Dawson: “Hopkins unwilling to face the best lt. heavyweight!”
By FightFan News Wire (03-Dec-2009)

According to Team Dawson: Like the proverbial cat on the verge of using up its nine lives, Bernard Hopkins is running out of excuses — excuses for not fighting undefeated two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawon.

“He’s on the run like the one-armed man in “The Fugitive.” Eventually the law catches up with him,” said light heavyweight kingpin Chad Dawson of Bernard Hopkins. “Well I’m the sheriff of the light heavyweight division and I’m putting a stop to Hopkins’ con. First, he said he’d fight the winner of my fight with Glen Johnson. I won and Hopkins hid. Second, he said he’d fight the winner of my rematch with Johnson. I won and this time Hopkins chose to fight some guy named Enrique Ornelas, who has lost to almost every decent middleweight he’s ever fought. And on top of that, the fight isn’t worthy of HBO, Showtime or even ESPN 2! Desperate people do desperate things. Hopkins knows that if he fights me he’s looking at a loss of Calzaghe proportions.

“Bernard, it’s time for you to pack it in and get out of my division. If you’re not willing to fight the best light heavyweight, move along and quit wasting everyone’s time. Your deep well of excuses, along with your credibility has dried up. You weighed 175 pounds for this last fight, Roy Jones was knocked out in 122 seconds yesterday and HBO has a March date available. No more excuses. Get on board with HBO’s original plan for us to fight each other, or as you told ESPN.com this morning, go run “a marathon to super-greatness” away from me.”

Dawson’s promoter Gary Shaw formally offered to promote the rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, Jr. – on the undercard of undefeated two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson’s next fight. Shaw faxed the offer letter to Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Boy Promotions, Hopkins’ promoter, earlier today. HBO is holding an April 2010 date for Dawson’s next world championship fight.

After congratulating Schaefer on Hopkins’ 12-round light heavyweight decision victory over fringe middleweight contender Enrique Ornleas, Shaw wrote the following:

“Inasmuch as Bernard stated during his post-fight press conference that he wanted to pursue the rematch against Roy Jones, Jr. rather than fight Chad Dawson, I wanted to offer a slot on Chad’s next undercard for that fight. HBO is holding an April date for Chad. I would be willing to pay Bernard and Roy $200,000.00 each, the same purse Bernard fought for in his fight against Ornleas, though I cannot guarantee the fight will be televised since HBO would be making that decision, presumably based on its evaluation of Bernard’s and Roy’s last performance.

“If Bernard decides to take on Danny Green instead, please wish him luck for me and know that I’m hopeful he will not break Roy’s record of 122 seconds.”

Shaw has not heard back from Schaefer.

Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs), from New Haven, Conn., serving his second term as light heavyweight champion, captured the WBC interim world title while successfully defending his IBO title, winning a dominating unanimous decision in a rematch against two-time world champion Glen Johnson on November 7. On May 9, Dawson successfully defended the IBF and IBO titles in a rematch against former world champion Antonio Tarver, whom he dethroned in October 2008. Dawson won his first world title in 2007, battering undefeated defending WBC champion Tomasz Adamek. He successfully defended the WBC title three times, including a victory over Johnson, before vacating that title to challenge Tarver for his belts.