Supporters of Chad Dawson, you have to explain why he is DUCKING Adrian Diaconu.

Wasn't this fight suppose to happen on Showtime last year and Diacaonu pulled out?

It looked like Dawson was more than willing to take him on.

There are much bigger paydays that Dawson is trying to cash in on before they slip away.

Tarver, Jones, Hopkins, Calzaghe, etc are all much bigger paydays than Dianconu and they won't be around much longer.

Dawson and Diaconu will happen as long as Dawson is the champ. He can't avoid it only delay it.

Delaying it for huge monetary reasons is a smart move.

Not to mention some of those fighters are every bit if not more dangerous than Diaconu.

 

You're right I forget I did give an analysis a while back.
However, with that said I don't feel Dawson is ducking Diaconu but rather looking at better options down the road. If he plans on keeping the WBC he must face the shark but if he doesn't IMO it doesn't mean he's ducking him.

 

He did delay it for monetary and fame reasons, for Johnson. Another delay is unwarranted. Enough is enough. There's plenty of time left in 2008 to fight at least one more fight after Diaconu in summer.

In fact, had he wanted to, Dawson could have tried to fight Johnson in January, by the 15th, as the WBC asked him to, and then Diaconu by the 15th of March...and Dawson would have had the whole of the summer, autumn and winter to fight at least another two fights against have-been NAMES about to cash in their pention.

 

If he is willing to give up the belt not to fight Diaconu, it means he's ducking him, whether it's because he's afraid to lost or because there's better opportunities out there. Still, they would have to be amazing opportunities for it to make sense to drop the belt. Would Hopkins fight him without the belt? Would Woods, after he beats Tarver? Would Erdei? Not sure Erdei would, and I'm not sure he's enough of a name to make it worth it. No way is Hopkins fighting Dawson after losing to Calzaghe. Woods? He wouldn't either because he knows Dawson is too good...So we're talking Tarver, after he loses to Woods? Not sure that is a good legacy move for Dawson at all...it might bring him money and fame, but he would have some of that after Johnson...it would be time to fight someone prime and hungry, who could possibly hurt him and take him out. Especially after Johnson, Dawson has to face Diaconu v. Henry winner. If he doesn't, he loses a lot of credibility in my book. It would hurt his legacy, that's for sure, especially if it's the first step (or second, if you count Johnson) in a career built on fighting have-been NAMES. Not good for boxing.

 

Bingo.

The other thing I find curious is that I haven't heard from Dawson or his camp that someone like Calzaghe was on their radar in the first place- that seems to be put in place purely from fans. Dawson's team isn't stupid- they don't want to risk a loss for their young fighter against that level yet. That's exactly why you saw him fight two weak "contenders" after the Adamek win, instead of going after a bigger name immediately to put themselves in a position to call out Calzaghe. This way they can still put up the air that the elite are ducking him, despite the fact he hasn't exactly gone out of his way to force the issue with any of them.

The Dawson camp's plan is to let the old guys get older, bide their time, and call out one or two of them once they feel they're past it enough to make them a smaller risk. Once the old guard's out, the division will be wide open, which is exactly what they're waiting for. At that point, Chad would be in a prime position to officially become "the next big thing" at the weight, and subsequently make more money with less risk- he'd still be young, very skilled, undefeated, and in a prestige division. I don't begrudge him that in the slightest- but I do think it makes it tougher for Dawson's fans to claim he's always the guy being ducked, not the other way around.

As for this fight, I'd make Dawson the favorite, but I'm officially voting for Diaconu by KO because this latest move makes no sense. The only reason Dawson would do it is because even though he's the better all-around fighter, his team doesn't like the risk of it from a style standpoint and from a payoff standpoint...but that's the fight a young champion has to take to keep his title and start to build some kind of legacy. He hasn't accomplished enough to drop a mandatory like this without a harm in reputation.

 

Your right about the "stylistic nighmare" stuff...no paper, maybe. In the ring, its gonna be different from what you suggest & its gonna be ULGY. Don't you remember what AD did to Hoye on FNF's? I know, Hoye is no Dawson. But heres my point. All that style stuff will go out the window as soon as Adrian launches an attack & wades right into Chad. Like I said, its gonna be ugly. And remember, Dawson is defending, whereas Diaconu is HUNGRY, looking to steal something & I don't think Chad will be able to keep him at bay for 12 rounds.

 

Just trying to prolong his demise.:yep





Sorry 'bout that.:!:

 

Dawson to fight sub:

WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (24-0, 16 KOs) defends his title Sept. 29 (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET) against Epifanio Mendoza (28-4-1, 24 KOs) after top mandatory challenger Adrian Diaconu pulled out because of a hand injury. … A 30-minute special, Countdown to (Jermain) Taylor-(Kelly) Pavlik, premieres at 11 p.m. ET Saturday on HBO. The unbeaten middleweights will fight Sept. 29 at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2007-09-20-Hatton-Mayweather-HBO_N.htm

Diacounu pulled out, stop bitching.

 

I agree. It's a risk/reward thing, for sure. Good post!:good

 

I think this post is misguided. You haven't heard more from Dawson's team about Hopkins and Calzaghe because 1) everyone knows they're going to fight each other and 2) the HBO/Showtime politics probably will prevent Chad from ever getting a shot at JC. Unless he leaves Gary Shaw, which in my opinion would be good for his career.

And Dawson's people spent all of 2007 post-Adamek chasing after a fight against Tarver, precisely the big name he needs to grab more of the spotlight. They didn't get it, and then he opted to deal with the mandatory, and his mandatory pulled out. That's why there were **** defenses.

Dawson doesn't need to wait on the old guard to get any older, with the possible exception of Calzaghe. He'd be heavily favored against Tarver or Jones, and informed fans realize he'd easily defeat the badly-faded Hopkins as well. Even if he did lose, none of the three throws enough punches to do any lasting damage. We aren't talking Trinidad/Reid here.

The reason the Dawson camp says he's getting ducked -- and obviously TV is a major factor here, not that anyone is necessarily afraid of losing (except Tarver) -- is because Hopkins and Calzaghe won't even say his name. Roy Jones has a little, but Roy talks about everyone.

The hype around Diaconu doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe he'll stop Dawson in one round, but there isn't much on his resume to suggest such an outcome.

 

Excellent post!:good

 

"The Shark" Diaconu by K.O. over "Fragile chin" Dawson...

 

Good response...I could just be being too rough on him, and that makes sense.

I still stick by my statement that he needs to get his mandatory out of the way, though. He still doesn't have enough of a "name" to allow him to not fight Diaconu without negative fallout. And it's not like nothing good would come of it- if his next two convincing wins are against a proven old vet like Johnson and a hungry, undefeated fighter with an exciting, dangerous style like Diaconu, I think that would go along ways towards proving he is as good as advertised to those with a "wait and see" attitude towards him like myself.

 

Actually Dawson did call Calzaghe out. His manager even went onto the British Forum at boxrec and made the offer public. But Dawson had just beaten Adamek on his first Showtime appearance and didn't have a big name. He's getting bigger now but realizes he has to beat another name (ie: Johnson) before other names like Calzaghe look his way.

 

Diaconu was the one who pulled out of the fight. I wish the fight was never postponed so Dawson could expose Diaconu for the fraud that he is. Negotiations got messed up because of Don King, so now he's fighting Glen Johnson, and besides Dawson has agreed to fight Diaconu (as in signed the contract) once he beats Johnson, so who's ducking who?