You took the words out of my mouth. I've never been so disappointed to be a fan of a fighter, although by any objective measure Dawson had a stellar career. I just thought he could have done so much more. I saw him dismantle Carl Daniels in 2004, and shortly thereafter he annihilated Ian Gardner in one of the best ShoBox performances I've ever seen. He was supposed to fight Stipe Drews in an eliminator to fight Adamek, but Drews retired (I think) and Dawson fought Adamek as an underdog on Super Bowl weekend. He dominated that fight despite getting dropped late, and he showed a lot of heart to finish strongly. The Glen Johnson fight ruined him basically. He accomplished a lot after that, but that was his final offensive fight. He went toe to toe and won a very hard-fought (and somewhat controversial) decision, and from that point forward he became a defensive fighter in the mold of a Zahir Raheem or someone like that. He wasn't weak-minded, imo, he just doesn't enjoy violent contact. Not everyone is into it. But you can't hate on a guy but so much when he goes Adamek, Johnson x 2, Harding, Tarver x 2, Hopkins (and embarrassed Bernard generally), Diaconu. He also, as champion, was willing to fight in the challenger's home country. Including Pascal. Pascal was a bad matchup for him, but the reality is that he didn't get the 2007/08 Dawson who was at his peak. Credit where it's due, but Dawson was the better fighter. Just very very frustrating if you were a believer like me or northpaw.
Probably not as big of an extreme as you're thinking. Not an extreme, actually. You can argue the gap, but there is an obvious and notable gap.
true, Tostig, that is a fudge in my argument. Perhaps then this illustrates the difference between H2H and greater overall.
Dawson was a MW?! He thinks Dawson's a MW Umhh, no 'high level wins'?! Except Dawson... Truly awful poster..
What if i told you dawson weighed in at 193lbs in one of his fights, one of the biggest lhw inring weights recorded.
Dawson was a talented fighter but I think you're cutting him too much slack & not giving Pascal his due.. If it was close then I'd maybe cut him some too but he got worked in that fight! I think Dawson won what, about 2/3 rounds? & what may have happened in a rematch is a moot point. Speculation. The facts are that Pascal beat the #1 LHW. There is no reason why he couldn't have done it again considering the hit & miss career Dawson went on to have... Don't forget that apart from Adamek (who's best weight was CW anyway, sort of like Bellew) his notable wins are all men in there 40's... Still world class fighter's but Dawson was an athletic specimen at the peak of his power's. I think for once he came up against a very good younger, athletic, physical type fighter & he struggled bad! Not so bad Chad... Athletic, naturally talented, very good boxer sure, but it looked to me like he should have been 1-1 with Glen Johnson too... Pascal pushed everyone hard, I don't think Dawson was comfortable against physical fighter's. Dawson was more talented but boxing is more than just having talent.. It's about heart, will, discipline, mental strength etc look at Froch! He's the epitome of someone overcoming his limitations.. Pascal has only ever really lost to the best fighters around his weights. I can't say the same for Dawson.
Watch it again, it was close as hell. People gave all the round to Dawson because he was more active. But in reality he barely landed anything until the middle rounds. Dawson took control in the second half of the fight. But he could not touch Hopkins at all.
I just recently watched it. Dawson could not land on Hopkins at all. I would like to point out that if anyone won it, it was Dawson. The draw was best case scenario for Hopkins.
