Andre Ward vs. Chad Dawson: Fools gold or The real jewellery?

Cheers, bro. :good

The reason i think Ward might fight more on the outside, is because Dawson generally seems to be better when guys are coming to him. That's what's intriguing because if Ward fights the usual crowding fight and tries to handcuff Dawson he might walk into something. Dawson looks MUCH better and is a lot more effective when he's walking guys INTO punches. All the fights he looked stella in this has been the case. Large parts of the Adamek fight and the second Johnson and Tarver fights, i swear he looked like the second coming.

He put on masterpieces mainly because they were walking into his shots. When he has to be creative on the front foot he can be beaten to the punch and look like deer in headlights. He pursues opponents in LOOONG gallops allowing the distance between he and opponent to be too much and he's also better at making adjustments from fight to fight, rather than DURING the fight. So in that sense it's interesting to see what strategy Ward employs. Because as you say, Dawson is probabily one of the fews guys who can catch him on the inside and has the skill and physicality to go with him.

There's something in me that just can't get over the Pascal fight though and how he allowed an inferior fighter to pick pocket him like that, no matter how well Dawson has done since, although he beat old man river and didn't exactly look stella against Diacanu. I don't know, maybe it's because i was so let down.

 

You REALLY believe someone as basic and one dimensional as Pascal would beat Ward, PK? Not taking the ****, as everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that fight would be a shutout in favour of Ward.

The reason i can't let go of the Dawson/Pascal fight is because that's a fight Dawson should've won and so many of his flaws were on display. You say Dawson has ring IQ, but in my opinion his ring smarts are suspect to say the least. I think it's one of his weaknessess.

Someone like Winky Wright is a lot smarter than him and in his prime would give Ward a tougher fight. Dawson should watch how Winky did his thing, although they're different styles.

Winky Wright, from the Vargas fight onwards employed a style where he would stay within arms distance of you and step to you with a hard jab, never letting you rest. He was boxing and pressuring you at the same time.

Dawson should have adapted and did a similar thing against Pascal. He should've understood what was going on and that Pascal was ambushing him, so he should've changed the distance along with the pressure. That's why i say Dawson can't make adjustments DURING a fight as well as he can from fight to fight.

Pascal was fighting in wind sprints. Meaning he would go hard, then literally rest for 30 seconds a pop. It was so obvious. Pascal was resting about 10-15ft away from Dawson. Dawson allowed him to get his oxygen after his burst of punches. Dawson could have pressured Pascal with his presence alone, the way Winky used to do.

I was very shocked and disappointed in Dawson that he allowed an inferior fighter to him beat him like that. And to me he's always had an asterix on his name after that. He isn't the same fighter when you you force him to come to you because he doesn't understand distance.

Look at someone like Carlos Monzon, he kind of looked basic. But you know what made him so effective? He understood distance and had much moxie. Chad does not come out of his comfort zone and if he doesn't in this fight it'll cost him.

To me Dawson/Pascal is more relevant when assessing this fight, than Hopkins/Dawson is. I think the Ward/Hopkins comparison is valid, but kind of a bit lazy too at this juncture. Ward hasn't really shown a lot of his best stuff yet and trust me Ward can fight so many different ways. Everyone is just got used to him fighting a crowding, inside fight but he can be equally as effective at mid to long range. He has a lot more tools in his box than Hopkins at this point.

Some people may get aggravated when I bring up the fighters I grew up watching. But I can’t help it. When i watched the 4th or 5th best fighter in the world as Dawson was at the time of Pascal fight, walk carefully after a man he had seriously hurt, in a fight he was losing that's something which is not easy to forget.

Dawson was fighting like he had 20 rounds to finish Pascal. Could you imagine someone like the great Michael Spinks attempting to finish a man like that? What about when Sweet Pea Whitaker, who was in a similar situation as Dawson, against a guy named Hurtado. Whitaker who is not even a puncher, attempted to kill Hurtado under similar circumstances. Chad Dawson had a chance to build something legendary in that fight and he failed because of his mental make up.

Dawson was fighting a young, strong in his prime fighter for the ring champisonship and he went out like a sucker. He had his opponent hurt, but stepped to Pascal half-asked and didn’t try to tear his head off. My feeling is Ward will take him to a similar position mentally and Dawson will HAVE to adjust. Some people might bring up the head butt in that, but that was secondary to me. If Dawson was finishing him like a fighter of his caliber is supposed to, Pascal would have been on the canvas, and you can’t head butt someone from the floor.

He'd better be on his A game mentally against Ward. And to be fair there are signs that he's realising what has to be done and he needs to get more urgent. As i said before, Scully is a good look for him and seems to be able to get through to him.

Also contrary to popular believe, Ward is not really THAT fast. His advantage over his opponents is more his technical ability, versatility, ring savy and not so much his speed, although that's not inconsiderable. He's really not THAT athletic though as some people seem to think. But he takes the play away from guys because technically he's so superior and smart. He understands when to throw and when to not. What he has is quickness of the mind and not neccesarily the speed of the body. Andre Dirrell is MUCH faster than Ward, but isn't the same fighter because he doesn't have the same quickness in his mind. The same anticipation and technical proficiency.

Don't get me wrong, Dawson CAN win this fight. I'm not counting him out, but Ward holds most of the important aces.

 

I hope so too, mate. I was building that one up aswell, although i've never thought much of Alexander and picked Bradley to win that comfortably.

These two are on a different level to Devon and Timmy though wouldn't you say? It's also a MUCH closer and more intriguing fight on paper.

 

It's a bit of a shame that people won't give Ward full credit because of this weight issue, if he wins. Is it ideal? no. But i don't hold that against Ward and it doesn't really tarnish it for me.

It's Dawsons fault, he's the one who was willing to go down and openly agreed to it. He could've held his cards closer to his chest, negotiated better. He is the best light heavyweight in the world and just beat a legend. Ward draws a bigger crowd in his hometown, but he's not such a moneymaker or have so many options for other fights that he is able to call so many shots. Dawson could've easily made this fight a catchweight fight at 170, or do what Ray Leonard and Lalonde did and fought for 2 titles. But he made himself look desperate and team Ward smartly held him to his word.

 

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