Chad Dawson on HBO promo for Hopkins/Dawson II:

Pascal looked like he was ready to go in the 11th before the stoppage though

 

I actually think Dawson is one of the most talented boxers of today as well, I just question his ability to maintain it for a whole fight and he's shown too many mental lapses in big fights. And Hopkins is the wrong fighter to do that with because he's a master at controlling the pace and making any fighter look the worse.(Calzaghe found that out, and he has incredible stamina and workrate) Hopkins is also very mentally strong. If Dawson maintains his pace for a full 12 rounds, i'd be very impressed, whether Hopkins pulled it off or not. Either way, the main thing people should focus on in the fight, is when it gets into deeps waters. Will Dawson start to break down if Hopkins is controlling the pace and not making him fight his fight? Or will he stay patient, and let it come as the fight goes on, preparing for a 12 round grueling fight?

 

In order for Dawson to win he will have to work very minute of every round ,he cannot let Hopkins dictate any round ..I'd be interested to see if Hopkins starts off slow or takes it right to Chad .


I can't wait for this fight !!

 

I agree. He's gonna have to with Joe did. But can he increase his stamina to maintain it? We will see.

 

Based on their first fight, I would venture to guess that Hopkins will start slow again.

Unlike what some on here have said about Dawson starting fast and getting off of his game plan, I thought he was very relaxed and was starting very slowly himself. I don't think Dawson's stamina and conditioning will be quite as big of the story as some of you are thinking.

I'd be worried about the 47 year olds' stamina running and bouncing from corner to corner to stay away from the jab and then rushing in to clinch when he does initiate anything. Hopkins' stamina will be more important than Dawsons' in how this fight goes down, in my opinion.

 

I can agree with that .Once Chad turns up the heat we will see what Hopkins has ..Dawson just can't get those lapses he gets from time to time ..I always thought this would be a bad fight for Hopkins we will now see why it took so long to fght Dawson .

 

I am sick and tired of that small talk of Hopkins bending the rules and of juicing to throw combinations a 35 year older wouldn't, even more so a 47 year old... They said the same about Evander Holyfield and I rewatched that Tyson 11th round TKO and there was no rule bending there... Evander just used his experience to steal punching room that Tyson needed to punch with leverage and speeding in to hit, no intentional or wise headbutting there cause Evander was not the one rushing in against the stationary target. Hopkins is a different kinda experienced fella and he will save his engine sometimes but expect most of all to see him suddely invert his backpedalling to hit Dawson hard and straight on the face. Since Dawson is about to square himself up and lunge in with right jabs, Hopkins has to do something about it and avoid this guy to set him up from leftfield. Bernard is not going to fight Dawson's fight but that doesn't mean hitting low on the blind side of the ref or headbutting when he's leading in. Be very sure about bending the rules in your favour. Dawson's behaviour in the first fight was also inappropriate so why is everybody tryin to make B'Nard get into the fight with all those headlines in his mind, don't do this, don't do that, you are going to run out of gas, you are going to be whooped in case you engage... Nobody really knows what is going to take place, Iceman John Scully expects another way out, or another stunt or injury fake, this is miserable psychological warfare and manipulation manoeuvres that I hope the Hopkins camp with all their experience will ignore and make them eat their words, I really expect a great last fight from this great fighter and a UD win.

 

I think that's what's gonna happen in this fight. Lets not forget that Dawson has a lot of lapses in rounds when he's not doing much. Hopkins will take advantage of that. Dawson doesn't have Calzaghe's rhythem, or his workrate to make Hopkins use his legs for the whole duration of the fight. And even Calzaghe found it hard to find Hopkins, so that should tell you how great B-Hop is at controlling the pace and making any fighter fight his fight.

 

It was the first two rounds, I think if the fight continued Hopkins would have lost, because that's the best Hopkins could have done. He couldn't be the aggressor because he would have got countered.

 

Youth usually prevails over age. It happens all the time, see Ali vs Holmes, Holmes vs Tyson etc. In rare cases such as Foreman vs Moorer sometimes the older boxer will prevail. I think Dawson is too good and too young for Hopkins at this point of his career.

None the less I hope Hopkins looks his best and fights like if he was 30 years old. Even Hopkins at 80% is still a dangerous boxer.

 

Hopkins deserves much respect for agreeing to the rematch but I still question the shoulder injury .

 

Just surprised how quickly he healed for his age is all..

 

Many guys out there believe or the more appropriate word is expect that Chad Dawson does a Jermain taylor job on Old Man River. But I must point out some flaws in this way of thinking... Jermain was very poised from the get go and backed up his jab with an unorthodox right hand that B'Nard called the bowing arch, that is he pulled his right hand back when he jabbed, but great athletes like Jermain overcome this technical flaws with their physicallity in close and that made B'Nard wait and wait and lose opportunities to score with right heads and counter jabs once inside the opponent's jab. What did work and I must call all of your attention to this was that Jermain did not get distracted and while B'Nard was standing straight up and tryin to distract him with funny faces and shoulder shuffles, Jermain followed with fast body punches in the last 10 seconds or so that earned him rounds unofficially. Eventually Jermain burned himself out late when he had some advantages at the eyes of the judges and almost payed for it was it not for Pat Burns motivation and very useful advices on the corner and in the end stretch of the fight.

Chad Dawson does not lead with a power right jab and he leaves himself open to right hands like all southpaws do due to the position of their bodies when they lead. Therefore, he may lead with big right hooks and accurate lefts down the pipe, double and triple those powerpunches to make punches count in the fight stats. However, he will have massive problems positioning himself time and time again to set Hopkins up as B'Nard will naturally be circling and changing positions instead of standing straight up like a stationary target like he did against Jermain. And that is why I believe that the age factor will not count as much as the experience of having lost to Jermain tryin to outjab him and the experience of having lost to Joe Calzaghe, letting the other guy score and score inaccurate volumes of punches.

Bottom line, who will have the nervs of steel to make punches count and not getting hit? A guy who is looking to whoop another guy who is a masterful defensive mover and in short spaces or a guy who is AGAIN looking for the aggressor to burn himself out early? In my opinion and despite my support for Hopkins, Chad is not strong enough to impose himself physically even tho he's tall and he's rangy. Chad has not the patience to think about a fight in real time so that he can make adjustements that will make him look better at the eyes of the judges by himself and that is what is important. So my only threat to B'Nard success here is obviously how Iceman John Scully will take Chad to place himself and manoeuvre in this fight. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad was the guy who stood there as Chad beat Adamek and Tarver twice and Glen Johnson twice, sure he was also there when he lost to Pascal but this is a risky business when you have 1 minute to talk clearly to your man... And we know that Nazim doesn't need a minute or Bernard for that matter...