Pascal-Hopkins and its surprising connection to Pacquiao-Mayweather

Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KOs) aims to be the oldest fighter to even win a championship. He hopes to break George Foreman’s record of winning the heavyweight title with a tenth round knockout over Michael Moorer at age 45. At 46 years of age, Hopkins will try to wrest the WBC and Ring Magazine light heavyweight titles from Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs) of Canada. They fought to a draw last December in a match where Pascal dropped Hopkins twice in the early rounds only to be dominated in the middle and late rounds. The two will battle it out on May 21 (May 22, Sunday, here in the Philippines) and Pascal will have the proverbial homecourt advantage as they will fight at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The two have not been as friendly as Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley to say the least and the last bard was thrown by Pascal in the press conference. The defending champion said that Hopkins should undergo an Olympic-style drug testing to prove that he is not using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). The connection, Pascal said, was that Hopkins is trained by Naazim Richardson who also trains Mosley who was proven to have taken PEDs. Pascal failed to realize that Richardson was not Mosley’s trainer when he admitted to using PEDs. This is basically what Floyd Mayweather did to Pacquiao. His father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., accused Pacquiao of using PEDs. Mayweather then said he will not fight Pacquiao unless he agrees to Olympic-style drug testing. First, let me clear out that I have nothing against Olympic-style drug testing. I’m all for cleaning up the sport. However, I am against fighters taking the drug-testing matters into their own hands. If Pascal and Mayweather both want changes (I doubt they really do) they should take it up with the governing bodies in boxing. Pacquiao has filed a suit against the Mayweathers while Hopkins is thinking of doing the same against Pascal. But now the Canadian has somewhat retracted his stance saying that he challenged Hopkins to undergo random drug testing but he did not accuse the ageless warrior of using PEDs. The problem with claims like this is that it plants a seed of doubt in the minds of the fans. Even if you do not directly say they are taking PEDs, asking them to take a special kind of drug test will open up room for people to judge prematurely. Pascal was punked by Hopkins in their first fight. Now, he is trying to look for an excuse to lessen the blow of that draw just like how Mayweather looked for an excuse not to fight Pacquiao. “Take the test! Take the test! For the fans! For the fans!" Pascal kept shouting. “You’re scared," Hopkins replied. And for once, I actually believed in what B-Hop was saying. Come Sunday, I hope Hopkins puts Pascal in his place. Pascal won’t be able to hide behind false accusations and smokescreens in the ring against Hopkins. It’s either he fights back or he’ll get beaten up. There is no place in boxing for fighters who think they are bigger than the sport, for personalities who think everyone else should bow down to their demands. -- GMA News