Adonis Stevenson: Dawson will go into a panic once I tag him

stevensontAdonis Stevenson (20-1, 17 KO’s) may be moving up a class tonight in taking on WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KO’s) in a crucial fight in his career, but he’s not worried at all about being out of his league in this fight.

The 35-year-old Stevenson expects to be able to knock the 6’1” Dawson out just like he’s been doing with his opponents from the super middleweight. Stevenson doesn’t see any difference. He believes he’ll hurt Dawson just like hurt guys from the 168 lb. division.

read more

Big Weekend Of T.V Boxing Ahead For U.K Fight Fans – And One Writer’s Pre-Fight Predictions

stevenson22Fight fans in the UK are in for a huge night of televised boxing this coming Saturday night/early Sunday morning – those fans who have access to BoxNation and Sky Sports especially, although there will be terrestrial action on Channel 5.

BoxNation have secured the rights to the third instalment of the Marco Huck-Ola Afolabi series, which will take place in Berlin, Germany. Then, in the early hours of Sunday morning, BoxNation viewers will be able to tune in to the anticipated thriller that is Marcos Maidana Vs. Josesito Lopez, the action coming from Carson, California. This card also features the WBA interim title fight between light-middleweights Erislandy Lara and Alfredo Angulo.

read more

Adonis Stevenson to challenge Chad Dawson on June 8th in Montreal

stevenson22 Having finally avenged his defeat against journeyman Darnell Boone by stopping him in the 6th round last Friday night, super middleweight contender Adonis Stevenson (20-1, 17 KO’s) will now set his sights on WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KO’s) for a title challenge on June 8th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel hopes to have negotiations completed between Stevenson and Dawson this week.

This is definitely the right time for the 35-year-old Stevenson to be fighting the 30-year-old Dawson because he’s coming off of a 10th round TKO loss to WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward last September, and the chances are that Dawson’s confidence will be at an all-time low after that defeat.

read more

Chad Dawson leaves trainer Scully; back with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

dawson3By Jeff Sorby: WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KO’s) has reportedly left trainer John Scully and is now back with his old trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, according to RingTV. Dawson lost his last fight against Andre Ward last April in a 10th round TKO loss while being trained by Scully, and it’s unclear why Dawson has decided to go back to being trained by Muhammad.

Dawson’s loss to Ward seemed to have been caused by a combination of things, starting with his questionable decision to move down from 175 lbs to fight Ward at 168 lbs without a catchweight. Dawson had problems taking off all the weight and he looked drained against Ward. That still wasn’t the entire reason for the loss, but it couldn’t have helped Dawson.

Ward was simply the faster guy with the better skills. There’s little doubt watching that fight that Ward was just too good for Dawson. Ward would have likely dominated Dawson even if he moved up in weight and fought Dawson at 175. It was a case of Ward having too much talent.

Dawson can go back to Eddie Muhammad but I doubt he’ll be able to help Dawson get past his next opponent Jean Pascal on March 23rd in Montreal. Dawson has problems with speed, and the only way he can beat a fighter like Pascal is jump on him to take him out.

read more

Dawson Outclassed

Dawson OutclassedBy Emilio Camacho Esq. – As I predicted, Andre Ward outclassed Chad Dawson; however, there was several misses in my prediction.

First, I predicted that the first round would be uneventful and that Ward would win it. Although round 1 was indeed uneventful, surprisingly, Dawson looked sharp and strong thereby winning the round (at least in my view). Hence, I was only partially correct in my thoughts.

Second, I predicted that Dawson would win rounds 2 – 4. I was wrong. In rounds two and three, Ward unveiled his left hook droping Dawson to the canvas. Dawson had no hope after that and you could see it on his face. This is when we get to what I was talking about and the main argument of my previous article.

First, I stated that Ward would show us something we had not seen before and he did just that. Ward made the guy who defeated Tarver, Johnson, Hopkins, and Adamek, among others, quit in round ten after dropping him again. Dawson said he was “done.” In reality, almost no one expected a stoppage. I did not think the stoppage would come but I did think that Ward would be stronger and would show it in an extraordinary way. Well, he did.

read more

It was the WEIGHT!

by Robert Jackson: Well actually it wasn’t…totally, but as Miguel Cotto famously said following his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I tried to hit him, but I couldn’t”; Chad Dawson was also heard saying afterwards “he’s a lot faster and a lot stronger than I thought”. Also uttered by the 175lb champion were the buzzwords “I couldn’t get off tonight”; words usually associated with overtraining, making weight or the old boxing adage of a fighter having ‘left his fight in the gym’. Similar post-fight sentiments were put forth by Carl Froch after the Super 6 final where Ward unceremoniously, outfought and outhustled the British fighter to win the tournament. Froch had minimized Ward’s punching power and boxing ability prefight.

read more

Ward-Dawson: Andre Ward cements his place as a modern great

Ward-Dawson: Andre Ward cements his place as a modern greatBy Peter Wells: Maybe it’s about time we stopped the Mayweather, Pacquiao, who’s the best in the world argument. Andre Ward may just have trumped them both with another completely dominate display. Ward has already cleared out the Super Middleweight division, and Chad Dawson the best Light Heavyweight in the world, and a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter himself didn’t even come close to ending Ward’s unbeaten run that’s stretches back to when he was 12. When you look at Mayweather’s and Manny’s fights the last few years, they haven’t won each fight as clearly as Ward has. Andre has fought the best in his division and the best fighter in the division above, Mayweather and Pacquiao haven’t fought one another meaning they haven’t fought the best in their division.

Enough of that, this isn’t an article to argue who is the best in the world. Last night was Ward’s night as he was simply awesome in dominating the ultra talented WBC Light Heavyweight champion. In the build up many worried if Dawson could make the weight well, but looked good at the weigh in and weighed almost 10lbs heavier than Ward on fight night. Dawson enjoys fighting at his own pace, using his jab to control rounds. ‘S.O.G’ took away Dawson’s jab from the very start and after a slow first upped the pace to suit himself.

Ward’s footwork is something to admire. Any youngster starting boxing should definitely watch the way Ward uses his feet to set himself up to land shots and avoid shots coming back. Ward is also a great thinker and may well have won this fight using his brain, seeing shots that others wouldn’t notice if they stood their for 5 minutes let alone in a split second.

read more

Larry Merchant throws best jab of the night

YouTube video
by Paul Strauss: (Vitali stops Charr in 4th on bad cut), DeMarco vs Molina – Junior sits it out, Ward vs Dawson – Andre makes another one look easy

To start off the night’s festivities, HBO showed a replay of forty-one year old Vitali Klitschko’s 4th round TKO destruction of Manuel Charr at the Olimpiyskia in Moscow, Russia. After the fight, announcer Jim Lampley asked Larry about the possibility of David Haye remaining a thorn in the side of the Klitschko brothers. Larry reminded Jim about Haye’s “Loser’s Limp” display done after his fight with Wladimir when he removed his shoe to show everyone his injured little toe. The implication was that was the reason for his loss. In Larry’s deliberate manner, he said Haye should have removed his shorts, which would have revealed the the real reason for his loss. It was obvious Larry meant we wouldn’t be seeing any Fruit of the Looms.

Well, Dr. Iron Fist had his boxer shorts on while showing a total disregard for anything Charr might try to do. Vitali kept both hands low, inviting Charr to try something. Charr’s strategy seemed to be to tire out Vitali by letting him tee off on him? Well, let that be a lesson to fledging boxers. If you simply hold up what you hope is a tight guard, but don’t punch back, your opponent is going to find a way to penetrate your defense, as did Vitali. Soon he was getting through with a variety of shots, and by the third round a cut had developed over Charr’s right eyelid. In the fourth, Referee Guido Callverli stopped the action long enough for the ringside physician to take a look. After twice wiping away a considerable amount of blood, the doctor said no go, and the fight was stopped. Larry and Max Kellerman thought it might have been a little premature. They alluded to Moscow’s lack of experience with world title fights. Lampley pointed out the physician seemed to have a German sounding name and not a Russian one, for all that’s worth.

read more

How would tonight’s Andre Ward match up against the Joe Calzaghe who beat Mikkel Kessler?

How would tonight’s Andre Ward match up against the Joe Calzaghe who beat Mikkel Kessler?

by Geoffrey Ciani – Yes! It has already reached that point. Andre Ward is so good we are forced to look into the past in order to find a competitor worthy of his attention. That is the unique distinction Ward has earned with his total domination of ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson. Andre now finds himself in a similar situation as the Klitschko brothers. They are so dominant, that debating how they would fare against current contenders has become all too predictable. Creating hypothetical match-ups where the Klitschkos are pitted against former heavyweight greats is far more interesting than discussing the length of time it would take Wladimir or Vitali to dispose of someone like Alexander Povetkin. Unfortunately for Andre Ward, super middleweight history does not run as rich or deep as boxing’s most prestigious weight class. Therefore we are forced to look back on guys like Joe Calzaghe or Roy Jones Junior circa 1994 in order to actually find someone who may pose as a perceived challenge to Ward’s still growing talent (no disrespect to Andre Dirrell and Edwin Rodriguez).

Yes! Chad Dawson was weight drained. And yes! Andre Ward probably should have taken the fight at the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds, but based on what we witnessed tonight, I do not believe it would have mattered whether they fought at 168, 170, 175, or hell, even 190! Ward simply proved to be a cut above Dawson. If the fight took place at light heavyweight Chad may well have possibly avoided the three knockdowns and made it to the final bell, but tactically speaking he had no answers for Ward. Everything Andre did was like a perfectly synchronized harmony. His movement, from head-to-toe, created a remarkable degree of elusiveness that Chad found impenetrable. This was abundantly clear right from the onset when Dawson could not find opportunities to even commit to his best weapon, his jab. Ward easily neutralized it from the get go, no adjustments necessary. Ward seized complete command of the action and dictated the fighting range to his liking throughout the one-sided contest. There was no one thing in particular that troubled Chad. Each and every thing Ward did worked, whether he was jabbing, throwing lead hooks, working the body with both hands, shifting Chad into position, owning the infighting, landing crisp blistering rights, slipping out of harm’s way, tearing brilliant uppercuts, or simply just keeping Chad wherever he wanted him to be. It was complete mastery of his opponent by Ward, and it all stemmed from his footwork and upper body movement, which were enough to neutralize Chad’s jab. Game over.

read more