A seasoned soldier with plenty of fight left in him became the oldest boxer ever to win a title. Bernard Hopkins' rematch against Jean Pascal for the WBC Light Heavyweight Championship can be summed up as; Mission Accomplished.
The two fighters fought to a draw last December with Pascal retaining his belt. Many thought the Canadian judges rescued Pascal, a Canadian citizen, by giving him the draw. Last night's fight had no Canadian judges (italy, philippines, thailand) as Hopkins, a Philadelphia native, out punched, out maneuvered and simply out worked the 28 year old champ.
The fight was one of the ugliest fight's I've ever seen. The British referee could've done a better job keeping the fight clean. Between the eye gouging, head butting, rabbit punching and bull rushing, a fight did take place and 46 year old Bernard Hopkins was the decisive winner on all three judges' scorecards. Unlike many Hopkins fights, Bernard attacked and gave viewers plenty of action.
Another first in this HBO feature was afterwards when Bernard was presented with the belt he gentlemanly walked over to Pascal and put the belt on his shoulder telling him to keep it.
Congratulations B-Hop on your legendary championship.
