Why did Hopkins go for Pascal, but never took a fight with Dawson?

I've asked this a couple of times before but I can't remember anybody ever answering it.

How come Hopkins never went after a fight against Dawson? His last meaningful fight was October 2008 against Pavlik, which saw his stock rise really high again. Surely a fight against Dawson would have been lucrative, but he never seemed to go for it.

I thought it was because he didn't feel like mixing it with the younger guys any more, but as soon as Pascal won the title he went straight after him for a title shot.

Was there some reason, like they couldn't work out terms or something? Or is it just Hopkins might have had trouble in a fight against Dawson so he never went for it?

 

surely its because they would struggle to sell out the back room of a pub for that fight? whereas pascal brings thousands of canadians.

 

Can't be that can it? Remember before the Pascal/Dawson fight loads of people were talking about how load of tickets were unsold and Canadian posters were saying he wasn't that well known.

Plus didn't Hopkins/Winky do alright in numbers, is Winky a better sell? Plus Dawson was HBO's marquee fighter, surely they would have gone for it.

 

might be better money on the table for hopkins as pascal wants to prove he really is taking over America..

 

Pascal has a fanbase and Dawson doesn’t. That’s pretty much Hopkins reasoning. Plus, when it was mooted, there was no upside to Hopkins winning. Dawson needed to face Johnson at the time too.

And, it’s safe to say, Hopkins style is better suited to a smaller, more static, low-volume guy like Pascal. Dawson is relatively high-volume, has decent pop and moves constantly – all things Hopkins can’t deal with now. Add in the hand speed and it was all risk and no reward for Bernard.

 

For me, Bernard saw that Dawson was a young, fresh unbeaten champion and knew that it'd be a tough ask to beat him with his style. Unless we saw something completely different from Hopkins (which I highly doubt with B-Hop's age), Dawson would've won comfortably. Pascal's far more beatable for Hopkins. That said, I don't think Hopkins has enough in him to beat Jean Pascal in Canada either.

 

I don't understand it ethier......

I think Pascal is gonna end Bernard Hopkins career.

 

Mostly though, he saw money - or rather the lack of it he'd get fighting Dawson.

 

But is Pascal that much of a better seller than Dawson? Will he shirt PPV sales or are they relying on the gate in Canada.

 

Simply because he thinks he has a better chance vs Pascal imo. Pascal is quicker than Hopkins but the timing of bernard is 1 thing that has always remained and I think he may be able to pick him off with shots, then grab and rough him up on the inside. I reckon it will be fascinating to watch and very close but not exactly a FOTY candidate for its action

 

Pretty sure that I heard it's been taken off of PPV so it's obviously not that much of a seller. Pascal clearly brings more to the table than Dawson though, even if it isn't significantly more.

 

It's not on PPV. They're getting a straight fee. I expect Pascal gets the lion's share of the money. Pascal is definitely a bigger draw than Dawson. People actually buy tickets for Pascal's fights, even if he's not as big as Bute.

Dawson fights sell poorly wherever he goes (he's even worse than Bradley in that regard). He's the definition of a TV fighter. For the Johnson rematch Shaw was papering the house trying to fill seats for the cameras.

 

Just like when i ask people, how is David Haye gonna beat Audley Harrison technically. I can remember awhile back, i asked the general public of the British forum...

How is Bernard Hopkins going to beat Jean Pascal technically, break it down...?

And nobody was able to answer me.

People just came up with aload of **** like...

Oh timing..

Just bull**** basically..

Bernard Hopkins is getting his ass beat.

 

Go on then genius, you tell us how Audley Harrison and Jean Pascal are "technically" going to win?

 

Really, do you think Hopkins could be doing this for his legacy, to regain the LHW title one more time. Or could he be looking at a possible lucrative defense if he wins?

That's a fairly depressing notion isn't it. Two of their young world champions (well, one formerly), and fighters from other countries get more attention. Boxing in the US is really sinking.