FanHouse Antonio Tarver

Don't wish Bernard Hopkins success, wish him failure.

Specifically, tell the 44-year-old boxer that he's so far past his prime, that you believe he'll lose on Dec. 2 to unheralded 29-year-old Enrique Ornelas, the man he will meet in a non-title, 12-round light heavyweight (175 pounds) bout at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Hopkins' hometown of Philadelphia.

"People have written me off a lot of times in my life, and that's been my biggest motivation. I've always needed people to be rooting against me," said Hopkins, a former Philadelphia street criminal who survived three stabbings, was imprisoned at age 18 for five years, and released in 1988.

"I did not let the street life destroy me. I'm that throwback Philadephia fighter who just happened to take care of himself, and that's why I'm still here," said Hopkins, who is 49-5, with 32 knockouts.

Southpaw "Bad" Chad Dawson moved effortlessly around the ring while Glen "The Road Warrior" Johnson was mostly flat-footed and looked old.

Dawson fired his right jab, following it up with left hooks and straight lefts. Dawson won the exchanges when they existed over the course of Saturday night's lopsided, 12-round unanimous decision over the aging Johnson before a partisan crowd at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

In victory, Dawson improved to 29-0 with 17 knockouts, earning the WBC's interim light heavyweight title while also defending his IBO crown, and in the process erasing all doubt as to who won the first Dawson-Johnson bout in April 2008.

Perhaps Glen Johnson's best attempt at head-games during the buildup to Saturday night's 175-pound rematch with IBO titlist Chad Dawson is his refusal to admit defeat.

The facts are that Johnson was not only judged the loser of their first light heavyweight clash in April of 2008 by scores of 116-112 on all three cards, but that the decision was rendered before a partisan crowd in Miami -- not far from the native Jamaican's current home in Hollywood, Fla.

But Johnson's insistence that he was "robbed" clearly rankles Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, and if nothing else, has Dawson so chagrined that he has vowed to turn up the heat when they face off at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., near the champion's hometown of New Haven.

While watching the Antonio Tarver vs. Chad Dawson boxing match on HBO this weekend, I couldn't help but notice a very familiar logo smack-dab in the middle of ring: "Blood, Sweat & Bling," it read.

I knew I had seen this logo before, but it took me a while to actually figure out where. Then, as I noticed boxing promoter, Gary Shaw, pictured right, sitting ringside next to his son, Jared, who appeared to have been shouting instructions at Dawson every moment of the fight, I remembered why that logo looked so familiar.

HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley has a real gift for brevity: He can tell you everything you need to know about a boxer in just a couple of sentences. And I think a comment he made before Saturday night's Chad Dawson-Antonio Tarver fight demonstrates that beautifully.

"Zsolt Erdei has held a title belt for quite some time," Lampley said. "At 30-0, he is probably the least respected, most ignored unbeaten longtime title holder in the history of the sport."

Seven months ago, Chad Dawson beat Antonio Tarver by lopsided unanimous decision. On Saturday night in Las Vegas Tarver got his rematch, and Dawson whipped him again.

Following Chad Dawson's 12-round destruction of Antonio Tarver last October, there wasn't much interest in seeing a rematch. However, in the wacky world of professional boxing things like fan interest and common sense don't always come into play. Tarver excercised his rematch clause and there was nothing Dawson could do to avoid the fight.

Plus, Dawson, one of boxing's brightest young stars, will gladly remind you that he never ducks anyone.

FanHouse spoke to Dawson about being forced to fight Tarver again this Saturday night in his HBO debut and his thoughts on Bernard Hopkins' refusal to fight him. The interview is after the jump.