Saturday, December 18, 2010, Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1) will face-off against Jean Pascal (26-1-0) in Quebec City, Canada.

This isn't a fight that is going to have boxing fans on the edge of their chairs. Jean Pascal is an up and coming fighter just starting the climb to notoriety, and Bernard Hopkins is a boxing legend that should retire. Bernard's style is stale and boring, and his skills are no longer at a level that he can handle world class contenders without the risk of getting seriously injured. These aren't the ingredients that make for good fights and sell out arenas, which is probably one of the reasons why this bout is taking place in Canada; not under the bright casino lights of Las Vegas. Secondly, Pascal is from Canada, so it's likely that hometown fans will show up to the fight to support one of their own.

I expect Bernard to try to weather the initial attack of the younger faster Pascal, and then attempt to take advantage of his ring experience to unravel the spirit of Pascal in the later rounds. Unraveling in B-Hop's case means head butting, holding, rabbit shots, liver shots, etc. All of his usual well documented tactics for bulling his opponents. If the fight plays out this way, it's going to come down to a long drawn-out ugly anti-climatic decision.

Pascal will have to knock B-Hop out for this fight to be remotely exciting. At the very least Pascal needs to win, otherwise he will be casted back into the shadows of obscurity. A win for Bernard might be considered impressive considering the fact that he is 46 years of age. Not a bad way to cap-off a long and successful career. But supposing Bernard does win, he still needs to retire. His last fight against Roy Jones Jr. was less than stellar, and it exposed the growing number of chinks in his armor. Pascal might just prove to be the straw that breaks the bulls back.

For the record, I would like to see B-Hop win. He is from Philadelphia, and so am I. That's reason enough for me.