Tim Bradley is a more Versatile fighter than Chad Dawson who is One Dimensional.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Bradley is better than Chad Dawson PFP because Chad is great at his one dimension, but I think you can put up a good argument considering Bradley's performance against dangerous opposition.

The reason why I make this comment is Bradley has shown that he is capable of fighting both fowards and backwards. He can make adjustments on the fly and looks great doing both.

He made himself a difficult target in his fight against Holt, applied pressure, banged Holt's body enough to the point where it looked like Holt was ready to quit, and took home an indisputable decision. In all likely hood, considering Holt's range, tendency to box, and power, Bradley would have lost the fight from the outside.

Against Peterson, I was almost positive that Bradley would be the aggressor, but instead he took the role of the counterpuncher, and boxed on the outside. He did a spectacular job against a fighter who had longer reach, was taller, and looked to be more athletic. He dominated this fight on the scorecards as well.

Chad Dawson is a spectacular counter puncher. He did a great job against Ademak even though he was floored in the process, and also did a good job against old man Johnson the second time around.

But against old man Tarver, he dropped the ball. Where a 40 year old Hopkins dominated Tarver several years ago, Tarver's win was so unimpressive that there was a rematch. What seperates Hopkins from Tarver is his versatility. He is capable of boxing foward or backwards. Hopkins managed to put on pressure at the right time, and box at the right time, and went on to dominate Tarver, finishing big with the crowd on its feet.

Dawson on the other hand fought a boring, "you punch, I punch" style of fight where the majority of each fighter's punches landed on the gloves. It was the type fight where viewers at home turn the channel. It's not the effort that propels you into a fan favorite. When Dawson did try to press the fight against old man Tarver since it was obvious that the counterpunching Tarver was not going to press it against Dawson, Dawson looked clueless on how to proceed. He won that fight simply on activity.

This is reasonable considering Tarver is about 40 himself and could not keep up with the younger man, but if this was years earlier, Tarver, a bigger puncher, could have made an impact and won the fight. Keep in mind this is a guy that old man Hopkins completely dismantled years ago.

This is why Bradley will potentially become a PPV star and Dawson will not. Dawson is a safety first counterpuncher who has no inclination to finish his opponent, and he's at a higher weight. He's at a weight class where viewers expect knockouts.

For this reason, and the competition Bradley has fought, I think Bradley deserves to be ranked higher than Dawson PFP.

 

What the **** does other sports have to do with Chad Dawson?

 

Exactly, which is why it's sad that Dawson doesn't use his ability and occasionaly take risks.

Instead he is content with just getting by. This is why the casual fan is content with not giving a **** about his career.

It's the same reason Chess isn't a televised event. Because nobody can get excited about it because let's face it, it's not exciting.

People and especially fighters seem to forget that sports are for entertainment purposes. If they want the cash, they have to enhance their marginal revenue. To do that, they need to produce.

 

I didn't see him doing much inside fighting against Tarver, and Tarver was an old man who didn't come to fight.

He could have stole that fight and made himself a big attraction had he performed well in that fight. Instead, one of them was a PPV failure, and the other shouldn't have been made in the first place.

The other fighters you mentioned brought the fight to him. He didn't have to fight aggressively because they walked into him. And against Johnson, did he really perform?

Contrast his performance with Hopkins. Hopkins managed to knock Johnson out when Johnson was in his prime athletically. Johnson isn't exactly a serious technical fighter either. He's a volume punching pressure fighter. Typically those guys don't get better with age.

 

Light heavyweight is pushing it. At that weight, guys are expected to knock people out. Klitschko has a lot of ability as well, but because he's a heavyweight and not very exciting, people in America are typically not inclined to watch him fight.

At the lighter weights, a guy can get away with this, but at the higher weights, people typically want to see the a big man at least attempt to knock out the man on the opposite side.

It also takes competition, and considering Chad likely won't be able to compete in the heavyweight division, especially considering he is not a serious puncher, means that he has no where to go.

At the moment, there are not many significant challenges at light heavy weight, and he defintely doesn't bring the excitement that Roy Jones brings to the table.

I would not be suprised if he languished in obscurity. The ball is in his court though.

 

1) I saw Dawson put his hands up, walk in straight lines, and throw punches that landed on Tarver's gloves. Then he would put his hands up, and allow Tarver to do the same thing. Not exactly a very skillful or exciting performance. Were we watching the same fight? Old man Hopkins managed to completely dismantle a younger better Tarver, and land the majority of his punches by using proper execution and technique on the inside. This does not mean put your hands up and walk straight in.

2) How convienent that Johnson suddenly got worse. He's old. You don't gain stamina as you age. The guy was always a pressure fighter. He isn't a technical genius, and he never was.

And just so you realize I do understand that Dawson is a great athlete and he is very good at counterpunching, but he is either afraid to take risks or just doesn't understand how to apply pressure.

It's not that he couldn't beat everyone in his division by using the style he has. He can, but if he wants people to watch, he needs to be more versatile.