"Right now the 154 pound division is one of the most exciting in boxing, with recent superfights between Alvarez, Lara, Trout and Mayweather generating a lot of excitement." pre-fight excitement but the actual fights were mostly bleh. you could say the jmw & welter divisions are the most hyped in boxing.
Trout looked slow and lackadaisical at times. He got dropped on two right hands because his own took too much time to get back into defensive position. His legs lacked jump and explosiveness. Trout clearly doesn’t like to come forward; his best fight was (obviously) against an aggressive Cotto who kept coming at him even though he gassed. Even in the Alvarez fight, I remember Trout getting rocked bad whenever he brought the fight to Canelo. I am a big Trout fan, but he has long trip upstream if he wants to up his stock to post-Cotto again.
They were pretty heavy knockdowns, all while Trout was leaning in exposed, exactly how he got dropped by Canelo. He was actually boxing well apart from those lapses, Trout also floored Dawson hard on a sharp combination, I don’t think Dawson had ever been down prior to that. Trout has obviously got excellent recoverability, but he’s been dropped four times in his last three fights on counter right hands, it seems he’s lost a lot of confidence recently and he was let off the hook on Friday, Dawson didn’t seem to know what to do to press it to Trout after flooring him I can’t see Trout reaching to top, but he’s still a very good boxer who would give most people a tough fight.
Dawson took a calf injury in the 5th. Can't say with any confidence he woulda won, but it was certainly troubling him badly in the later rounds. Against what was to all intents a tune-up opponent I felt it was a fairly poor showing from Trout.
Trout has been down a few times, but I think that's down to issues in his defence rather than his chin. He got caught with solid punches from big punchers each time, if guys like Canelo catch you flush most will go down. Trout has great athleticism, and would still be a favourite over most guys at 154. Plenty of exciting fights for him. 154 is a very exciting division, any of the top guys vs Demetrius Andrade would be another great fight
Cotto barely touched him. Canelo and Lara both dropped him and Canelos power is hugely overrated. No doubt Trout has a shaky chin