There have been a couple of poll threads made for this match already, but in my expert opinion they all suck. :yep (no end date set on the poll, end date set too early, crappy/limited options...) The press conference will be Tuesday at 11:30am EST @ the Oracle Arena in Oakland. The fight will be September 8th on HBO at the same place, with Ward's WBC and WBA Super 168 lb titles on the line as Dawson comes down in weight to challenge.
Ward smothers him all night on the inside. on the outside Chad will be too busy trying to set up his punches like always while Ward takes full advantage of that and gets off first. Ward a G
Ward UD for me, Dawsons work rate is too low, ward will shut him down take away his attack and win an ugly 9-3 ish decision
The left hand of Dawson does worry me a bit for Ward. He was getting that thing off effortlessly against Hopkins. Beautiful shots. Of course, that's done-ass Hopkins. Ward is a different animal. A younger animal with sharper reflexes. Pretty safe to say Dawson wants to exchange missiles while Ward wants to take it to the trenches.
At 175 I would take Dawson, he is strong enough to keep the smothering Ward off of him. I think he will be too thin and weight drained for Ward, and its in Oakland.
:nod My feeling as well. Dawson probably thinks he can win. He probably thinks he can bully Ward, whipping away with left hands from outside and using his size & strength to shove him away when he cuts in close. We shall see.
I'm pulling for Chad so badly on this one. Chad's been one of my favorites for years but my mind says Ward will play spoiler, get inside and dirty him up and frustrate him winning a 7-5/8-4 type decision after dropping some early rounds. Dawson fought a great tune up for Ward though in B-Hop- proly the best possible Ward tune up there is despite Ward being infinitely faster and having much better stamina. I really hope Dawson wins this one, it's been a longtime since I wanted a fighter to win so badly.