to give Joe the opportunity to draw the curtain on his great career in front of his family and friends and 70,000 fans," and "It's the best fight in the light heavyweight division between two undefeated champions." Calzaghe was to retire weeks later, as had been expected prior to the Jones Jr bout. Dawson himself was complimentary about the departing Welsh champion, stating "I applaud Joe's decision. It's obvious he and his family gave it a lot of thought. Timing is everything, and to leave center stage at his peak is rare and certainly comparable to the retirements of Rocky Marciano and Jim Brown." Seven months after their first fight, Dawson and Tarver fought a rematch on May 9, 2009, in Las Vegas. The fight was similar to their first, with Dawson in control most of the fight, outworking Tarver much of the fight, and earning another unanimous decision win. The judges scorecards were 117–111, 117–111 and 116–112, all in favor of Dawson. On May 27, 2009, Dawson vacated the IBF light heavyweight title to negotiate a rematch with Glen Johnson. On November 7, 2009, Dawson once again outpointed Glen Johnson. This time was more convincing but the judges scored it 117–111, 115–113 and 115–113 all for Dawson. First defeat against Pascal The next step in Dawson's career was a shot to regain the WBC title against Top 10 light heavyweight Jean Pascal on August 14, 2010, in Montreal and was for The Ring light heavyweight title. Pascal won the fight by technical decision in round 11 after an accidental head butt. All three judges had Pascal winning by a considerably wide margin at the time of the stoppage. Dawson returned to action on May 21, 2011, against Adrian Diaconu and defeated Diaconu by unanimous decision. His first bout under the guidance of Emanuel Steward. Dawson vs. Hopkins I, II Dawson initially won The Ring, WBC and lineal light heavyweight titles due to a controversial TKO win, when Hopkins was unable to continue after getting thrown from a clinch. However, on October 20, 2011, the TKO ruling was ruled a Technical Draw by the WBC and Hopkins remained the champion. On December 13, 2011, the California State Athletic Commission changed the official decision to a No Contest (NC). Two days later, the WBC ordered a rematch between Hopkins and Dawson. Dawson and Bernard Hopkins met again on April 28, 2012,