Boxing News at LinesMaker

Hopkins Becomes Oldest Champion at 46

MONTREAL —Bernard Hop­kins became the old­est fighter to win a major world cham­pi­onship, tak­ing the WBC light heavy­weight title Sat­ur­day night from Jean Pas­cal at the age of 46. Hop­kins (52–5–2) broke the age record set by George Fore­man in a heavy­weight title vic­tory over Michael Moorer in 1994. Hop­kins won at 46 years, 4 months, 6 days. Fore­man was 45 years, 10 months. “I won’t retire until I’m 50,” Hopkins said. He won the WBC, IBO and The Ring mag­a­zine titles from the 28-year-old Pas­cal (26–2–1), the Mon­treal fighter who was mak­ing... 

Can Boxing’s Promotional Ceasefire Last?

It would be great to believe that the feud between Top Rank and Golden Boy Pro­mo­tions, which has pre­vented so many great fights from occur­ring, is truly over. It would be won­der­ful to believe that nice words between com­pany exec­u­tives fol­low­ing an arbi­tra­tion hear­ing ear­lier this month in a retired judge’s office will lead to the fights that box­ing fans have dreamed of watching. It would be also be ridicu­lously naive, as his­tory sug­gests that there is a bet­ter chance of CBS tak­ing back Char­lie Sheen than there is of boxing’s two largest pro­mot­ers... 

Dawson Dominates Diaconu in Decision

MONTREAL —Chad Daw­son showed mas­ter­ful defense and crisp punch­ing as he scored a 12-round unan­i­mous deci­sion over Adrian Dia­conu in a light heavy­weight elim­i­na­tion bout Sat­ur­day at the Bell Centre. The bout was the co-feature to Jean Pascal’s defense of his WBC light heavy­weight title against Bernard Hop­kins, a rematch of their Dec. 18 draw in Quebec City. Daw­son (30–1) earned a shot at the Pascal-Hopkins winner. 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... 

Dawson Dominates Diaconu in Decision

MONTREAL —Chad Daw­son showed mas­ter­ful defense and crisp punch­ing as he scored a 12-round unan­i­mous deci­sion over Adrian Dia­conu in a light heavy­weight elim­i­na­tion bout Sat­ur­day at the Bell Centre. The bout was the co-feature to Jean Pascal’s defense of his WBC light heavy­weight title against Bernard Hop­kins, a rematch of their Dec. 18 draw in Quebec City. Daw­son (30–1) earned a shot at the Pascal-Hopkins winner. 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... 

Muhammad Ali Seeks Release of Iran-held US Hikers

WASHINGTON —Two Amer­i­can hik­ers held cap­tive in Iran for nearly two years have a big hit­ter in their cor­ner: box­ing cham­pion Muham­mad Ali, the self-proclaimed “great­est of all time.” Ali on Tues­day led a promi­nent group of U.S. Mus­lims in appeal­ing for the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fat­tal. The 28-year-old Amer­i­cans were taken into cus­tody along the Iran-Iraq bor­der in July 2009 and have been held by Iran­ian author­i­ties ever since. Bauer’s fiancee, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail last year and returned to the United States. Like the for­mer... 

De La Hoya Enters Rehab

MONTREAL — For­mer world cham­pion boxer Oscar De La Hoya, pres­i­dent of Golden Boy Pro­mo­tions, entered a Cal­i­for­nia reha­bil­i­ta­tion facil­ity recently. The story was orig­i­nally reported by TMZ.com and was con­firmed Sat­ur­day night by Richard Schae­fer, Golden Boy’s CEO. While it is con­firmed that Oscar De La Hoya is in a reha­bil­i­ta­tion facil­ity, why is unknown. “All I will say is that Oscar is my friend, and I wish him well,” said Schae­fer, who’s also a long­time friend of De La Hoya. “I am sure all the fans join me in wish­ing him well.” Schae­fer,... 

Yahoo! Sports’ Pascal-Hopkins Live Analysis

MONTREAL — Yahoo! Sports is ring­side at Bell Cen­tre for the WBC light heavy­weight title fight between cham­pion Jean Pas­cal and chal­lenger Bernard Hop­kins. Fol­low­ing along live as Kevin Iole offers his analy­sis … then stick around for his post-fight coverage.  

Hopkins Beats Pascal, Breaks Foreman’s Record

MONTREAL — Forty-six-year-old Bernard Hop­kins scored a taut unan­i­mous deci­sion vic­tory Sat­ur­day over home­town favorite Jean Pas­cal to win the World Box­ing Coun­cil light heavy­weight title and become the old­est man ever to win a major championship. At 46, Bernard Hop­kins became the old­est box­ing cham­pion ever Sat­ur­day with his WBC light heavy­weight title vic­tory over Jean Pascal. Hop­kins out­pointed Pas­cal by scores of 116–112, 115–113 and 115–114 to defeat Pas­cal, 18 years his junior, in front of a building-record box­ing crowd of 17,560... 

New Champion Hopkins Isn’t Done Yet

MONTREAL — Decades ago, a poor Bernard Hop­kins ran through the streets of his home­town in North Philadel­phia to evade the police, or some­one who was try­ing to catch him for some­thing he had just done. A cou­ple decades later, Hop­kins ran those same streets again as a multi-millionaire boxer intent upon mak­ing history. He did just that on Sat­ur­day when he pounded out a unan­i­mous deci­sion over Jean Pas­cal before 17,560 fans at the Bell Cen­tre to become, at 46 years, four months and six days, the old­est man to ever win a world box­ing cham­pi­onship. With the... 

Roy Jones Looks to Salvage Glory Against Lebedev

MOSCOW —Look­ing to stop his stel­lar career from fiz­zling out with a whim­per, Roy Jones Jr. takes on Denis Lebe­dev in Moscow on Sat­ur­day, and is chal­leng­ing Russia’s top cruis­er­weight to prove his worth: “If you can whoop me, whoop me.” The 42-year-old Jones has been in decline since his mid-30s, prompt­ing a return to cruiserweight—perhaps as part of a hope­ful quest to add the only title to elude him between mid­dleweight and heavyweight. But the American’s poor form—losing his last two fights to Danny Green and Bernard Hopkins—and the jar­ring power...