Old School Vs New School: Bernard Hopkins Showdown with Jean Pascal
By Gina L. Caliboso
Old school versus new school: Whenever I hear those particular terms, I think about my childhood growing up in Los Angeles.
Even though my growing up directly translates into going to Catholic school, working class parents, and living in the suburbs, I still consider myself old school. For example, old school – I walked every day to and from school. New school – walking to school – not necessarily these days.
Old school, I used to tape record music off the radio. New school, I have an Ipod. You see where I’m going with this? Old school – Los Angeles Lakers, Magic and the show at the Forum in Inglewood. New School – Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe, and the Staples Center.
For anyone that follows the NBA, the season starts very, very soon. But enough nostalgia. On December 18th, two fighters – one old school – Bernard “Executioner” Hopkins, 51-5, 32 KO’s goes up against new school – Jean Pascal, 26-1, 16 KO’s. With Pascal’s WBC Light Heavyweight belt at stake, old school versus new school.
Who is going to win?
Let’s talk new school first.
As far as Pascal is concerned, I’ll just call him the youngster. When I went through my DVR list, I still happened to have Pascal’s last fight from August against “Bad” Chad Dawson. As I listened to the HBO broadcast, both Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward made reference to Pascal’s particular Roy Jones, JR., style of fighting. I am not suggesting that Pascal is the new Roy Jones, JR.
In his prime, Jones’ speed and athleticism was and truly a gift. He had excellent timing and made his KO’s look effortless. More importantly, Jones’ speed complimented his athleticism. When you recall Jones’ fighting prime, he would have his hands down and would pull of a KO hook to his opponent’s head. There aren’t too many boxers that can pull off that type of fighting style.
Similarly, once Steward and Merchant made reference to Jones, JR., I couldn’t help but see how it’s a correct comparison. In his fight against Dawson, Pascal looked strong, but there were times in the mix, that he got caught with Dawson’s cross that wobbled him. He doesn’t fight as well when he is against the ropes and when he backs away from his opponent.
At further analysis, his Jones’ imitation fighting style is just that – an imitation. Pascal is a strong fighter in the middle of the ring, and when he pulls together a strong and effective combination flurry of punches, he will win a fight. But he needs to learn how to fight off the ropes and on the inside. He also, as Steward mentioned, “plays to the crowd.”
Since Pascal has only fought in Canada, this particular part of his personality assists in his being an entertaining and exciting fighter. To date, Pascal has only suffered one loss against Carl “Cobra” Froch back in December 2008, for the WBC Super Middleweight title that went to a 12 round unanimous decision.
After Froch, Pascal soon put himself into the light heavyweight division and has yes to lose. Pascal first met Adrian Diaconu, for the WBC Light Heavyweight title back in June 2009 and defeated him with a 12 round unanimous decision. He followed up with a title defense bout against Silvio Branco in September and came away with the 10th round TKO. Pascal decided to give Diaconu another shot and defeated him with yet another 12 round unanimous decision.
Finally, this past August, Pascal fought against Dawson and defeated the American fighter with an 11th round TD. As he ends his 2010 fight year, the youngster Pascal faces a very, very different opponent – the veteran – the old school fighter, Bernard “Executioner” Hopkins.
From previous articles, I admit that I still don’t see why Hopkins remains in boxing. There’s nothing more for him to prove to the boxing world, but I suppose that’s exactly why Hopkins doesn’t retire. Maybe he has more to prove to himself. His last two fights went under the radar without much hype. Even in his rematch against Jones, JR. it was met with more criticism rather than excitement. Hopkins went on to defeat Jones, JR. over 12 rounds with a unanimous decision. Hopkins’ last loss was against now retired Welsh fighter Joe Calzaghe back in April 2008. Calzaghe went down in the 1st round and Hopkins pulled off the split decision over 12 rounds. I don’t need to go over all of Hopkins’ previous fights, but I will recall two bouts that showed how a veteran fighter can defeat a younger fighter.
Think about Hopkins when he fought against Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya the perfectly timed body shot that sent the younger De La Hoya to the mat and could not recover. The De La Hoya bout took place back in 2004 and ended in the 9th round. It was the last fight that Hopkins took that ended in less than 12 rounds. Since 2004, all of his fights have resulted in 12 round unanimous or split decisions – a lot of rounds for the veteran boxer. I then think about the Hopkins that outboxed a younger and promising Kelly “Ghost” Pavlik with a 12 round unanimous decision.
In both fights, Hopkins was the older and more experienced fighter and he showed it – by boxing and outboxing his opponent. Hopkins is not the most exciting fighter, but he is technical and tactical. It’s old school – a fighter that fights and doesn’t always go for the KO.
Because I always root for the underdog, I’d love Hopkins to win this bout. Also, Pascal should be ready to box and cultivate his boxing style to include more jabs and effective combinations. Pascal will have to fight off the ropes and on the inside. Should the younger Pascal win, it’ll be considered a learning experience and he should be so lucky that he was able to fight and possibly win against a tactical and experienced fighter as Hopkins. Pascal would definitely beat anyone after he fights Hopkins because he can only get better and hopefully learn.
By contrast, there’s still some fight on Hopkins’ part. So, I end this article with a thought of both fighters – old school versus new school – who will win? I’m old school so I’ll root for Hopkins. As for the new school, Pascal still has a few things to learn, and Hopkins just may be the one to teach him.