Shaw was offered one of two things; either GYM inserted a rematch clause in the contract, or GYM gave him partial rights to Stevenson's next two fights. Shaw took the latter. Whether he consulted Dawson on this, can't say - probably not.
That means Shaw thought he could make more money if Stevenson won, which he did, by taking a share of Stevenson's revenue. We all knew the only chance Stevenson could win was by Koing Dawson. Which he did. Shaw preferred Montreal revenues, with a fan pleasing big puncher, over a rematch.
Shaw, Floyd Sr, and many other people knew that Dawson was done. I think the writing was on the wall after the Ward loss, how can anyone back up Dawson when he doesn't even believe in himself. Shaw probably knew that Dawson was in for a rood awakening against Stevenson, and the only person who didn't know was Dawson, Shaw was probably tired of backing up the guy. I mean Dawson was blaming HBO for his loss against Ward.
I was never particularly high on Chad, but the TS gottit bang on. Chad was caught dry/cold/whateverthe****youwannacallit. In addition I'm thinking he might've been trying to make a bit of a statement to his own fans and Stevenson. He mightta hoped to keep Adonis honest by showing that early aggression, so he could then dictate the pace of the fight. If that's the case it backfired bad, real bad. Sad Chad's gotta lotta work to do now, and it'll come down to his mental strength I guess, but it's hard to see him being rated at the very top again. Those KO1s and TKO1 look almighty impressive and get everyone excited, but it often doesn't seem to register that a KO1s just as likely as a KO6 or 8 if you're talking about a 1 punch KO rather than accumulation. More so in fact cos of the cold/dry/whatever factor. When a fighter starts putting together a string of early round KOs is when you should start to sit up and take notice. Oh, and in case it reads that way, I'm not hating on Stevenson, props to him for his win, and it was a mighty impressive KO despite my personal distaste for the guy