Against a fighter 17 years younger, Bernard Hopkins turned in another age-defying performance Saturday in Quebec City. The 45-year-old looked fresh into the final round and outlanded Jean Pascal, but he didn't do enough in the eyes of the judges to walk away with the WBC light heavyweight title.
Hopkins' (51-5-2, 32 KOs) chances were hurt severely at the start of the fight when he hit the deck in the first and third rounds. In a spirited scrap, the knockdowns gave Pascal just enough cushion to retain his belt via majority draw, 114-114, 113-113 and 112-114.
Hopkins was effective to the body in Rounds 5-12 and scored with leaping left hooks on numerous occasions, but he landed his heaviest shots after the fight.
"I dominated the fight. I threw a lot of combinations. I had a lot of energy. He was holding," Hopkins told Showtime announcer Jim Gray. "Look at his face and look at mine. I threw the more crisper shots. He threw more bolo shots."
The Haitian-born Pascal, who lives in Laval, Quebec, walked away with his belt, while Hopkins was denied the chance to become the oldest world champion in the history of boxing.
"I put on a helluva performance for a 45-year-old man. It's going to be controversy and talks about this. This was a sure enough robbery," Hopkins said. "And this is what hurts the sport. I'm not going to cry over spilt milk. The fans seen it. The fans know what it is."
Hopkins won over the 16,500 in attendance at the Pepsi Coliseum, who booed the decision.
As far as a robbery, Hopkins' passion is understandable, but it was far from a ripoff.
Showtime's crew, Al Bernstein and Antonio Tarver, were split on the fight. Bernstein scored it 114-112 for Hopkins while Tarver had the same score for Pascal. Showtime's press row scorers -- Bernard Fernandez, Albert Ladouceur and Herb Zurkowsky -- gave a split decision to Hopkins.
Yahoo! Sports' lead boxing writer Kevin Iole had it 114-112 for Hopkins. SI.com's Chris Mannix scored it 113-113, while Tim Smith from the N.Y. Daily News had Hopkins 114-112. The Yahoo! boxing blog scored it 114-112 for Pascal.
Showtime's Gray had his mind made up that Hopkins won the fight and aggressively confronted Pascal, asking him how he earned a draw.
"I do believe I won the fight," said Pascal, 28. "That wasn't my best fight but Bernard likes to fight ugly, dirty. It's not that he's that good. He's a tough guy to box. He's always coming with his head."
Hopkins led with his noggin throughout the fight and often ducked. It cost him in the first and third rounds, when Pascal put him down.
The first knockdown punch appeared to be borderline. Hopkins wasn't hurt badly. In the third, Pascal landed a left hook and a left to the chest, while B-Hop was on the ropes. His momentum took him to the ground.
"I don't think [the first-round knockdown] was legitimate; I ain't [going to beef] about it. I'm a warrior. I ain't complaining about it. I got up and fought like a champion," Hopkins said.
"For a 45-year-old, soon to be 46 next month, to put on the kind of performance? I did it after a back-of-the-head knockdown, which was really a slip, but you didn't hear me complain. I got up and fought, and won that last round."
Hopkins has every right to complain, but then he entered silly territory by saying this is why he rarely fights outside the U.S.
"Just because it's a small city in a small poll doesn't mean the votes can't be counted correctly, right? This is the reason that most [American] fighters don't like fighting out of the country. It's because of this," Hopkins said.
Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs) scoffed at the assertion that the judges were slanted toward him.
"We got fair judges in Canada," said Pascal.
"One thing about fans, they hear and they watch everything. You don't see Pascal jumping around. You don't see Pascal jumping around joyful," Hopkins said.
Hopkins did outland Pascal 171-105. According to Compubox, he also landed more power shots.
It was a very good performance by a guy who turns 46 on Jan. 15. Hopefully, Hopkins continues to fight and calls out someone like Lucian Bute or the best fighters from the Showtime Super Six, Carl Froch and Andre Ward.
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