Hopkins vs. Dawson: Hopkins Retains Belt After WBC Reverses Bizarre Finish

A bout that not many people saw ended with one of the most bizarre endings of the year.

Well, that ending just took another strange twist, as the WBC has allowed Bernard Hopkins to maintain his light heavyweight belt. 

On Saturday, the referee ruled Hopkins the loser to Chad Dawson when Hopkins went down in the second round of the fight. 

Upon collapsing, Hopkins separated his left shoulder and was disqualified when he could no longer fight. The WBC has reversed that call to a technical draw, so the fight that mere thousands saw on Saturday has essentially been nullified. 

The odd ending will get little publicity since the Hopkins vs. Dawson card failed to garner the buzz that both fighters wanted. The L.A. Times reports that Dawson's camp was unwilling to schedule a rematch after the fight. 

It seems that Hopkins' promoter, Richard Schaefer, is thinking better at pitting these two boxers together for another bout. He was quoted as saying, "Ticket sales and the pay-per-view were poor, and it certainly had nothing to do with Bernard Hopkins."

I am not one to disagree, but the paltry showing at least had something to do with Hopkins, who is far from a marquee draw in the sport. 

In fact, without this bizarre ending in the second round, we would have little to mention from a fight that Hopkins should have controlled from the opening bell. 

This is just another sign that boxing is a hit-or-miss endeavor for the average sports fan. Schaefer had these words of wisdom to extol:

"

"I don't need a media guy to tell me how to do a pay-per-view. We tried to sell the fight. Chad Dawson is not as charismatic as he needs to be to sell a pay-per-view. Our team [knows] how to market a pay-per-view. We know what we're doing."

 

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Many would beg to differ, as Hopkins failed to carry the numbers of the fight, much less finish it. Only in the world of boxing would charisma be called out as a necessary trait to be successful.  

At the very least Hopkins still has his title to milk in his next bout. I can only imagine his next endeavour would draw even less numbers without it. The WBC surely saved Hopkins' neck in more ways than one.