personally, i would love to see him drop to 168 and take out all the elites in that division. then how would dawson get hated on? im sure paulfv would find a way somehow.
Here's my logic: * Hang on to your belts. If people already don't care about you, your giving up belts isn't likely to endear you to the average fan * Don't fly to Mexico begging to get out of a mandatory and then pretend that you aren't afraid to fight a guy * Don't duck another guy, then come out with a false cover story that ends up being exposed and then you look 2x as bad. Not only did you duck a guy, you felt it would look bad so you made a story up about it * He does not want the best out there. He wants names that he feels are past it, guys he feels he can beat. This is the PBF strategy. Only fight guys you feel comfortable you'll defeat. If you are confident in your abilities, and want to make new fans, take on some young, hungry guys and have some epic fights. Have a Cunningham-Adamek fight, for example. Johnson fought about as well as he could have in the first fight, but let's be honest -- the guy is 40 years old. More people know who Antonio Tarver is (he's American; he was in the Rocky movie; he beat RJJ) than know who Glen Johnson is. Yet, no one cared about the fights. Why would they then care about this fight? I understand what Shaw and Dawson are doing here, and it's their call. But I'm not just going to sit back and pretend it's all hunky-dory when it's not, and when Shaw is making up stories that end up false.
I would be thrilled if he does this. Fight Kessler, maybe even Froch. Etc. These are the fights I want to see, not Dawson vs The Grampas.
he could then allow guys like diaconu and cloud to build up their resumes/gain recognition and just come back up and fight them then. everybody wins!
If he's going to stay at 175, fight the Young Guns. Fight Diaconu, and Cloud. Maybe Henry (who had a damn good fight with Diaconu). Guys younger than 35. Please. The first Tarver fight was so pathetic it was almost unwatchable. I don't want to see Dawson in against guys that you're scared are just shot, done. It's a joke, especially for someone with Dawson's gifts.
I hope after Johnson II Chad does this. There are GREAT fights to be had in 168, if he can still make the weight. :happy
BINGO. How sad was that? Those kinds of fights hurt a guy's cred, because they're not competitive. And if they turn out to be competitive (Tarver II), then Dawson ends up looking bad because a 40 year old is hanging with him. Chad seems like a really, really good guy. Nice. Polite. Good looks. Skilled. Intelligent. I'm not his biggest fan but I recognize his talents and potential. The Johnson rematch is going to go down. After it does, I hope that Chad starts racking up fights with guys who are likely to create compelling match-ups with him. :good
Kessler is never going to fight Dawson. He knows he'd get destroyed. Froch might do it because it seemed unlike Calzaghe he is interested in proving himself, but we all know that if Froch can get rocked and outboxed most of the fight by a middleweight, Dawson would have no trouble.