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The seemingly ageless Bernard Hopkins will engage in his 59th professional contest when he puts his WBC light heavyweight title on the line against Chad Dawson tonight at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The 46 year old former world middleweight champion will be facing the significantly younger, 29 year old Dawson, who is also taller, quicker, likely stronger and a southpaw to boot.
None of which bothers Hopkins in the least.
Confidence is something Hopkins, 52-5-2 (32), always has in surplus and the Philadelphian takes that unshakable belief in himself and his abilities into the ring tonight against Dawson, 30-1 (17), a former WBC, IBF and IBO light heavyweight titlist.
While Dawson does hold many advantages over the older champion, if he can’t break the self-belief of Hopkins, he’ll never win the fight.
In order to upset Hopkins, Dawson must be willing to set and maintain a fast pace that will make Hopkins feel each one of those 46 years in each successive round.
But Hopkins is very good at controlling the tempo of his fights and will try to enforce a medium paced bout from a distance that will allow him to conserve energy by only fighting in bursts, launching the unexpected and fast lead right hands followed up by bodywork in close.
If Dawson can press Hopkins behind a high work-rate without letting up and keeping Hopkins on the defensive, the lanky Connecticut stylist could walk out of Staples Center with the WBC belt.
Dawson managed this against Glen Johnson in 2008 but tonight’s fight presents a far more difficult assignment and only Joe Calzaghe has pulled it off against the post-middleweight Hopkins.
The undercard has a few good fights, headed up by a clash for the vacant WBC lightweight strap between Jorge Linares, 31-1 (20), and Antonio DeMarco, 25-2-1 (18).
Linares is the more accomplished man, having held the WBC feather and WBA super feather crowns, losing only by way of first round KO to current IBF super feather king Juan Carlos Salgado in 2009.
Since then, Linares has seen off four opponents, most notably Rocky Juarez and Jesus Chavez, although the Venezuelan has yet to fight as a true lightweight while Mexican southpaw DeMarco has traded in the 135 pound class since 2005.
DeMarco will have the height and reach advantage against Linares and has won two straight suffering his only career loss, a 9th round stoppage against Edwin Valero last year, including winning a WBC title eliminator last year against Reyes Sanchez.
This bout is a true 50-50 fight and should be very exciting for as long as it lasts as the larger DeMarco will try to cut off the ring against the quicker Linares.
In a battle for the number two spot in the light welter rankings of the WBC and IBF, unbeaten prospect Danny Garcia, 21-0 (14), steps up to meet former WBO strapholder Kendall Holt, 27-4 (15), in a 12 rounder for the vacant WBO Intercontinental trophy.
Two former world champs appear in a pair of ten rounders as ex-IBF light welter beltholder Paulie Malignaggi, 29-4 (6), goes up against Orlando Lora, 28-1-1 (19), at welter while former WBA welterweight boss Luis Callazo, 31-4 (16), squares off against Freddy Hernandez, 29-2 (20), at light middle.
