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Montreal Weigh-In Day
By Daniel Cloutier
Yesterday was the weigh in for Jean Pascal, Bernard Hopkins,
Chad Dawson and Adrian Diaconu. Only Hopkins was overweight,
but by only nine ounces. He went on the scale for the second
time, but naked this time, and he was four ounces over. The
WBC gave him two hours to lose the weight. He came back
after 40 minutes, and made the exact same weight than
Pascal, 174.14.Pascal and Hopkins did not talk. Dawson and
Diaconu got perfect weights.
Marc Ramsay Pascal’s trainer Sid, "Jean is very very
confident to win. His motivation to beat Hopkins is hire
than ever. He has more skills, speed and power than Hopkins
and I sure that he will be the master in the ring. if
Hopkins tries to break Jean’s concentration in becoming
dirty I gave to Jean the order to reply. If Hopkins gives a
elbow shot, Jean will give two elbow shots. If Hopkins hits
low, Jean will give two low shots. Jean took a good lesson
from the first fight with Hopkins. December 18th, Hopkins
did mistakes that cost him two visits on the floor but this
time he will pay more, a lot of more. I don’t expect a short
fight, because Hopkins has a lot of experience in
championship fights, but I am positive that Jean will leave
the ring with the WBC belt."
My prediction: Hopkins and Dawson will win by unanimous
decision.
The way I see it, If Pascal and Hopkins could be member of
their track and field Olympic teams, Pascal would be the
specialist of 100 meters, and Hopkins the specialist of the
U.S. marathons team. Hopkins is the master of the long
fight, like Manny Pacquiao and Carl Froch. Pascal is fast
and explosive, but he has always been better from the first
to the seventh round, then from the eight to the 12th round
Jean has always a lack of energy in the last four rounds. We
saw this against Froch, Dawson (in the 11th round) and
Hopkins (in Québec City). It is very possible that Pascal
will put Hopkins in trouble in the first four or five
rounds, but Hopkins, like always, will be at his best in the
last four rounds of the fight. He, Bernard, will win but I
don’t think that Hopkins can stop Pascal, because Jean
proved his toughness against Froch and Hopkins (in Québec
City in December). Even when he was tired in the last four
or five rounds of these fights, Jean survived.
Dawson has a very complicated style for Diaconu. He is a
tall southpaw, he has very longs arms, and he has more
skills than Diaconu. Diaconu is short so he will obliged to
attack constantly and put his defense in jeopardy. Diaconu,
like Pascal, is not Mister Energy.
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