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Chad Dawson won the WBC light heavyweight title from Bernard Hopkins on Saturday, lasting through 12 grueling rounds of a rematch at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
From the start, ageless wonder Hopkins managed to do the one thing that would give him a chance to defeat his faster, stronger, taller 29 year old southpaw challenger; control the pace of the bout.
At 47, Hopkins has to fight at a very measured pace if he is to go for 12 long rounds and he managed to do this against Dawson, who isn’t exactly a whirlwind of energy himself, by never letting the challenger get comfortable.
Hopkins used his educated footwork to evade Dawson’s advances and circle until he could leap in with a trademark lead right hands and then grab Dawson in a clinch.
This led to a lot of non-action, wrestling and mauling on the inside but it did make it difficult for Dawson to use his advantages, exactly the intentions of Hopkins.
Dawson suffered cuts above both eyes but managed to overcome the injuries as well as the tactics of Hopkins, gaining room to fight often enough to lash the champion with hard left hands and occasional uppercuts.
Dawson won the majority of the exchanges, when they did occur, and that was enough to capture two of the scorecards by a margin of 117-112 while the third was a tie at 114-114, resulting in a maority decision verdict for Dawson.
Regaining the WBC title he held from 2007-2008, Dawson sees his record to 31-1 (17), while Hopkins, engaging in his 60th pro contest, falls to 52-6-2 (32).
There was a high octane heavyweight clash on the undercard pitting undefeated slugger Seth Mitchell, 25-0-1 (19), against the more experienced Chazz Witherspoon, 30-3 (22).
The seasoned Witherspoon went right at Mitchell, canvassing the ex-football player with a parade of right hands but somehow Mitchell managed to survive the opening round.
Mitchell got back in the fight by targeting the taller Witherspoon’s body, crippling the offense of his antagonist in the process and flooring Witherspoon in the third.
Witherspoon beat the count but could not keep Michell off during the follow up assault and the fight was called off at 2:31 of the third.
