Boxing: Hopkins down Vegas to retain the title

Las Vegas, July 22: Bernard Hopkins defeated Winky Wright by a unanimous points decision to remain the universally recognised light-heavyweight world champion.

One judge scored the bout 116-112, while the other two had it 117-111 in favour of Hopkins, yesterday.

''It was a tough fight, a very close fight,'' Hopkins told reporters after improving his record to 48-4-1 with 32 knockouts.

''Winky's tough and he kept on coming so I had to use the bait-and-fish.'' ''You put the bait out there, the fish gets a little closer, you pull it back, and then you finally catch the fish.'' Although the fight was contested at a catch-weight of 170 pounds, five pounds below the light-heavyweight limit, the bout was for the linear light-heavyweight title, which Hopkins won by defeating Antonio Tarver in June last year.

Wright was frequently the aggressor during the contest, but Hopkins was able to slip many of the blows and smother his offense by tying him up when the two were close, scoring with short, sharp counter right hands on the counter attack.

However, Wright (51-4-1, 25 KOs) still felt he should have been awarded the victory.

''I won the fight. It was a dirty fight. He was head-butting all day,'' he said. ''I thought I won the fight, but it was a close fight. I'm good, though.''

HEAD CLASH

A clash of heads in the third round opened a cut above Wright's eye, causing him to turn away in pain from Hopkins and drop to a knee.

''He was coming towards me and I was going under and it definitely was an accidental head butt,'' Hopkins said. ''It happens a lot when you fight southpaws.'' When the contest was announced, some critics predicted it would be a boring bout, given both boxers' counter-punching tendencies.

However, the two men frequently engaged in crowd-pleasing flurries and fought at a high pace throughout.

Hopkins attributed some of the intensity to a melee at the weigh-in on Friday, when he shoved Wright in the face, prompting a brief brawl between the boxers' camps.

As a result of that incident, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has temporarily withheld 10 per cent of Hopkins's 3 million dollars purse, pending an investigation.

''I respect the commission a lot,'' Hopkins added.

''What happened the other day was part of the hype for the fight, and obviously manifested itself in the ring because we both came to fight tonight.'' Hopkins said that after defeating Wright that he would like to continue fighting and would like to take on unbeaten WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe of Britain.

''I want Joe Calzaghe next. Tell him to come over here and we'll fight and then he won't be undefeated,'' he said.

Reuters>