? 45-year-old held to technical draw by Jean Pascal
? Hopkins wants rematch, but not in Canada
Bernard Hopkins missed a chance to become the oldest man to hold a major world title, fighting to a controversial technical draw with the Canadian Jean Pascal in their light-heavyweight bout in Quebec.
The 45-year-old Hopkins (51-5-2) rallied after being knocked down in the first and third rounds.
The US judge Steve Morrow scored it 114-112 for Hopkins, but the Canadian Claude Paquette (113-113) and Belgium's Daniel Van de Wiele (114-114) had it even, which made it a technical draw and allowed Pascal (26-1-1) to keep his WBC and IBO light heavyweight titles.
Hopkins will be 46 on 15 January. George Foreman was 45 years and 10 months old when he knocked out the heavyweight champion Michael Moorer in 1994. Hopkins said he wants a rematch, but not in Canada.
"I come to Canada and face a 28-year-old guy and I get a draw, at 45-years old?" Hopkins said. "You saw a young guy running from an old grandpa."
Hopkins complained that it was a blow to the back of the head that caused him to go down in the final seconds of the first, but the Montreal referee Michael Griffin scored it a knockdown.
The knockdown was more clear cut in the third, when Pascal tagged the Philadelphia man with a left. Hopkins dropped to the canvas and got up quickly.
The Haiti-born Pascal, making the fourth defence of the WBC belt he won from a fellow Montreal fighter, Adrian Diaconu, in June 2009, was worn down and was hit repeatedly in the final six rounds. "I thought I won," said Pascal, whose face was swollen and red after the bout while Hopkins came away with just a few scrapes. "It wasn't my best fight, but Bernard likes to fight dirty. I dropped him twice. We have fair judges in Canada."
Hopkins launched a desperate flurry in the final round but failed to put Pascal down. "The 12th round was vicious," Hopkins said. "He looked to be tired from the sixth round. He was gasping. He held every time I got close. And I just kept coming forward throwing punches. He was holding on for dear life."
There was some early debate over whether the Canadian and Belgian judges' cards had been altered, but that notion was discarded by both camps. Hopkins reluctantly accepted a draw on Pascal's turf, even if he felt he won ? and insists he would win if they fought again.
"Look at my record ? anyone I fought twice I destroyed," he said.
Hopkins, whose pro career began in 1988, won the IBF middleweight title in 1995 and defended it 20 times before he was beaten twice in a row by Jermain Taylor in 2005. The American moved up to light heavyweight and won five of his next six bouts, including a 12-round decision over the faded Roy Jones Jr in his last outing in April.
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