At the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, a crowd of over 16,000 screaming fans saw Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1) and Jean Pascal (26-1) battle to a twelve round majority draw.
Pascal came out on the backfoot with Hopkins as the stalker. Pascal appeared to be a lot smaller than Hopkins. Near the end of the first, Pascal landed a counter hook as Hopkins came in and it put him down. Hopkins tried to complain that he was hit to the back of head but the ref gave him a count. Hopkins did better in the second with some well placed counters, but Pascal came right back in the third with good combinations to push Hopkins back. In the final minute, Pascal came in with a combination and sent Hopkins down for the second time in the fight.
In the fourth, Pascal continued to land with his faster punches. He caught Hopkins again with a hook that sent Hopkins down, but this time it was waved off because the ref felt the punch landed to the back of the head. Pascal was landing some very fast hooks in the fifth. Hopkins had no answers for Pascal’s fast hands. In the sixth, Hopkins had a very good round by landing some straight punches coming in and walking Pascal down.
Hopkins continued the rally in the seventh round with quick combinations jumping in. They traded punches for the final ten seconds. The eight round was close as Pascal began to pick the pace back up. In the ninth, Hopkins started to land a few combinations to Pascal on the inside to the head and body. They started trading punches in the final thirty seconds.
A close tenth round with both fighters having their moments. Hopkins did good work to the body and Pascal was landing better to the head. In the eleventh, they started trading punches in the first minute. Hopkins landing to the head and body. They traded punches again in the final ten seconds.Hopkins went after Pascal at the start of the twelfth. Hopkins was landing well and Pascal was countering on the inside. Hopkins was throwing punches in bunches to steal the final round as Pascal appeared to be tired. In the final minute Pascal came back alive and began to go toe to toe with Hopkins. They were trading until the final bell.
The scores were 114-112 for Hopkins, 113-113 a draw, and 114-114 a draw. Pascal keeps the WBC/IBO light heavyweight titles.
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