Erdei-Fragomeni UNIFICATION!

Chad became beltless from the moment he shamelessly ducked his mandatory, Adrian Diaconu. Shaw failed to win the purse bid, still Diaconu's team came up with a bid so strong, that Dawson was guaranteed a million dollars. Guess what, Chad dropped the WBC not to face Adrian, so nobody "screwed" Dawson but himself. Luckily for him, the WBC throws out interim belts like it's Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, so he can pick up the same belt he ducked. atsch

 

Not this argument again. Dawson's passing up the Diaconu fight landed him two fights vs. Tarver, including an HBO deal and a huge purse because he was overpaid in the rematch.

Diaconu was going to be an off-TV fight and made no sense. I thought this tripe had passed along with Decebal, but apparently not.

 

Not really, because he's given the opportunity to fight for the same title he shamelessly ducked.

Don't you feel the irony of it? He said "f*ck you!" to the WBC and opted to fight for a rival belt, but now that he's beltless, he's humbly fighting for the same f*cking belt (interim version, same sanctioning fee) he screwed? :rofl That man has no shame!

 

Your train of thought doesn't make much sense. First, why would Dawson fear Diaconu?

And on what basis does Dawson owe the WBC anything? It's just a strap, and those are essentially without meaning these days. The first Tarver fight was more highly touted than a bout against Diaconu would have been, at least within the US.

And you can't discuss someone "ducking" anyone without examining the TV considerations. Dawson's team has signed him a sweetheart deal with HBO, and they are trying to get him a big fight (not easy at 175) after Johnson.

Whatever you think of him as a fighter, for a guy who started on Shobox with little hype, he has been handled very well.

 

If belts are meaningless, why is he fighting for one? :think (a joke version of it BTW).

 

You've got the Diaconu situation nailed dead to rights. :good

I was referring to the IBF (Tarver's belt) situation, however, in which Cloud became Dawson's mandatory by beating up Gonzalez, and instead of building his name up by fighting, took a year off. Team Cloud subsequently refused a build-up fight on HBO (which HBO wanted), which would've set up the Dawson-Cloud title match. So, Cloud winds up fighting an easier fight in Clinton Woods on Friday Night Fights for less money and the belt, while Dawson winds up getting stripped and pursuing the Johnson rematch.

It looks like it's a case of "what goes around comes around", but had things gone down differently, it's possible now that Dawson would have 2 of the 4 belts instead of finding himself fighting for the interim version of a belt he already had with few prospects for a big fight upcoming unless he decides to switch weights. No titles gives him absolutely no leverage in pursuing a fight with Hopkins or Calzaghe so he's almost back at square 1 despite alot of people considering him the best activ light heavyweight right now. Funny how things turn out like that.

 

To start, they help with opponent selection (yeah, that money angle again). If this sets up a Diaconu/Pascal winner fight, who's to complain?

But you'd seriously call Dawson's opting for Tarver/HBO money over Diaconu a duck? What would you have done? It bugs me when deserving fighters get screwed because they aren't "financially viable", but it's hard to argue Diaconu was any more a threat than Dawson at that point.

Not to chip in taking the discussion off track; I've learned a bit about Erdei here. Thx.