You can have all the talent in the world but it wont do you much good without dedication. Twice in his career Chad Dawson took his training seriously. His rematches with Glenn Johnson and Bernard Hopkins, fights he easily won. I view Dawson as I view Zab Judah, great talent not honed properly due to lack of dedication.
1. age 2. switching trainers about 30 times 3. inactivity 4. Canada 5. "power is the last thing to go" and Dawson depended on everything but
...What? That's what I'd call an extremely generous interpretation. Chad was a great natural talent but had always seemed to lack focus - blow hot and cold from fight to fight. For me the Pascal fight was the beginning of the end for Chad, he looked incredibly lackluster through most of a fight he should have been able to win with ease. I agree that he would likely have stopped Jean and won the fight had it not been for the cut, but to write off the first 7 or 8 rounds as 'literally toying with him' is just :huh.
Lack of dedication apparently. I still follow his career, he'll be a name for one of the upcoming fighters to fight if all goes according to his plan.
Probably a head case. He changed trainers like I change socks. I think he loved the money more than the sport and eventually that catches up with you. When he was trained by Mayweather Sr., he really looked good. Talent can only take you so far. I really wonder how hard he worked at his craft.
Given what we know about Jean's toughness, I doubt Chad would've have gotten him out of there. I agree that "extremely generous" is the right way to interpret that.
Wasn't anything special? You must not have watched him. Exposed? As what? An elite fighter at one point in time? Some of you guys throw the word "exposed" out there when it doesn't belong far too frequently. Ricardo Willims Jr was exposed. Hector Camacho Jr was exposed. Learn the difference. Chad Dawson was THE Light Heavyweight champ and he beat Glen Johnson, Antonio Tarver and Bernard Hopkins to lay claim to that title. Only special fighters beat those three and I know a certain all time special fighter that could not get the best of that group.
In my opinion, Chad's career fell apart due to constant changing of trainers, loss of focus in the ring for long stretches, keeping the wrong group of people around him, not staying true to the game between fights and the final blow was the stupid decision to drain himself vs Andre Ward.
Same reason Roy Jones' career fell apart quickly, weight draining has terrible effects on some fighters.
Cutting weight for a superfight. In hindsight, very dumb move. Cautionary tale for the likes of Kovalev being pressused to drop in weight for Ward..or Ward for Golovkin...or Golovkin for Mayweather...
No question. But Dawson - like Mark Breland before him - is a classic example that skills do not make up for a fragile mandible. You can have all the skills in the world, but if you don't have a chin, you will not have a long career at the top. A solid mandible is essential to be successful in boxing. Chins matter. Dawson's career proves this.