Glen Johnson is one of my favorite fighters, and Chad Dawson is one of my LEAST favorite fighters.....BUT, Dawson won the fight. I'll give credit where it is due....my main problem with the fight was the commentary, like some have mentioned on here.......I turned the sound off after a few rounds, I couldn't stand to hear Lampley, Kellerman, (and Steward to a lesser degree) pimp Dawson so hard.
You can score the fight however you like. However, to claim that people only felt the fight wasn't close due to the HBO commentary is off base. Every ringside observer gave Dawson at least 9 rounds, and they of course aren't listening to the HBO broadcast. That fight was not close. Dawson was landing the cleaner punches, he totally controlled the fight, and he showed the much better defense. Johnson is done and it showed in this fight.
In fairness to Dawson, Tarver and Johnson are difficult guys to shine against. He's also not a big puncher (though better than given credit, IMO) and doesn't excite the imagination with a lot of trash talk. But he's the best emerging American fighter in several years, I think, so it's important for we American fans to support him. Lacy, Taylor and Pavlik all have fallen short, and the jury is out on Ward. Dawson is only 27 and should have another five years or so of peak performance. Here's hoping he gets Pascal next year, then maybe gets a fight against Bute at the end of 2010. Those would be two very good opponents.
I gave Dawson 10 rounds. You might find a third one to give Johnson, but I can't imagine anything closer than that. Glen simply didn't get anything done.
He's the mandatory for the Pascal-Diaconu winner. Since there really isn't a bigger money fight available at this point, I suspect he'll finally take that one. He'd lay a spanking on either one anyway, but at least a Dawson-Pascal fight might be entertaining.
Chad'll beat both of them, but it's important he actually takes the fight and does it. There's no substitute for getting the experience of fighting young contenders (or in this case, beltholder).
Honestly, I don't agree with Philla. Johnson's own corner told him he lost pretty much every round. The HBO crew were in full Chad Dawson homer mode, that's true, but I'm not giving Johnson rounds because of it. Dawson just out slicked him, too fast, too mobile, too elusive. It was pretty much a shutout, the judges were wrong, and I know very few people who had it close. I do agree though that he didn't look like a top 10 fighter though, he wasn't relaxed enough, and he should have been able to land quite a bit more, he fought "scared" if that makes sense, when he should have fought with confidence.
Dawson beat Johnson easy just as I predicted. Dawson is light years better than the fighter Johnson fought in the first fight. He beats anyone in the world 175 and down.
