Jean Pascal of Canada retained his WBC light-heavyweight title on Saturday after a majority draw with 45-year-old American Bernard Hopkins.
Pascal, 26-1-1 (17 KOs), knocked Hopkins down at the end of the first round and again in the third, the first time Hopkins had been down in a fight since 1994.
Hopkins, a former middleweight and light-heavyweight champion, protested to the referee that the knockdowns had been caused by punches to the back of the head.
However, after the second knockdown, Hopkins, 51-5-2 (32 KOs), began to take control of the fight, attacking Pascal with left hooks to the body and overhand rights to the head.
Pascal spent the next several rounds on the retreat, throwing wild single punches as Hopkins put together swift combinations.
The Canadian appeared to recover his energy in the latter stages, landing several right hands in an explosive final round.
Hopkins was bitter about the outcome.
“I dominated the fight,” he said. “I threw a lot of combinations. This was a sure enough robbery. I took him to school.”
Pascal disagreed.
“I believe I won the fight,” he said. “It wasn’t my best fight, but Bernard fights ugly and dirty. He’s a tough guy to box. I’m the -champion, I like to win, not draw. If he wants a rematch, he can have one any time.”
Meanwhile, Marco Huck retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a split decision over Russian challenger Denis Lebedev on Saturday in Berlin.
Lebedev won the fight on the card of one judge 116-112, but the other two officials each gave it to Huck 115-113.
The challenger scored often with his left, but Huck also connected with his big right in a bruising fight. Huck finished the bout with a cut on the right eye, while Lebedev was bloodied around the left eye and on the right cheek.
“The fans gave me a big push at the end,” said Huck, who struggled in the late rounds after a strong start. “He is a very good fighter.”
The German champion improved to 31-1, while Lebedev lost for the first time in 22 fights.
“I thought I’d won, but I guess it wasn’t enough,” Lebedev said.
Huck had Lebedev in trouble late in the fifth and the Russian was on his knee as the bell sounded. There was no count.
The champion landed two big rights in the sixth, but Lebedev connected with several combinations and finished the round strongly.
Lebedev looked the fresher fighter in later rounds and dictated the action. Huck still managed to land one of his big rights occasionally, but couldn’t deliver a knockout punch.
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