Of course it would - about as much as Hopkins' legacy was "improved" by beating Pavlik. His legacy would be solidified more by beating Hopkins more clearly, in a rematch, in my view.
Yes it would. A win over Dawson stamps Calzaghe's authority on the 175 division. 2 wins over 2 ATG's and a win over the best young fighter at 175. A tried and tested belt holder. Dawson would be a top 5 win for Calzaghwe in most people's eys and for me it'd be 2-3. If you can't see how a win over Dawson improves Calzaghe's resume, then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Dawson is NOT a seasoned mid to long term champ. He`s a good up and coming champ but nothing more. A win against him would make little difference.
Ideally i'd love for Dawson to have 2-3 more fights before fighting JC, but at best, that would mean it'd be this time next year they fought and JC would be that little bit further removed from his physical prime. The way I see it is, if Dawson is willing to travel to Wales and maybe concede a paycut, then JC should take the fight. Lacy is one of JC's biggest wins and it's the win that got Americans to sit up and take notice. Dawson is far more proven than Lacy was. However, if Joe retires, then so be it.
If Joe beat Dawson the average pundit on here would say Chad wasn't ready. If he's not been around that long its been proven that he's not likely to have the ring smarts to beat Joe unless he knocks him spark out. At the moment there's very little to suggest Chad Dawson is anything other than the emperor's new clothes, aka Eastside Boxing's new sweetheart now Pavlik became unstuck and proved himself too one dimensional to stand the remotest of chances against Calzaghe.
SO what? Does Dawson need to be washed up and 40 instead? Seems you and the many of Calzaghe fans cannot see that IF Joe continues to fight, this is the only fight that matter. You guys are sounding EXACTLY like the Mayweather fans who think their guy must only fight fighters of equal status, despite evidence suggestg8ng different. If Joe retires, fine. If he fights, Dawson it should be. Really, who else is there?
This is exactly what everyone on this forum said a month or so ago about Kelly Pavlik. Let's see Dawson prove himself against a bigger name before entertaining the thought of fighting the likes of Calzaghe or Hopkins.
Taking Hopkins and Calzaghe out of the equation. What are the bigger names that Dawson could fight to enhance his reputation enough so that either Hopkins or JC would fight him?
It might not have to be bigger names that he has to fight, but instead, legitimate opponents who would help him prove himself. If I were Dawson, I would fight my mandatory challenger, puncher Cloud, to prove my chin. I would then rematch Johnson and prove that I am a better fighter than he is, beating him convincingly. Then, I would fight the best of the rest, Mikkel Kessler. Once Dawson beat a puncher (Cloud), Johnson (clearly) and Kessler (clearly), Hopkins or Calzaghe would most likely be avoiding him if they were fighting someone else instead, unless they had not already retired, obviously.
First of all, not EVERYONE said that about Pavlik. And Pavlik is a MW BTW, not SprMW, not LtHW. And lastly, Dawson beat Adamek, Tarver and Johnson, arguably 3 of the top LtHW's in the division. Like I said, IF Joe retires, that's fine. If not, Dawson is the only legitimate opponent.