Hopkins vs Dawson II Weigh-In: Hopkins 173½, Dawson 174½

Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson weighed in today in Atlantic City for their light heavyweight championship rematch tomorrow night at Boardwalk Hall, which will be televised by HBO in the United States and BoxNation in the United Kingdom, and of course covered live here at Bad Left Hook. David P. Greisman of BoxingScene.com was at the scales today and reported the weights.

Champion Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO) weighed in at 173½ for the fight, which is about par for the course, and exactly what he weighed last October in the first meeting with Dawson. Only twice has Hopkins come in at the 175-pound limit, and that was for his forgettable two-fight stretch with Enrique Ornelas and Roy Jones Jr in 2009-10.

Dawson (30-1, 17 KO) weighed in a pound heavier than Bernard at 174½, marking the fourth straight fight where he's also been a bit under the limit.

In the HBO co-feature, heavyweights Seth Mitchell and Chazz Witherspoon will meet in what is designed to be a next step for Mitchell, a promising prospect who has received a big push from Golden Boy Promotions, and thus far has lived up to his end of the deal. Mitchell (24-0-1, 18 KO) came in at 241½, which is normal weight for him, and Witherspoon (30-2, 22 KO) at 231½, also on line with his past weights.

Off TV, the undercard has some notable prospects in action. Shawn Porter (18-0, 13 KO) returns to the ring for the first time in over 14 months against Patrick Thompson (18-17-1, 8 KO). Porter has been used by Manny Pacquiao as a sparring partner in the past, but some of his prospect shine has gotten a little smudged up with questions about what weight class he'll fit in and whether or not he has true standout potential. The 24-year-old Akron native weighed in at 153½ for this one, which probably puts to rest any ideas of him moving down to 140, where his 5'7" frame would seemingly be better off, except he's got a wide back and probably can't make that weight, which he never has as a pro. It may also signal the end of his attempts to be a welterweight, even. The 39-year-old Thompson weighed in at the same 153½.

Lightweight prospect Mike Faragon (17-0, 8 KO) will face Sergio Rivera (25-9-2, 16 KO) in an eight-round bout, which was signed at a 138-pound catchweight. Faragon weighed in at 137½, but Rivera came in at 140.