Chad Dawson's trainer predicts Hopkins will beat Pascal
In the lead-up to a recently agreed-to fight between light heavyweight veteran Bernard Hopkins and WBC/IBO/Ring Magazine champion Jean Pascal, light heavyweight contender Chad Dawson’s trainer, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, has said that Hopkins has what it takes to defeat Pascal.
Muhammad is aware that Hopkins turns 46 on 15 January, and will be facing a man 19 years his junior, but still believes if Hopkins has the right direction he can win the titles. Hopkins was the IBF middleweight champion for an astonishing 10 years, and is the first fighter in history to retain all four major boxing sanctioning body belts in the same fight.
“Bernard can win this fight, he can. He has to fight him like he fought Roy Jones, he has to go right after him. I don't see nothing that great about Pascal,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad was not pleased with the treatment he received in Montreal for the recent bout between Pascal and Dawson. Pascal managed to secure an upset win that earned him the prestigious Ring Magazine light heavyweight title and tarnished Dawson’s otherwise undefeated record.
“The whole situation was bad,” Muhammad recalled. “We were treated like third class citizens by (Pascal promoter) Yvon Michel. One day, we had no ride to the gym. We unpacked our bags and, when it was time to go to the gym, the driver had left us on Michel's orders.”
Other experts are not ruling Hopkins out of the fight, who has aged in the ring somewhat better than long-time rivals Roy Jones and James Toney. Richard Schaefer, who promotes Hopkins said: "Throughout his career, Bernard has looked for challenges. Can Bernard become the linear light-heavyweight champion again at nearly 46 years of age? If there's anything I've learned about the man, it is that you can never sell him short. Bernard is a smart guy, inside and outside the ring. I have no doubt he knows exactly what he is getting himself into,” Schaefer concluded.
There's no question Hopkins is facing a huge uphill climb, but if he were to win against Pascal it would add another huge chapter to his legacy as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
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