To start of this fight never needed a rematch in the first place. But Bernard Hopkins was robbed in their first bout, a draw in Quebec City. Many believed that Jean Pascal had received hometown cooking. But since this is boxing and there is always controversy there would be an ordered rematch.
Now to start things off in my view Jean Pascal is 1. Is not a very good boxer technique wise. 2. Is built weird he seems to be top heavy. 3. Doesn’t have very stable legs. Sitting here watching this fight, I asked myself how in the hell did he beat Chad Dawson? Chad most have really had an off night.
Moving to the fight The Philadelphia native played up his uncanny fitness in the pre-fight banter and looked the fresher man throughout the bout, taunting Pascal by doing push-ups as he waited for him to start the seventh round and doing them again after the fight. In many respects Hopkins looked like he was the younger man landing powerful combinations that Pascal had no answer for.
By the ninth round Pascal legs begin to look like a wet sponge. Even though in the twelfth he had a good round, Pascal just didn’t seem to have enough left in the tank to get the win.
Hopkins landed more punches and was able to slip many of Pascal's power shots, answering with clever jabs and scoring more than once on right-hand leads.
By winning Bernard Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a major world championship, taking the WBC light heavyweight title Saturday night from Jean Pascal at the age of 46.
Hopkins (52-5-2) broke the age record set by George Foreman in a heavyweight title victory over Michael Moorer in 1994. Hopkins won at 46 years, 4 months, 6 days. Foreman was 45 years, 10 months.
Bernard Hopkins already had lived several boxing lifetimes, but he was born yet again in Saturday's decision over Jean Pascal, becoming the oldest champion in history.
"I won't retire until I'm 50," Hopkins said.
He won the WBC, IBO and The Ring magazine titles from the 28-year-old Pascal (26-2-1), the Montreal fighter who was making his fifth defense before 17,560 at the Bell Centre.
"He's a great champion. He has great defense and a lot of tricks. I was a young champion," Pascal said of Hopkins in the ring afterward. "These two fights will help take me to the next level. I learned a lot from Bernard and his style."
Unlike his counterpart Roy Jones Jr., Bernard has seemed to find a fountain of youth. You just wonder will he make till 50 as the champ, we will see. His next fight won’t be easy as he faces another tough test in former champ Chad Dawson (30-1) who in the co-feature also won his fight. Dawson showed masterful defense and crisp punching in scoring a 12-round unanimous decision over Montreal's Adrian Diaconu in a light heavyweight elimination bout.
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