Dawson-Tarver rematch is a disgrace to the sport

Chad doesn't, but he should because he's got world class skills and a gym class name. He needs to build it up any way he can at this point if he wants a monster payday vs Hopkins and/or Calzaghe, either one of which would give him a guaranteed 7 figure payday and the recognition to command more in the future, win or lose.

 

Prophet, Rock --> This thing is looking fishier by the second. The 'no immediate rematch necessary' aspect makes the apparent soon-to-be-dropping of the IBF title look even worse.

So, you're going to fight a guy again whose butt you kicked thoroughly because you said you would give him a rematch, even though you're likely not going to be fighting for the title you won from him and even though you will have dissed your second mandatory fight in like 9 months and possibly dropped your second belt in that time? I mean, it's good that you are honoring your contract with Tarver -- respect for that -- but why are you blowing off the title (unless a deal is made with the IBF), the IBF, the fans (who may perceive Dawson as a guy with no respect for belts or unification), Tavoris Cloud and Adrian Diaconu? All of this for a 40 year old guy who looked pathetic in your first fight? And if HBO is in on this, why are they choosing to aid in giving fans what appears to be a blatant mismatch based on the results of the first bout? How is that in anyone's interest?

What I think happened here is that HBO wanted Dawson and they agreed to take on a stinker (Dawson-Tarver II) in order to lock Chad up for another fight. Team Dawson probably said "we're not fighting Cloud now," and HBO went along with it (which makes sense because if Cloud would beat Dawson then HBO has a deal with a damaged-goods fighter they can't then match up with a big name). All of this being done so that HBO can try to get Calzaghe or another big name (Hopkins?) for the second fight of their two-deal set with Dawson and have more control over all aspects of that bout, particularly matchmaking.

 

Hasn't Dawson been chasing fights with Calzaghe, Hopkins, and Kessler; yet he is ducking Cloud, and Diaconu? I appreciate Cal, Hop would be big money for risk, but I can't imagine Kessler would bring huge financial gain.

 

He's been saying that but its obviously not true if he's choosing to fight a rematch with Tarver right now that doesn't even need to happen immediately. Not only that but he's potentially dropping his IBF to avoid a mandatory with Tavaris Cloud to do so. If that actually happens, that'll just look terrible. And don't forget that he turned down more money and a vacated the WBC in order to fight Tarver the first time. Its like he's just biding his time. Fighting and beating Tarver again does absolutely nothing to bring him closer to a fight with Calzaghe, Hopkins, or even Kessler. And you have to admit does it looks bad when he has yet to fight a rematch with Glen Johnson, seems to have no problem dropping belts whenever a serious mandatory comes along, and then is adamant about some rematch clause for a fight that wasn't even really close.

 

Why the rematch, is Tarver dillusional in that he actually believes he can win or do better. I doubt it really, Tarver just wants more money and so does Chad. This fight will not be competitive and Dawson will supply another beatdown, Dawson really needs to settle the score with Johnson. I personally felt Dawson won the Johnson fight fairly comfortably (I had it scored the same as the judges), however many disagree and Dawson needs to win more convincingly.

 

This fight pisses me off, there's no reason for it, a Dawson-Johnson rematch would've been much better.

 

Lol at everyone saying 'there's a rematch clause, he has no choice'.

Well, he had a choice when he signed the contract that had the rematch clause in it.

This is all about Dawson's choices. He chose to turn down his mandatory with Diaconu to instead get paid less to fight Tarver. But once he had turned that down, he gave himself no leverage at all. He had to fight Tarver then otherwise he would have looked a complete chump, there were no other fights out there. He could have fought Diaconu first, picked up the big payday, then taken Tarver. Then it would have been Tarver who had nowhere else to go. Dawson would have gone into the match also as a champion, and so there wouldn't need to have been any compulsary rematch bull**** clauses. He would have had two relevant fights (including the experience of fighting against a hostile crowd which would have been excellent for his future career progression) and, if successful would have come out as unified champion with a much better argument for calling out the likes of Calzaghe or Hopkins. Instead we get one relevant match and one bs joke and Dawson looks like he's on the run from anyone younger than late 30s.

 

Rematch clause!!! I'm sure Dawson isn't entirely happy about this either, but it makes good financial sense and he can fight Johnson in July or August sometime.

 

Is Glen Johnson right as always?

Yes He did foresee the coming and he stated the end of the world is 2101