Adamek was sick and weight drained, Diaconu is ****, and Glen Johnson is.. well Glen Johnson, he always loses the big ones.
To make it simple.. yes, Froch beats the version of Dawson that fought Ward, as well as any top super middleweight... If we're talking about the Dawson at 175 that beat Hopkins.. then that's a different story.
even that Dawson wasn't that much cop tbh I used to be a big supporter of him, but frankly he's got a touch of the Zab Judahs about him, and Froch is not the sort of fighter you can afford to have a brainfart in the ring against. If Dawson from the Pascal fight shows up (always a strong possibility) then Froch knocks him out, 175 or not. He's just one of those fighters I would never bet on again. Sort of a 175 version of Ortiz
At 170 Froch wins by KO, but at 175 it's a decent fight where I favor Dawson at his natural weight to win a competitive but reasonably comfortable decision.
Froch stops Dawson. Dawson has the natural gifts and technical ability working in his favor (not that he's any genius technician by any means), but Froch has all of the intangibles and grit to get the job done despite being handicapped in certain areas. Dawson isn't as slippery as Durrell or Ward either. He'd be getting tagged.
:deal It's clear Chad was affected by the drop in weight. Carl Froch has been outboxed by Ward, *Jermaine Taylor, Kessler and Andre Dirrell. A healthy Dawson would have little trouble doing the same.
Froch already battered Dawsons daddy Pascal I like Dawson but he'd get brutalised, 168 or 175, makes no difference
Don't want to see Dawson below 175 again. At LHW I think it would be close on points for Chad. Carl wouldn't be able to walk through him like Bute, no way. I think Froch would start slow and have trouble with Dawsons length and movement and end up too far behind to close the defecit despite a late surge. I think Dawson would give Ward a better fight at 175 too. If Froch lost to Kessler and decided to move up I think he would beat most at LHW except Chad. IMO he would: KO Shumenov Dec Cloud Dec Cleverly Dec Pascal Hopkins would probably be a messy one even at this stage. He would make Froch look clumsy and despite have success with single counters might not do enough offensively to get the win. He's a bit too static these days and I don't think he could stay with Froch if he set a good pace. Campillo could be a hard fight stylistically too, El Guapo is very composed under pressure and can stay in range and counter nicely. His jab and size would be awkward for Froch too.
Yep, Dawnson looked like a zombie against Ward. Ward is not a power puncher yet he was making Dawson do the jelly legs.
Dawson wouldn't get the chance to quit this one, he'd be on the floor with his eyes shut. And **** off with Dirrell, the man has done nothing since to be considered even remotely relevant.
I really like Ward. I think he is on the edge of greatness but it's interesting to me that increasingly conversation surrounding him seems to involve discussion about which of his victims would do better against each other (that and the noise about him not fighting abroad). Part of this is because he is so clearly in a different league but I also feel like Ward needs to do something to elevate himself I'm the eyes of his fans. I know that's selfish and possibly just boxing fan noise but I really think it's time for Ward to do something uncharacteristic and silence the critics.
The way for Andre to silence his critics is to take on the Froch vs Kessler II winner in their backyard. All his critics have at the moment is to claim he's been protected and kept in his hometown/country. If he were to take on and beat a top 10 P4P fighter in their backyard and win, they'd have nothing left to moan about.