corner Hopkins and walk him down, and it was working because Hopkins was fighting off his back-foot for most of the fight.
Dawson was on his way to losing an embarrassing decision that would have put his status in serious doubt. He got out of the fight by body slamming a senior citizen. HOP will get his belt returned and leave Dawson floating in the wind. No rematch.
I noticed people who really don't follow boxing don't quite understand Dawson... Dawson is probably the most technical fighter out right now.. his angles and footwork are top notch. He wasn't babied like other young fighters.. he wasn't a superstar amateur who is spoon fed opponents. Dawson is the truth.
This ...... Sadly enough not many on this forum would agree with you and this is coming from a huge Bhop supporter. Some fans/fighters just have a nack for identifying true god given skill and talent. Dawson for all his mental flaws is physically one of the most gifted fighters I've ever seen. He's hardy a Zab head case but he shows way to many gaps in his game. If he was to fill those holes he would surely go down as an ATG but all the tools havent been put in place and who knows if they ever will.