Thanks, and you're dead on the money. The rounds he won, he won so cleanly that it was mind-boggling that he just didn't keep doing that. Fair play to Pascal- the clean shots he was landing certainly played a factor, too. Still, I was hoping to see a Dawson that would fight back when challenged and press the action when Pascal was there for the taking, and it just wasn't there last night. If he eventually sees it as a wake-up call, this loss can actually be a good thing for him. He was in denial immediately afterward, but we really won't know if it's lit the spark in him until the rematch. It's the kind of thing where the fight last night wasn't encouraging for Dawson and Dawson fans, but it's also not a case where the losing fighter should be written off at all. We'll just have to see how it unfolds from here.
Most of the posters who now refer to Dawson as a "hype-job" come from a select group of brits who have always been more irritating than the *******s and joy boys combined. Their opinions carry little weight. Thank God that group of brits is a small minority. The use of the word "exposed" in connection with Dawson "exposes" the user as a person who does not understand boxing parlance. "Exposed" means we learned something new. For example, I do not think any of us knew that a crude brawler could walk Andy Lee down and beat him up. He was "exposed." Anybody with half a brain knew that passivity was one of Dawson's weaknesses. A known weakness cost Chad the fight. We learned nothing knew about Chad. We did learn that Pascal is a bit better than most of us realized. I don't think he is good enough to stay on top for very long. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll pick Dawson to win the rematch. And I won't be surprised if it looks alot like Williams/Quintana II.
he can have an off night and lose I don't mind that, its how you handle it afterwards and he handled like a whiny little ***** so NO I AM NOT A FAN OF CHAD DAWSON!
i still believe he is one the best combination punchers in the game, he just didnt do it enough. he gave pascal a lot of respect in terms of power. in the build up to the fight he was talking about how he fights to give his kids an easy living, didnt sound like someone who loves the sport to me. and he didnt fight like someone who most have known he was losing bad. he had pascal hurt in the 8th or 9th and he didnt step up the gas. there is nothing to make me believe he would have stepped up in the remainder of that round. pascal deserves a lot of credit for a good performance against the man people saw as the best 175er. i felt dawson could have won had he put more in, that being said due to the mental edge i would favour pascal again in a rematch, as i did for the first fight.
by whiny brits i assume you mean headbanger and co. please dont label the rest of us with them. dawson is clearly the best victory on pascals resume. he is a 2 time lhw champ and was considered the best for a long time. he has beaten harding adamek tarver and johnson. he aint a hype job, he hasnt been exposed. he was beaten by the better man on the night. somethin we did learn about him tho. he is a sore loser as anyone seeing the post fight interview must agree.
I absolutely do not consider you part of that small group of brits I referred to in a few different posts. We don't always agree, but you're a smart poster, and I often enjoy your posts.
The more I think about it I admire Dawson more... Honestly, Why the **** would the consensus number #1 guy in his weight division agree to face a fighter on his turf with everything to lose + allow him to be announced second in front of his home town. Name another American fighter who has done that recently? (Not in a tourney) That said, In light of all the hate Chad has been receiving lately I'm aboard his fan club now.
I dont entirely disagree with you, just want to point something, the fight was in Montreal, and the rematch will be, because it can sell there, it doesnt have anything to do with Dawson wanting to face his opponent outside of US. And the opponent of Dawson (Pascal) was the choice of HBO in the first place. I'm not saying Dawson would not have done the fight or was scared or something. just saying that yes he accept all these terms, but it wasnt necessarily his first choice, business made the choice for him.
Given the recent outbreak of everyone else turning down title shots, it's commendable this fight actually happened anywhere.
Because he thought he'd only have to show up to win, before taking on Bute in a much bigger money fight, having built a reputation in Montreal. Looked like good risk/reward on paper, but Dawson bought his own hype and underrated Pascal too.
He just got beat. Pascal did everything he wanted to and Dawson didn't because he couldn't. He was doing well late but his chances of scoring a KO were about 1% in my opinion. Dawson waits a lot, that's his issue, he doesn't stay active all the way. He gets the man stunned then takes time off and constantly does that, Pascal is an opponent that didn't let him enjoy his time off backing off doing what he wishes, he was there pressuring him. When Dawson had to pressure he never did. Pascal just beat him, simple as that. I'm hoping to see him come back after this one because this is hardly a damaging fight even though he took way too many punches in the process, punches sometimes I thought he never had to take. Where's the side step?, where's the uppercut, where's the.... nevermind. This fight was more annoying than entertaining watching how cold Dawson was in every situation he could have taken advantage of.
Me too. He absolutely needs to build up his workrate and keep using his combinations more AND DEVELOP HIS FINISHING ABILITY. huge flaw in a worldclass fighter, and i see it in bradley as well. if you can't close out either on points dominance or with a KO when you've got a guy hurt you need to remedy that immediately
this is the think i dont understand about dawson. he doesnt have a fanbase and for the past 2 yeras people have been begging him to fight young champs. he finally gets a fight against said young champ, and doesnt give it 100% i just dont get it. he isnt some green inexperienced fighter, he has fought 48 rounds with johnson and tarver for christs sake. it seemed to me that had he stepped on the gas he could have ut pascal in trouble, but he was too willing to throw a great combo then jab for a minute and half. that is a thing IMO dawson doesnt have a good jab, by that i mean he has one of them pawy quick jabs, not a solid jab, so he can land 2 or 3 jabs, and it gets negated by a pasca right hand. he landed the best shot of his life on pascal and i thought it was gonna be lights out, but pascal took it and cameback at him. he was obviously coming on very strong in the 11th but suffering that cut, i dont know if he could have kept on the onslaught.