Bernard Hopkins Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight class ...

vs.

Chad Dawson Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He held multiple world championships at light heavyweight, and was one of the most highly regarded boxers in that weight class between 2006 ...

was a boxing match contested for the WBC and ''The Ring''

light heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

championships. The fight took place at

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on 15 October 2011. Hopkins was making the first defense of the titles he won from

Jean Pascal Jean-Thenistor Pascal (born 28 October 1982) is a Haitian-born Canadian professional boxer. He held the WBA (Regular) light-heavyweight title from 2019 to 2021, and previously the WBC, IBO, ''Ring'' magazine and lineal light-heavyweight tit ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

earlier in 2011 while Dawson was looking to win the WBC title for a second time and the ''Ring'' title for the first time. The fight was the main event of an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

presentation. The fight ended in the second round when Dawson lifted Hopkins, who stumbled, fell, and landed on his shoulder. Referee Pat Russell, seeing Hopkins could not continue, awarded Dawson a

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

. The result was contested shortly after the fight, and the WBC declared a technical draw naming Hopkins its champion.Philadelphia Daily News.
Bernard Hopkins' camp appeals Dawson decision
, October 20, 2011. Accessed October 21, 2011 On December 13, the California State Athletic Commission, whose results are official and binding, overturned Russell's original

decision and declared the fight a

no contest ''Nolo contendere'' () is a type of legal plea used in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. It is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an ...

. This ruling made Hopkins retain his title and still be considered the official champion.Donovan, Jake.
Dawson-Hopkins Declared A No-Contest By CSAC
, December 13, 2011. Accessed December 13, 2011.

Background

Bernard Hopkins

Hopkins fought Pascal in a

rematch ''Rematch'' is the first US-released Sammy Hagar compilation album. After Sammy left Capitol Records for Geffen in 1981, and after Rick Springfield had a hit with the Hagar-penned "I've Done Everything for You", this collection was released t ...

of a

fight Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

that had ended in controversy on 18 December 2010 in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. In that fight, Pascal was making the first defense of the ''Ring'' light heavyweight championship he won from Dawson in his last fight and the fourth defense of the WBC title he took from

Adrian Diaconu Adrian Diaconu (born 9 June 1978) is a Romanian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011, and held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 2008 to 2009. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1999 ...

on 19 June 2009. The fight ended in a

majority draw A majority draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporatin ...

, with two of the three judges voting the fight even while the third gave Hopkins the victory. During the course of the fight Hopkins landed many more punches than the champion (131 to 70 total)Robinson, Loren. (2011-06-08
Bernard Hopkins' top five fights after 40
Yahoo Sports. Retrieved on 2011-08-03. and won a unanimous decision despite the referee not counting two potential knockdowns when Pascal's glove touched the canvas. Hopkins won a closer decision due to those calls, but with his victory he broke the record held by

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

as the oldest professional boxing champion ever. Hopkins was 46 when he won the fight, beating the old record Foreman set at 45 when he won his second heavyweight championship.

Chad Dawson

Dawson also fought on the card for the second contest, which was his first fight since losing a unanimous

technical decision A technical decision is a term used in boxing when a fight has to be stopped because of a headbutt. In mixed martial arts, a technical decision occurs when a fighter is rendered unable to continued by a foul and the majority of the final round ha ...

to Pascal after the fight was stopped due to Dawson being cut from an accidental clash of heads. Although Dawson had a rematch clause in his contract, he chose not to exercise it and then signed to fight former champion Diaconu with the winner getting the first shot at the winner of Pascal-Hopkins II. Dawson won by unanimous decision over Diaconu to set up the match with Hopkins.

The fight

After an uneventful first round, controversy marred the second round and the fight itself. While in a clinch, Dawson pushed his shoulder into Hopkins to break it. Hopkins was lifted off the ground, stumbled back and fell through the ropes, landing awkwardly on his shoulder. Referee Pat Russell checked on Hopkins, who said he could continue "with one arm". Russell elected not to let Hopkins continue and stopped the fight, awarding Dawson a technical knockout. This would have been the first time Hopkins had been knocked out in his career.

Aftermath

Hopkins and his promoter Richard Schaefer both said they would protest the result; Hopkins said a foul should have been called on Dawson and the result should have been a no contest. Dawson and his promoter Gary Shaw claimed that no matter what happens, he will not fight Hopkins again. Shaw said that the former champion "didn't want to fight." Hopkins later decided to seek a change from a no-contest to a disqualification of Dawson, which would have given him the victory. On October 20, the WBC announced that it agreed that Dawson had thrown and pushed Hopkins with intent to injure him, and its new decision is a technical draw.World Boxing Council.
WBC Declares a Technical Draw in Fight Hopkins- Dawson.
" October 20, 2011. Accessed October 21, 2011. The WBC has reinstated Hopkins as its light heavyweight champion. On December 13, the

California State Athletic Commission The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) regulates amateur and professional boxing, amateur and professional kickboxing and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) throughout the State by licensing all participants and supervising the event ...

declared that it had officially changed the decision to a no-contest and that Hopkins retained the title.Rafael, Dan.
Bernard Hopkins gets title back
, October 21, 2011. Accessed October 21, 2011.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts: * Lightweight Championship bout:

Jorge Linares Jorge Luis Linares Palencia (born 22 August 1985) is a Venezuelan former professional boxer. He has held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBC featherweight title from 2007 to 2008; the WBA super featherweight title ...

vs.

Antonio DeMarco Antonio de Marco Soto (born January 7, 1986), best known as Antonio "Tony" DeMarco, is a Mexican professional boxer. He held the WBC lightweight title from 2011 to 2012. DeMarco is a cousin of former world champion Humberto Soto. Professional ...

:DeMarco defeated Linares via Technical Knockout at 2:32 of the eleventh round. *Light Welterweight bout: Danny Garcia vs.

Kendall Holt Kendall Holt (born June 14, 1981) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013, and held the WBO junior welterweight title from 2008 to 2009. Early life Holt had a very tough upbringing in his native Paterson, New Je ...

:Garcia defeated Holt via Split Decision. (117-111, 115-113, 117-111) *Welterweight bout:

Paulie Malignaggi Paul Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an Italian-American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst, currently with BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle Fighting Series and P ...

vs. Orlando Lora :Malignaggi defeated Lora via Unanimous Decision. (100-90, 98-92, 99-91)

Preliminary card

*Light Middleweight bout:

Luis Collazo Luis Collazo (born April 22, 1981) is an American former professional boxer who held the World Boxing Association, WBA welterweight title from 2005 to 2006. Professional career Collazo is of Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent, and gre ...

vs.

Freddy Hernandez Freddie or Freddy may refer to: Entertainment *Freddy (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1955 to 1980 * Freddie (Cromartie), a character from the Japanese manga series''Cromartie High School'' *Freddie (dance), a short-lived 19 ...

:Hernandez defeated Collazo via Unanimous Decision. (93-96, 93-96, 93-96) *Welterweight bout: Nick Casal vs. Michael Anderson :Casal defeated Anderson via Technical Knockout at 2:51 of the third round. *Middleweight bout: Donyil Livingston vs. Kurtiss Colvin :Livingston defeated Colvin via Unanimous Decision. (59-55, 58-56, 58-56) *Cruiserweight bout: Dewey Bozella vs. Larry Hopkins :Bozella defeated Hopkins via Unanimous Decision. (38-37, 39-36, 39-36) *Super Bantamweight bout: Manuel Avila vs. David Reyes :Avila defeated Reyes via Split Decision. (38-37, 39-36, 38-37)

Summary

The non-televised portion of the undercard was noted for featuring Dewey Bozella, who was fighting his first bout at the age of 52 after being incarcerated for a crime he did not commit for twenty-six years. Bozella, fighting at cruiserweight, defeated his opponent Larry Hopkins by unanimous decision in a four-round bout. Bozella will not fight again. Former welterweight champion

also fought on the non-televised undercard against junior middleweight contender

, who defeated him by unanimous decision. The three televised undercard bouts featured two former junior welterweight champions and a lightweight championship fight. In the first bout, fought at welterweight,

defeated Orlando Lora in a lopsided ten-round decision. In the second fight, a twelve-rounder for the NABO junior welterweight championship and an elimination bout for the IBF title, undefeated Danny Garcia handed former WBO champion

his third loss in five fights by defeating him via split decision. In the second-to-last match of the evening,

defeated

to take his WBC lightweight championship.

Reported fight earnings

*Bernard Hopkins $1,000,000 vs. Chad Dawson $800,000 *Jorge Linares $100,000 vs. Antonio DeMarco $50,000 *Danny Garcia $75,000 vs. Kendall Holt $31,000 *Paul Malignaggi $75,000 vs. Orlando Lora $7,500 *Dewey Bozella $1,250 vs. Larry Hopkins $2,500

International broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Dawson 2011 in boxing 2011 in sports in Los Angeles October 2011 sports events in the United States Boxing matches at Staples Center Dawson Boxing on HBO Light heavyweight championship matches