Chad Dawson's biggest weakness....

Is his mental strength imo.

I was shocked at how passively Dawson fought against Pascal, he almost allowed Pascal to take his title without so much as fight. Pascal didn't have to rip the title away, cause Dawson never fought hard enough to keep it, now as a Champion, knowing how hard it is to win a title, how long it takes, you would of thought Dawson would of fought his heart out, that Pascal would have to rip it from his grasp, but no, Dawson allowed him to steal it by not applying himself enough.

If Dawson had fought as passionately in the Pascal fight, as what he was talking in the post fight press conference, maybe he would of held onto his title?

I'm not saying Dawson wont/cant win, but it might come down to whether he can stay in-control of his emotions and not get frustrated, whether he's on it mentally, which being that it's against Hopkins(a legend), is plausible, maybe we see the best of Dawson in this fight?


I think one of the major factors in a fight with Dawson, could be that whilst Pascal was probably just as quick, Pascal has no fundamentals, he leaves spots for you to pick him up with counters because of how wide & reckless he is, where as Dawson is a more conventional, fundamental type of fighter, now if he has those fundamentals, AND he has physical advantages in youth & speed, its definitely plausible he could beat Hopkins, only thing I worry about with Dawson, is his mental make up, he can be frustrated imo, or he can switch off momentarily in fights.


I think Hopkins will look to mug Dawson if he is to win, in an effort to try and break his rhythm, in the hope he gets away from his advantages, by dragging him into his kind of fight.

Hopkins allows Dawson to back him up from behind the jab, he might have problems, as Hopkins probably wont be able to move as much as what Pascal did to offset Dawson, and doesn't have the handspeed to get off first on Dawson (like Pascal did)whilst he's waiting. Counter punching will also be difficult because of how quickly Dawson puts his shots together.

Dawson needs to pressure him with the jab, cut the ring down, go to the body when he works his way in, run his punches up to the head, but when he puts his punches together, he has to do it with speed, now the problem for Hopkins, is that Dawson does! put his shots together well when he throws in combination, and they're fast, so any potential counter inbetween his punches, is hard to find, cause you rarely get the transition from offense to defense when someone's throwing that fast in combination.

I dont know who to pick in this fight, on the one hand I think Hopkins knows too much for Dawson, but I think with the right strategy(Emanuel Steward), with Dawson's speed & youth, Dawson being inspired mentally, being that he's fighting such a legend, that he could up his performance and fight to his advantages, and potentially beat Hopkins. Hopkins recently, hasn't fought a fighter with as much physical advantages in youth & speed, but one who has the fundamentals to create his own openings, and not leave himself open be being too reckless(Pascal), its also worth pointing out, that Hopkins reflexes have looked a step slower recently imo.

PS Dawson is also a terrific body puncher.

 

He is.

Dawson definitely has a good chance imo, its down to him, whether he can stay focused.

 

That is a good point.

I dont think his punch output has to be really high, I just think he has to maintain the tempo, not allow the tempo to keep dropping.

There were times against Diaconu where he did far too much waiting. Dawson also fought too tall against Diaconu, which gave Diaconu a bigger target area to hit imo.

 

Cant argue with that.

No that's a fair point.

I do however think he might need more movement, in order to offset the jab. Hopkins didn't really move all that much against Taylor, but couldn't counter of offset his jab.

 

As far as game plans go, Steward might be an asset, but as far as changing Dawson technically, I think he might be meddling a bit.

Its not just the Pascal performance with Dawson either, I mean look how lifeless and one paced he fought against Diaconu.