Hopkins vs. Dawson: B-Hop's Experience Won't Save Him Against Bad Chad

Saturday night's tilt between Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson is the kind of fight that belongs in a movie at the back end of the Rocky series. It's a battle between an aged veteran and a brash youngster.

This is real life? Yes? Sweet.

The bout is slated to kick off at 10:15 p.m. ET, with HBO handling the TV duties. That's when we're finally going to find out if the 47-year-old Hopkins has it in him to finish off the 29-year-old Dawson.

He didn't get a chance to do that in their last bout, of course. Back in October, Dawson scored a TKO that was ultimately ruled a no-contest. A closer look by the WBC determined that the dislocated joint Hopkins suffered in his shoulder was the result of an illegal foul, which was the correct ruling to make.

Dawson forgot that he was in a boxing match and treated it like a WWE match instead. 

A lot of people are rooting for Hopkins to teach Dawson a lesson after what happened in October, but those same people should realize the reality of the situation.

Hopkins was an elite boxer once upon a time. He's not an elite boxer anymore. Dawson, on the other hand, is at least a very good boxer. He's younger and faster than Hopkins, and a matchup nightmare. This is a fight he should win.

It's not going to be definitive, though. Physically, Hopkins isn't capable of doing what he was once able to do. He'll have to compensate for that by playing things safe against Dawson, and that's something he should have no trouble doing.

Hopkins is not going to give Dawson many openings, and he's not going to fall into any of Dawson's traps. He'll look to lure Dawson into a few of his own instead. Look for Hopkins to land a few punches in retreat.

A conservative approach will allow Hopkins to stay in this fight to the bitter end. My question is whether he's going to be able to score enough points with the judges.

Dawson knows he's younger and quicker, but that doesn't mean he has an excuse to be reckless in the ring with Hopkins. He also knows that Hopkins is going to try to get in his head and frustrate him in the ring, hopefully goading him into doing something stupid again.

Dawson has the edge physically. If he cancels out Hopkins' mental edge, this bout is going to be one-sided from start to finish.

It would surely be a great story if Hopkins got into the ring and went toe-to-toe with Dawson. But in this bout, most think he'll be lucky if he can last a full 12 rounds.

That said, I think Hopkins will be able to endure through 12 rounds. I just don't think he'll be able to do enough damage to earn a decision.

Prediction: Dawson by decision