Hopkins races past Pascal, stuck with draw

By JE GrantAgeless wonder Bernard Hopkins delivered his best performance in years against reigning light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal Saturday night in Quebec City only to be denied the title by a puzzling draw.The 45-year-old Hopkins did make the scoring difficult by twice hitting the deck. One of those official knockdowns, toward the end of round one, was dubious at best. He was clearly cuffed behind the head and the trip to the canvas should have been ruled a result of an illegal punch and nullified. Instead, it became the deciding factor in the scoring.Hopkins was more active and inclined to take the lead in any fight since his stoppage of Oscar De La Hoya in 2004. Many were expecting another night of stalling and grappling as was the case in his horrible showing against long-time rival Roy Jones. In that bout it appeared father time had finally made his appearance as both fighters participated only in spurts and fought in slow motion --- something expected of a pair of 40-s...