Golden Boy lodge protest over Hopkins TKO loss to Dawson, WBC reviewing fight

Fallen champion Bernard Hopkins surrendered his light heavyweight world championship to Chad Dawson in a second round technical knockout on October 15 as he was unable to continue after injuring his shoulder. Because of the nature of the injury – an accidental foul deemed no foul by referee Pat Russell – the sanctioning body responsible, the WBC, will now review the result following a formal protest by Golden Boy Promotions; Hopkins’ representatives.

The WBC will render a decision on the result of Hopkins versus Dawson.” an official statement released by the Council, said.

The current status of the Los Angeles showdown between two of the top 175lb operators is a second round stoppage victory to Dawson, however, the TKO was due to: “Hopkins [being] unable to continue after getting thrown from a clinch,” according to a footnote on Boxrec’s records

The WBC statement continued: “Golden Boy Promotions, the representative to Bernard Hopkins, filed a firm protest due to the decision of technical knockout after Hopkins was unable to continue the fight last Saturday after Dawson pushed him hard.”
Following the studying of video footage, the Council said they would make a decision following a vote amongst their decision-making staff.

“The WBC is reviewing the video of the WBC light heavyweight world title bout, which was held in Los Angeles, California, and is communicating with the WBC board of governors to render a decision that is strictly in accordance with justice and the regulations.
“A boxing commission can take independent decisions regarding results, but the World Boxing Council, exclusive and worldwide registered owner of its trademark WBC must take charge of the world title results that only correspond to the organisation.”

It concluded: “We think that by the end of this week, we will have the result of the world voting regarding this matter.”