WHATEVER Hopkins is taking, they should bottle it up, slap a patent on it, and market it as the elixir of youth.
In a remarkable performance worthy for the ages and the aged in boxing, 45- year-old Hopkins bucked two knockdowns inflicted by his powerful 28-year-old opponent early in the fight and proceeded to dominate Jean Pascal in the second half.
But let?s not get too far ahead of ourselves here. While the struggle between the old warrior and young champion was compelling, it was by no means a pretty sight.
PASCAL?S STRENGTH. Coming into the fight, the muscular Pascal was riding on the crest of his stunning upset victory over the then-unbeaten Chad Dawson. In that fight, Dawson looked sluggish early and Pascal jumped on him to establish a commanding lead.
For this fight, the burly Dawson again came out with some aggression, which was promptly rewarded with a knockdown in the first round.
The egregious blow seemed to land on the back of Hopkins?s head, but the fact that it was strong enough to drop him served notice of the brute strength that the old warrior had to contend with.
Hopkins fought back, but the early rounds clearly belonged to Pascal and this circumstance was punctuated by another knockdown in the third round.
HOPKIN?S GUILE. ?The Executioner,? however, would not go down that easy, and he willed himself back into the fight by stymieing Pascal?s forays with sneaky counters.
He would then proceed to belt Pascal?s torso with nasty looking bodyshots which eventually paid dividends as the Canadian?s output significantly slowed down.
In recent years, old man Popkins has been reduced to fighting in spurts. The cerebral fighter that he is, he must have seen something in Pascal he thought he could exploit.
And if I may venture forth a hypothesis, he must have noticed Pascal?s tendency to fade in the late stages of a fight, and so he was clearly biding his time.
In the championship rounds, the veteran warrior took the fight to the young champion and looked great doing it, as his blows were more accurate and his defense held up.
DRAW. The fact, however, that the decision ended in a draw is not as ludicrous as some have suggested.
Pascal did some nice work in the early half of the fight, and could arguably have won all the first five rounds. And even if he didn?t sweep them, the added two points from the two knockdowns, certainly meant that Hopkins indeed had to rally to pull off the coup.
RECORDS. Think about it. Hopkins was crowned the most dominant middleweight in the past two decades. Some fighters would be lucky to pull off the nod in a single decade, let alone two.
Plus, he also owns the record of holding the most consecutive middleweight title defenses with 20 straight.
In the Pascal fight, Hopkins was gunning to beat Foreman?s record of winning a title at 45 years of age. The draw verdict was certainly a bummer for him.
But perhaps it will serve a different purpose. Hopkins will turn 46 next month, on Jan. 15, 2011 to be exact. If the rematch happens anytime next year, he will have the opportunity to improve upon Foreman?s record by a few more months.
FIGHT CALENDAR. Mark your 2011 calendar this early guys. It?s mixed martial arts time on Jan. 14 for URCC 6 at the Cebu International Convention Center, 7 p.m.
Then on Jan. 29 at the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel, Rey Bautista will duke it out again with Mexico?s Alejandro Barrera in a rematch of their fight in August of this year.
?Boom-Boom? is out to prove that his TKO win over Barrera caused by a cut was no fluke.
LAST ROUND. It?s on my daughter Julia Emmanuelle, who turns 10 this week. Indeed, time flies so fast, baby, cheers!
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 21, 2010.
