De La Hoya plans to protest the Dawson-Hopkins controversy

Chad Dawson: "Yeah, he was faking. Come on. You know he's faking, come on man. He was giving me all of this, 'I'm a gangster, I'm a gangster.' He ain't no gangster. A gangster would have got up and fought like a man."

Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya told RingTV.com that he is planning to file an appeal in protest seeking to overturn Saturday night's second-round technical knockout victory by Chad Dawson,  who dethroned Bernard Hopkins as RING and WBC lightheavyweight beltholder in an HBO Pay Per View televised clash from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Referee Pat Russell ruled that the the 46-year-old Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KOs) could not continue after being entangled with the 29-year-old Dawson (31-1, 17 KOs) and slammed to the canvas, resulting in the fight's stoppage at 2 minutes, 48 seconds of the round.

Hopkins was later X-rayed and examined by Dr. Sam Thurber and released from the the California Hospital Medical Center, where he was diagnosed to have separated the acromioclavicular or AC joint of his left shoulder,  which connects the collar bone and shoulder blade.

"Look, we're fighting in California, right? And under the California State Athletic Commission rules, if it doesn't go past four rounds, then, obviously, it's a no-contest," said De La Hoya. 

"That's if it's an accidental foul. So it was a foul. It was clearly an accidental foul. Chad Dawson lifted Bernard Hopkins off the canvas."

De La Hoya have five days within which to file a complaint with the California Commission for consideration.

"Absolutely, we're going to file a protest. We're going to sit down with our lawyers and were going to file a protest. 'Steven Espinoza is our lawyer, and we're going to file a protest," said De La Hoya.

"What we are going to do is, obviously, dispute the decision, there is no doubt about it. You can not tamper with the rules because this is getting ridiculous now."

According to Yahoo!Sports, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said he had spoken with WBC president Jose Sulaiman after the fight to complain.

"I can tell you Dawson is not the champion," said Schaefer before declining to take questions and leaving the post-fight news conference.

Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, blamed Hopkins.

"Let Bernard take his paycheck and refund it to everybody," said Shaw. "We came to fight. What I really feel is Bernard is old, and he gave it all he could for as long as he could. He beat [Jean] Pascal [in May], but there was no way he could have beaten Chad."

But De La Hoya was adamant.

"The rules are the rules, as I said," said De La Hoya. "It doesn't matter what Gary Shaw says. It doesn't matter what Chad Dawson says."

HBO's Max Kellerman was only able to get a brief perspective from George Dodd, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission.

"The referee never called a foul. Whether it be an intentional or an unintentional foul. There was no foul called, so we have to go with what was said. He couldn't continue after the foul, so that is considered a TKO," said Dodd.

Kellerman ask why did the referee did not call the fight a no-contest.

"That's something that we will have to discuss with the referee," said Dodd. "But at that point in time, there was no foul called, so that's what we're going to go with at this time."

"Why can't we talk to the referee right now?" asked Kellerman.

"Because I'll talk to him," said Dodd, "and then we'll talk to you guys after we get done."

Dawson, meanwhile, could be heard screaming at Hopkins prior to his own post-fight interview.

"We came to fight over here! Tell your boy to get some heart!" shouted Dawson. "You quit, man. You said that you're gangsta, but you ain't nothing, man!"

Dawson was even more defiant with Kellerman.

"I'm the new champion. I'm the new champion, man. I'm the new champion. Critics can say what they want about me. They can say what they want. I don't care right now. I'm the new champion. I came in here to fight. I trained eight weeks," said Dawson.

"I put everything into this fight. This is a fight that I wanted for three years. This is how [Hopkins] jumped out of it. This shows you that he didn't want to fight me right here. You see it. That's why he didn't want to fight me."

Asked if he thought Hopkins was faking, Dawson answered to the affirmative.

"Yeah, he was faking. Come on. You know he's faking, come on man. He was giving me all of this, 'I'm a gangster, I'm a gangster.' He ain't no gangster. A gangster would have got up and fought like a man," said Dawson.