By Rob Smith: In a fight that just starting to cook up in the 11th when Chad Dawson had a tired WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal hurt from a series of heavy blows, sadly the fight ended seconds later after Pascal clashed heads with Dawson, opening up a huge cut over Dawson’s right eye. The ringside doctor stepped in and stopped the fight and it went to the cards. The final judges’ scores were 108-101, 106-103 and 106-103, all for Pascal. Dawson seemed to have far too much respect for Pascal until the later rounds of the fight. Dawson just wasn’t letting hands go and was content to peck away on then outside with his jabs.
That was Dawson’s main plan, and he should have changed it quickly when he began to lose rounds to Pascal early in the fight. All Pascal was doing was being the aggressor. He didn’t spectacular by measure, Pascal was taking the fight to a reluctant Dawson. Pascal appeared to have Dawson hurt in the 8th round from a big right hand. Pascal continued dominating into the 9th, but was getting hit a lot more all of a sudden and starting to look tired. Dawson came alive in the 10th, and nailed Pascal with a number of heavy shots as Pascal was coming forward. In the 11th round, Dawson hurt Pascal with a big left uppercut that had Pascal backing up to the ropes looking ready to be taken out.
Moments later, Dawson was suddenly cut badly from a head but from Pascal over the right eye. The fight went to the cards and Pascal won it based on his superior work in the earlier rounds. Had the fight continued, it’s questionable whether Pascal would have survived, but we won’t ever know that. Thankfully, there’s a rematch clause in the contract so that Dawson can attempt to avenge the defeat if he’s interested.