"Come on, man, I had the guy beat up. He was holding; I'm the older guy. Come on, man. That's not right, man. I won every round. They got me winning damn near every round," stated future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins during a post-fight interview immediately following his title clash with WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. Although the fight ended in a majority draw, Hopkins clearly felt as though he deserved the decision after winning the majority of the rounds. "What's supposed to happen was supposed to happen. It's like going to the voting booth. Just because it's a small city and a small poll doesn't mean that the votes can't get counted correctly and right."
Indeed, Hopkins may have won more rounds, but two knockdowns early in the fight were the difference between another masterful performance and a close draw. "I mean, you've been around the game long enough Jim [Gray]. You've been around me long enough. You know, I started my career on Showtime. For a 45-year-old guy, who'll be 46 next month, to put on a gallant performance like I did after a back-of-the-head knockdown, which was really a slip with the back of the head [shot], but you didn't hear me complain. I got up and I probably won that last round," Hopkins explained as he critiqued his performance. "But I mean, you know, I dominated the fight, I threw a lot of combinations, I had a lot of energy; he was holding. Look at his face and look at mine. I think I won the fight Jim. Jim, I had more punches landed. I threw more crisper shots, he threw more bolo shots."
Although Hopkins has been in his fair share of controversial decisions and has probably grown accustomed to hearing the wrong name announced, you can tell this one won't sit quite as well as some of the others have, particularly since it was one of his best performances in a long time. "I'm too dangerous for anybody. It took me almost 8, 9 months to get this fight because they want me to sit around and get older. Hey Jim, I put on a hell of a performance for a 45-year-old man and, you know, it's going to be controversy and talks about this, but this was a sure enough robbery," Hopkins added. "And this is what hurts the sport; and I don't cry about spilled milk. The fans seen it. The fans know what it is. Pascal wasn't overly happy. He's banged up. He's a younger guy, but I took him to school."
He may not cry over spilled milk, but he'll definitely let you know what's on his mind and Hopkins continued to cry foul about the scorecards. "That's one of the reason that most fighters from the States don't like fighting outside of the country; it's because of this. It's because of this. I mean, I put up a gallant performance. One thing about fans, they watch and they hear everything. You don't see Pascal jumping around happy. You don't see him jumping around joyful. Now when you talk to him, he's going to change the pace, because now politics comes in. You see how I'm talking; I got no bruises. I believe I won it. I know I won the fight," Hopkins reiterated before the interview concluded.
FightHype scored the bout 114-112 in favor of the 45-year-old living legend, however, to be fair, there were a couple of close rounds that could have gone either way, depending on your view of the fight, so the two knockdowns early in the bout made the scores a lot closer than they probably should have been. Hopkins will complain that the knockdowns weren't legitimate, due largely in part to shots landing on the back of his head as opposed to landing flush. Nevertheless, the punches landed and down he went, leaving a ref with an obstructed view no choice but to score it knockdown. The good news for Hopkins is that he weathered the storm, took some big shots from a younger, more athletic fighter and was still able to hang, turn the fight around and dominate the supposedly hungrier man. Not to mention, it was one of his most entertaining performance in a long time, backing up and beating down a guy who was favored 2-1 to win. The bad news is that Ol' Snaggletooth is still a force to be reckoned with by the younger generation, who's supposed to already be taking over the reigns in a sport still searching for future stars. Unbelievably, we could end up with a scenario where Bernard Hopkins is the best light heavyweight in the world and Glen Johnson is the best super middleweight in the world. That's a scary thought.
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