Arguably the greatest fighter of his generation comes face-to-face with the most talented light heavyweight of the last decade when Bernard ''The Executioner'' Hopkins defends his WBC light heavyweight title against ''Bad'' Chad Dawson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Saturday night. Hopkins of course needs no introduction, and his story has been told 1000 times over. Dawson - he of the smooth boxing skills but limited fan base - can establish himself as one of the top fighters in the world with a win over Hopkins, or see his dwindling reputation sink even further.

Hopkins made history earlier this year when he won the WBC light heavyweight title with a unanimous points decision over Jean Pascal in Montreal. At 46 years old, Hopkins smashed the record set in 1994 by the then 45-year-old George Foreman, and became the oldest man ever to win a major professional boxing world title. 

Chad Dawson has all the skills and talent to put him up with the likes of Michael Spinks and Roy Jones Jr as one of the best light heavyweights of the last 30 years, yet he has consistently failed to impress in his fights, and often appears to just do enough to win. Come Saturday, he will have to step out of his comfort zone and put on the performance of his career if he is to take Hopkins' title.

29-year-old Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs) has been a pro since 2001, and a player in the light heavyweight stakes since climbing off the canvas in the first round to outpoint top light heavyweight contender Eric hiding in June 2006. Dawson became the first man to defeat Poland's Tomasz Adamek when he won a unanimous decision in February 2007 and with it Adamek's WBC light heavyweight title belt. 

Three successful defenses followed, including a decision over Glen Johnson, before Dawson gave up the WBC crown to pursue a crack at Antonio Tarver, the IBF title titleholder. In October 2008, Dawson proved he was the best light heavyweights in the world with a comfortable 12 round decision over Tarver, and turned he turned the trick again seven months later, again winning a comfortable decision.

Dawson continued to dominate the 175 pound division with another point win over Glen Johnson, this time for the interim WBC light heavyweight title. Once again Dawson did just enough to win and once again he failed to excite the boxing public. 

Ironically, he looked his best ever in his next fight – losing for the first time in his career in a thrilling encounter with Haitian born Canadian Jean Pascal on a technical decision in the 11th round. The powerfully built 5'10" Pascal threatened to bulldoze Dawson out of the ring in the first half of the fight, befuddling the American with a mixture of boxing skill and brute force a-la Archie Moore. Time and again Dawson was beaten to the punch by the deceptively fast hands of Pascal, and he seemed to have no answer to the questions that the Canadian was asking of him.

It then appeared that Pascal seem to either run out of gas or lose concentration, because Dawson came storming back and began landing vicious combinations of his own from his southpaw stance. By the 11th round, it looked as if the tide had turned, and although a mile behind on points, Dawson appeared capable of scoring a late knockout. But there was one more twist to be had in this fight – an accidental clash of heads resulted in an ugly gash above Dawson's right eye which forced the referee to stop the contest. The fight went to the scorecards, and there was only going to be one winner; Pascal retained his title by a unanimous decision, and Chad Dawson had been beaten for the first time.

Dawson launched his comeback in May of this year with a points decision over Canadian-based Romanian Adrian Diaconu in Montreal on the undercard of Hopkins v Pascal II. 

Dawson was much criticized for his performance which looked lazy and uninspired at times, but in his defense he was working with Emanuel Steward for the first (and only) time, and if one casts their minds back to Wladimir Klitschko's first few fights under Steward's stewardship, they too were ultra-defensive displays. 

Also, some credit must be laid on Diaconu's bulky shoulders as the former WBC champion is a tank of a light heavyweight, and had only previously lost in two tough fights with Pascal for the  title. One thing is for certain, the Chad Dawson we watched labor to a points win over Diaconu will not be the Chad Dawson we see at the Staples Center on Saturday night.

Dawson has now parted company with Emanuel Steward, and instead linked up with his previous trainer John Scully. The feeling is that under the tutelage of Steward, Dawson has been too defensive and not thrown enough punches, and volume of punches is something that he will need if he is to outwork Hopkins.

I suspect that Dawson and Scully will carefully study the tapes of Hopkins' two points losses to Jermaine Taylor in world middleweight title bouts. Taylor ended Hopkins ten year reign as champion and then turn the trick again six months later by out Hopkins-ing Hopkins, i.e. presenting almost a mirror-image of Hopkins boxing style, yet throwing more punches, and being prepared to fight fire-with-fire when it came to rough stuff. 

For example, in the first round of their rematch, it was Taylor who was first off the bat with a series of pounding shots to the back of Hopkins head, earning him a warning from the referee but the respect of the Philadelphian. 

Of course, Dawson is a southpaw, so he cannot replicate exactly the tactics used by Taylor, but he is if anything and even better boxer than Taylor was. No less than Floyd Mayweather Jr recently said that Chad is the best pure boxer in the world today. High praise indeed, from one as pugilistically skilled as Mayweather.

When Dawson is performing at his best, he truly is a sight to behold for boxing purists. The man seems to glide around the ring, and throws his punches with a smoothness and precision which reminds this writer of Tiger Woods hitting a nine iron.

Of course, pretty boxing alone will get Dawson nowhere against a master of the black-arts like Hopkins, and he will have to work hard in every round, throw a high volume of punches, and be prepared for the rough stuff. A fast start is imperative for Dawson, and if he lets Hopkins dominate early, he is as good as beaten. 

Throughout the annals of boxing history, several men have emerged from incarceration to make an impact on boxing. Rocky Graziano served time and picked up the rudiments of boxing while incarcerated. Graziano went on to become one of the most popular fighters of the late 1940s and indulged in a three fights series for the world middleweight title with Tony Zale that for decades was the benchmark when it came to ring wars, and may have only recently been surpassed by the Gatti v Ward trilogy. Sonny Liston learned to box while in jail and emerged to become the most fearsome heavyweight in history. No fighter before or since, not Dempsey, nor Foreman, nor even a young Mike Tyson filled his opponents with sheer terror like 'Old Stoneface.' 

However, no former jailbird has ever reached the heights achieved by Bernard Hopkins (52-5, 32 ko's), who must now be regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Love him or loathe him (and that's pretty much a 50/50 split among fight fans) there is just no getting away from the man's incredible achievements in the ring.

After precious little amateur experience, Hopkins lost his first professional fight against Clinton Mitchell, and then went on to ironically develop an early career reputation as a devastating knockout artist – winning 16 of his next 22 fights by KO, thirteen of them in the first round. His rise to the top was temporarily derailed by the ascension of another future Hall of Famer – Roy Jones Jr – who outpointed Hopkins in a fight for the vacant IBF middleweight title in 1993.

Hopkins came perilously close to blowing it again in a second shot at the IBF middleweight title two years later. Taking on Segundo Mercado in his native Ecuador, Hopkins had a nightmare trying to deal with his tall, rangy opponent, and hit the canvas twice, barely emerging with a split draw. 

Hopkins was a different fighter in the rematch in the US four months later, hammering Mercado from the opening bell with venomous straight-right hands, and pounding the game Ecuadorian to defeat in seven one-sided rounds.

Few boxing experts could have been so far sighted as to correctly forecast how Hopkins would grow as a fighter and improve year-upon-year, developing into a master boxer and supreme ring tactician.

No matter what his opponent would bring to the table, Hopkins would find the answer. Defense followed defence – 20 of them in total - with fighters of the caliber of John David Jackson, Simon Brown, Glen Johnson, Robert Allen, Antwun Echols, Keith Holmes, William Joppy, Howard Eastman, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya all dealt with convincingly. 

Hopkins became the first fighter to hold all four major belts – WBA/WBC/IBF and WBO at the same time. Even when Hopkins eventually lost – twice, back-to-back to Jermain Taylor – the fights were so close, had he been given the decision both times there would have been no scandal. 

Many believed that losing his beloved middleweight crown would have dampened the fire in Hopkins belly – but not a bit of it. Antonio Tarver was the undisputed no.1 light heavyweight in the world in 2006, but Hopkins schooled him in their fight, winning a one-sided decision. A-Lister Ronald ''Winky'' Wright was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and hadn't lost in eight years, yet Hopkins handled his southpaw style with ease when the two met in 2007. 

Joe Calzaghe was a little too busy when the two faced each other for The Ring Magazine's world light heavyweight title in 2008. Hopkins floored the unbeaten Welshman in the first round, and kept things close enough that it was officially a split decision. Bernard seemed convinced he had won the fight, but in reality, Calzaghe was clearly the better man on the night. 

Just when it looked like the end of the road for Hopkins, he bounced back with one of his best ever victories – dominating the new, vicious punching world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The Youngstown slugger had twice defeated Hopkins' conqueror Jermain Taylor, but the Philadelphian won every round comprehensively, fighting at a pace and intensity that he'd never previously displayed. 

Hopkins should have been able to write his own ticket after his performance against Pavlik, yet strangely found himself shut out of any meaningful fights. A year went by before he scored a points win over Rafael Ornelas in Philadelphia, and then he and Roy Jones Jr went through with a bizarre ''super fight'' in Las Vegas. Jones had lost two of his last four fights, including a 122 second shocker against Danny Green in Australia. The bout was a foul-filled bore, and although Hopkins won and gained a semblance of revenge over his old rival – for the first time in his career he looked old. 

Jean Pascal was carving out a solid reputation for himself as a fighter to watch. After losing to Carl Froch for the vacant WBC super middleweight title in 2008, the Haitian born Canadian had moved up to 175 lbs, and immediately made an impact. In two wins over Rumanian hard-case Adrian Diaconu and an 11th round TD over Chad Dawson, this wide shouldered bull of a man displayed excellent boxing ability and tremendous hand speed, plus thunderous punching power. 

One had to fear for the 45-year-old Hopkins when the two met in December 2010 in Quebec City. The Philadelphia was attempting to make history and become the oldest man ever to win a major world boxing title, but when he hit the deck twice in the first four rounds, the omens did not look good. 

However, incredibly Hopkins began to turn the tide at the midway stage the fight, and once again, as he had done vs Dawson, Pascal seemed to go mentally AWOL and run out of steam. Hopkins closed the show like a train, and when the result was announced as a majority to draw, he looked unfortunate not to have gotten the decision. 

The two went toe-to-toe again in May of this year. Surely this time Pascal would learn from his mistakes in the first fight, and not take his foot off the gas when he was in control, experts thought. Surely Hopkins - now 46 years old - could not have yet another amazing performance in him like the one he had displayed in December.

As the boxing history books will tell us, Bernard Hopkins  surpassed his achievements in the first fight with Pascal, even to the extent of performing press ups in his corner between rounds. Pascal seems distracted and became almost a peripheral figure as Hopkins won a clear and unanimous decision and booked his place in boxing folklore once and for all.

What Bernard Hopkins is a master of, is enforcing his own iron-will onto his opponent, in effect, psyching them out and making them believe that they cannot beat him. Only Jones, Taylor and Calzaghe failed to be ''psyched out'' by Hopkins.

While in prison, Hopkins adopted the Muslim faith, and has refrained from alcohol all of his adult life. This is a man who still goes to bed at 7 PM and is pounding the streets doing his roadwork at 5 AM every day. While other fighters have the occasional off night, Hopkins has always delivered in the ring, and will do so this Saturday night.

Hopkins can only be himself in the ring, and a 46-year-old version of that. He brings to the table a classic orthodox boxing style, a tight defense, a granite jaw, a fast, hard jab and a textbook straight rights that still carries KO power. When it comes to dirty tactics, Hopkins doesn't just know all of the tricks in the book – he actually wrote the book! 

This package of pure talent, vast experience and exceptional ring savvy has been more than enough to carry Hopkins to his exceptional career, but will it be enough to beat Chad Dawson on Saturday night?

The first six rounds of this fight are all important to Dawson. If he is behind at this stage, he will have to do what no man has ever done and finish the stronger against Hopkins. If Dawson has built up a head of steam and made a strong start - dominating the early rounds - the second half of the bout will be a dogfight, with Hopkins pulling out every trick in the book and then some to try and save his title, but Dawson proved in his fight with Pascal that he has excellent late power and stamina.

Both men possess great defenses and excellent chins so this one is guaranteed to go the distance. Hopkins surprised everyone in his rematch with Pascal by getting off to a blistering, aggressive start and smoking the first five rounds before Pascal even knew what was happening. 

He will do exactly the same against Dawson, and if the strong but limited Diaconu could disrupt Chad's game-plan, Hopkins will tear it up and throw it out the window.

Dawson will have his moments, scoring with his excellent straight left, and may even have Hopkins on the canvas, but overall the Philadelphian will be just too savvy, too experienced and too good for the younger fighter, and will win the fight by a surprisingly comfortable unanimous decision

Hopkins by unanimous decision.

Big Fight Odds: Chad Dawson 4/6, Bernard Hopkins 6/5  bet365