Recently delvin' into that era of light-heavyweight and the whole context behind all those losses kinda rubs me in the wrong way. Let's suppose Dawson faces Stevenson before Ward and the Ward fight happens next at light-heavy, do you think history repeats in the same way or nah? Maybe same outcomes but not in the identical, devastating fashion?
He might have had a better chance against Ward if the fight was at 175 and he didn’t have to drop weight to fight at super middle. No guarantees. Adonis Stevenson is a little tougher to determine because: 1. Dawson lost so easily 2. He was past his prime not sure if fighting Stevenson before ward would have made a difference or not but I’m not sure if Stevenson was even within title fight range that early
He was a mandatory to Carl Froch's IBF Title - but it was at 168. Not sure now what the motivation was behind the decision to fight Dawson instead. Either He considered Chad to be an easier opponent - or it's because He'd have to travel to U.K for Froch, while Dawson fight He got in his backyard. As for @Smoochie 's question - Adonis would always be a problem with his power. Durability was never Chad's strongest asset and He'd have to fight close to a perfect fight against Stevenson - and He was rarely able to do it. He was dropped against Harding and Adamek, hurt against Glen Johnson - and I believe Tarver stunned him at one point also. That's all in his prime, when He was considered one of the best fighters Pound-for-Pound. I think He would be more competitive with Andre Ward at Light Heavyweight, but Andre was very smart and He was probably at his very best at the time - before the injuries started really haunting him. Most likely, He would always have an edge with his superior boxing brain and willpower.
Agree. I don’t know if there was ever a point where Dawson would have beaten Stevenson OR Ward. At best he might have simply been more competitive in losing to them
There were people on this forum who thought that Dawson was the business back in the day, and you could see where they wee coming from.
Yes, He had some great qualities. He was natural athlethe with great hand-eye cooardination, was well schooled, very "fluid", had every punch in the book. Definitely looked like a full package at one point in time.
