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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hopkins becomes oldest fighter to win major championship

Bernard Hopkins (in photo) 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) is the oldest fighter to take a major world belt since George Foreman took the heavyweight title with a victory over Michael Moorer in 1994. Hopkins won the WBC, IBO and The Ring magazine titles from the 28-year-old Pascal (26-2-1), making his fifth defense before 17,560 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Hopkins landed more punches and was able to slip many of Pascal’s power shots, answering with clever jabs and scoring more than once on right-hand leads. In the co-feature, Chad Dawson scored a 12-round unanimous decision over Adrian Diaconu in a light heavyweight elimination bout. Hopkins will next fight Dawson (30-1). – AP