MONTREAL - Bernard Hopkins made history, and Jean Pascal hopes the loss of his WBC light heavyweight title will make him a better boxer.
Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a world title with a unanimous decision over Pascal with an expert display of defence and opportunistic boxing before a roaring crowd of 17,560 at the Bell centre on Saturday night.
The 46-year-old Hopkins broke the age record set by George Foreman in a heavyweight title victory over Michael Moorer in 1994. Hopkins won at 46 years four months six days. Foreman was 45 years 10 months.
Hopkins took away the WBC, IBO and The Ring magazine titles from the 28-year-old Pascal (26-2-1), the Montreal fighter who was making his fifth defence.
The bout was a rematch of their Dec. 18 draw in Quebec City.
"I didn't think I'd still be fighting at 46, but sometimes things happen that are out of your control," said Hopkins. "I'm here. Be happy I'm still here because I'm not wasting my time fighting. People got their money's worth.
"For a 46-year-old to take on a young, strong, 28-year-old, a lot of it had to do with me staying in shape and believing in myself."
The Philadelphia native played up his uncanny fitness in the pre-fight banter and looked fresh throughout the but, taunting Pascal by doing push-ups as he waited for him to start the seventh round and doing them again after the fight.
"This will affect me in a good way because now I will be more experienced and mature," said Pascal. "It will make me a better fighter.
"He brought me a lot of experience, but I have a lot of confidence. I'm disappointed, but I will come back stronger."
Hopkins said he told Pascal after the bout that he has the talent to be a great champion, but needs to be more patient in the ring and refine parts of his technique.
The fight had nasty moments, including punching during clinches, leading with the head, rabbit punches and other instances of the rules being bent, mostly initiated by the wily Hopkins, which drew boos and cat-calls from the packed arena that included a strong minority who chanted "B-Hop" for the visitor.
Hopkins landed more punches and was able to slip many of Pascal's power shots, answering with clever jabs and scoring more than once on right-hand leads.
Pascal said he proved he can go the distance without losing power, a criticism of his recent bouts, and said it was Hopkins who took to holding in the later rounds because he was starting to fade. He also said he had trouble seeing for a couple of rounds early on due to taking a thumb in the eye, and losing those rounds may have cost him the decision.
Judge Rey Danesco of the Philippines scored it 116-112, Anek Hongtongkam of Thailand 115-114 and Guido Cavalleri of Italy 115-113, all for Hopkins. The Canadian Press had it 115-113, giving Pascal the 12th, when he launched a desperate bid for the knockout.
Hopkins did not, as planned, wear a Philadelphia Flyers jersey into the ring, but one of his corner men did.
In the co-feature, Chad Dawson showed masterful defence and crisp punching in scoring a 12-round unanimous decision over Montreal's Adrian Diaconu in a light heavyweight elimination bout.
With the win, Dawson (30-1) earned a shot at the Pascal-Hopkins winner.
He would have preferred a rematch with Pascal, who beat him a year ago in a bout stopped in the 11th round due to an accidental head butt.
"I wanted Pascal, but I'll take (Hopkins)," he said. "I can beat Pascal any time.
"He showed what he is tonight, an amateur. He throws wild, loopy punches and Bernard took advantage of that."
In his first fight under new trainer Emanuel Steward, it was a much sharper Dawson than the one who fought passively for most of an 11-round loss to Pascal a year ago.
The southpaw used his considerable reach advantage over the stocky Diaconu (27-3), forcing him to lunge forward, missing repeatedly with his punches. True to form, Diaconu stayed on the attack, but rarely penetrated Dawson's defence.
All three local judges scored it for the American in the battle of two former WBC champions. Claude Paquette had it 117-111, Benoit Roussel 118-110 and Jack Woodburn 116-112. The Canadian Press scored it 117-111.
The main event was promoted by California based Golden Boy and a fighter they stole from under the noses of the Montreal companies, welterweight Michael Zewski (10-0), showed his class when he dropped American veteran Ruben Galvan with a slick left uppercut 1:44 into the third round of their scheduled six-round bout.
"It was a short, quick one," said Zewski, who was spotted by Golden Boy at a world amateur championship. "I surprised him, I guess, because I got him with better shots than that earlier and he didn't fall.
"He had good defence, but I saw a little hole."
Galvan has not won in 10 bouts since 2006.
Kevin Bizier (15-0) of St-Emile, Que., was in a tough battle with Mauro Lucero (46-14-1) when the Mexican suffered a deep cut from an accidental headbutt early in the fifth round of their light middleweight clash. Lucero tried to go on despite his face dripping with blood, but was knocked out by a body punch late in the round.
Local heavyweight prospect Didier Bence improved to 2-0 when he stopped last-minute replacement opponent Dwayne Storey (4-7) of Moncton, N.B., 1:38 into the second round of a four rounder.
And heavyweight Oscar (Kaboom) Rivas (5-0), a Colombia based in Montreal, knocked down Zsolt Zathureczky (3-1) of Hungary three times in 2:05 of the first round before it was stopped by referee Marlon B. Wright.
Other light heavyweight matches saw another Montreal-based Colombian, Eleider Alvarez (5-0) batter David Whittom (11-15-1) of Quebec City for four rounds to earn a unanimous decision and Nicholson Poulard (17-3), Pascal's half-brother, score a 10-round decision over Frankie Santos (17-10-4) of Puerto Rico.nm
