Historic night in Montreal
Saturday was set to be a boxing night to be remember for a long time in Quebec’s sporting history. Groupe Yvon Michel in association with Golden Boy Promotions put together a solid card, the best so far that ‘GYM’ have made, since the birth of the company.
In the main event, challenger Bernard Hopkins was facing the WBC & IBO light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal in which it happened to be a dirty street fight. The tension was at its highest when famous announcer Michael Buffer presented the fighters, who were staring aggressively at each other in the centre of the ring. Hopkins shouting at Pascal through his ‘Executioner’ cowl. The crowd was going crazy, encouraging their hometown champion, we all knew at that particularly moment the importance of the fight. The time stopped, we were all going to be part of history. The fight was nasty. Both fighters were hitting hard and taunting the man in front of them, hey, Hopkins even did five pushups in the centre of the ring just before the ring bell at the seventh round! The man known as the ‘Executioner’ was better and was using every trick in the book to make Pascal lose concentration. The ex-WBC champion was going for the homerun, Hopkins was going for meticulous and constant work; that made the difference in this fight.
It was a close fight and I had Hopkins winning by one round (115-114). Hopkins won the fight by unanimous decision and deserved it. The three judges scored the fight 115-113, 116-112 and 115-114. Bernard Hopkins is now the oldest man to win a world title, he is now part of history. Just like everybody who was watching the fight.
Mathieu Fauchon’s round by round
Round 1: 10-10 Not much in the round, they studied each other the whole round.
Round 2: The first thirty seconds was like a street fight. Good exchanges between the two. 20-19 Pascal.
Round 3: Hopkins caught Pascal with a good right hand, Pascal finished strong but not enough to win the round. 29-29.
Round 4: B-Hop sticked his tongue at the middle of the round and Pascal responded with combinations. Big end for Pascal with a good right hook who did damage to a stunned Hopkins, saved by bell. 39-38 Pascal.
Round 5: Pascal threw stronger punches and won the round 49-47.
Round 6: Very weird round. Hopkins hitting after the referee break, head butting, a lot of holding during the round. The referee even had to stopped the fight to warn both fighters to stop holding. B-Hop pursued Pascal after the bell to his corner and Pascal chased the Executioner. Hard to judge, giving it to Bernard Hopkins 58-57 Pascal.
Round 7: Hopkins doing pushups before the ring bell ! Pascal taunted the 46 years old boxer after a good attack. Round to B-Hop 67-67.
Round 8: Good round for Hopkins with right hands. Good exchanges between the two but round to Hopkins who landed clean right hooks. 77-76 Hopkins.
Round 9: very close round with punch-to-punch trades. Pascal slipped, not a knock down. Giving it to Hopkins but could go to Pascal 87-85 Hopkins.
Round 10: Pascal seemed tired, B-Hop did more damage. Dirty round. Bernard threw a right hand, Pascal claimed he slipped but I think it was a knock down. Good round ending by Pascal, not enough to win it. 97-94 Hopkins
Round 11: Weird round. In doubt, giving it to Pascal 106-104 Hopkins
Round 12: Pascal very aggressive, going for the knock out. He won the round, but not the fight. Final score for me : 115-114 Bernard Hopkins
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