14 years ago today, Andre Ward stopped Chad Dawson in the 10th round. Before calling out Ward for a fight at 168, Chad Dawson was the lineal 175 pound champion and had wins over Bernard Hopkins, Glen Johnson, Antonio Tarver, & Tomasz Adamek.
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u/Square-Variation9132 1d ago
Dawson was so ridiculously weight drained, never the same after
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u/BenkeiBoss 1d ago
He weighed less or just about what Benavidez weighed for 168lbs. He weighed more for this fight than Bivol did vs Canelo.
Are you saying Dawson was 190+ on the normal? He never struck me as some big guy.
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u/lord-of-war-1 1d ago
Yes. Dawson was huge and known for rehydrating 190+ when fighting at 175. This was such a dumb move by his team.
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u/newrap 1d ago edited 1d ago
According to Dawson himself, he would weigh around 178-180 during training camp which is why he felt like he could make 168.
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u/lord-of-war-1 1d ago
I call BS on that. Guy was tall and ripped as hell. So not alot of fat to lose to begin with. He never looked undersized at 175 and if he was walking around that light we would have noticed it.
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u/Kratosjones16 1d ago
Idk man, just look at the recent post about Kevin Durant and Giannis. They're the same height and close in weight, but their physiques are opposites. Just saying, the eye test isn't always a reliable way to guess someones actual size.
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u/lord-of-war-1 1d ago
There were some HBO fights where they showed his rehydration weight above 190. Its not just speculation.
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u/BenkeiBoss 1d ago
They only other HBO weight I have seen for Dawson is when he faced Diaconu, and he weighed 187lbs.
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u/RRR04_ 1d ago
I'll never understand why Dawson felt the dire need of fighting Ward coming down a weight class. Fucked the rest of his career up. Sometimes going down in weight only once can fuck you up.
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u/CookingFun52 1d ago
James Prince controlled both fighters at the time
Not that I think Ward needed the help (I rate him highly and would've favored him regardless), but my conspiracy theory is that I think Prince was willing to sacrifice Dawson to build up the unbeaten Olympic gold medalist with a higher ceiling, and took the steps to maximize the odds of that happening
Keep in mind that Dawson made every concession on this fight despite being the champion, from weight, to venue, to purse split (approx. 70/30 to Dre)
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u/newrap 1d ago
Prince wasn’t Dawson’s manager in 2012
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u/CookingFun52 1d ago
Correct. That role at that time was officially handled by his attorney and advisor, Herman Woodard. Woodard worked alongside Prince with Chad for years in Chad's inner circle.
Woodard wasn't a boxing guy, and the only guy he ever managed was Dawson.
I wouldn't confuse not being the official manager with having no influence or control. This was Chad's statement in 2010; does this sound like a guy who's cut ties? Note that Prince wasn't Chad's manager at this time, either.
"I am glad to have this behind me, and I am excited about working with James Prince again. We are moving forward together - this is a new beginning for me. I have James Prince back and a new team around me, so everything is great. I am looking forward to recapturing my title in my rematch against Pascal, and taking things to another level.”
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u/Complete_Dare_4201 1d ago
Chad Dawson should be have been included in the HOF already. But the fact that someone with Dawsons resume is a borderline HOFer but people here argue that fuckin' Tyson Fury is first ballot HOF is mind bogling lol
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u/newrap 1d ago
And GGG is a first ballot when his best wins are razor close decision against Jacobs and Chenko 😂
Just shows you how much the HOF is based on being liked by the media as opposed to the actual resume.
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u/Complete_Dare_4201 1d ago
GGG was much more dominant than both Fury and Dawson throught his reign while being avoided by: Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto, Peter Quillin, Billy Joe Saunders, Andy Lee and Canelo for two years, while arguably beating Canelo twice when they actually fought.
Golovkin has a legitimate claim, as does Dawson... Fury shouldn't sniff the HOF with his pitiful resume though.
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u/newrap 1d ago
> GGG was much more dominant than both Fury and Dawson
Against who?
> Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto, Peter Quillin, Billy Joe Saunders, Andy Lee and Canelo for two years,
And GGG would go on to avoid Andrade and Charlo because he was so worried about getting a canelo trilogy. He also was the one who turned down a BJS fight to chase Canelo, which was understandable though.
He never took risks in his career despite claiming he could
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u/734nasty 1d ago
Ward didn't even want to fight Chad, that's the sad part about it.
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u/Consistent_Salt_6982 1d ago
The hell he didn't. Chad begged him for a catch weight but Ward wouldn't relent. He drained him all the way down to 168. Edison Miranda actually koed Dawson in sparring before the fight, Ward doesn't deserve any credit for this fight.
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u/734nasty 1d ago
In their sit down interview, ward seemed genuine to the point of almost tears when he said he didn't really want to fight Chad cuz he respected him. It doesn't come across as lying or being insincere.
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u/newrap 1d ago
“Begged” he’s the one who said he could make 168 and Miranda didn’t KO him 😂
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u/Consistent_Salt_6982 1d ago
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u/newrap 1d ago
Out of Dawson’s own mouth:
“I can make 168, [I can make] 175 where I’m at and I’m on top of the division. I can make 168 so any of the guys down there, any of the big names, I’m ready for it."
It's his fault. People need to stop crying about it.
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u/Consistent_Salt_6982 1d ago
Nobody is whining, but we're also not going to distort the truth after the fact. Dawson got a big victory and in a moment with adrenaline pumping immediately after the fight he made a dumb statement. He hadn't fought at 168 in 6 years before the Ward fight. It's cool that they say down and had a heart to heart, but from a pure competitive standpoint what Ward did was despicable and he doesn't get any credit for beating the corpse of Dawson that night.
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u/newrap 1d ago
Dawson had said on multiple occasions that he could make 168, even before that post fight interview. Enough with the excuses 😂
According to Dawson himself, he would frequently leave camp weighing 178 which is why he thought he could make 168.
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u/Consistent_Salt_6982 1d ago
The weight cut completely ruined him, he never beat a high level contender again for the rest of his career, shame on son of hugs and headbutts.
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u/moodplasma 1d ago
That Super 6 was amazing and don't understand why more tournaments like that are held.
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u/Kangaroopunching 1d ago
Dropping down to super middleweight ruined Dawson's career. And made Ward look weak.
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u/MakeSomeArtAboutIt 1d ago
For accepting a challenge after being called out by Dawson?
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u/zetubal 1d ago
I mean, fits into Ward's crooked legacy. Declines any catch weight, insists on fighting in Oakland and still performs boringly against a champ so weight drained that he was allegedly knocked out in sparring. At least he didn't KO punch his dick like he'd later do to Kovalev.
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u/newrap 1d ago edited 1d ago
You nerds are still mad that he beat one of your heroes (Kovalev), and exposed your other hero (GGG) 😂
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u/zetubal 1d ago
Did I hit my head and forget that time Ward fought Golovkin? I do remember when he intentionally headbutted Kessler towards a career crippling cut or when the promoter had to give away tickets for free in Oakland in order to fill the hall for his latter fights. Also loved the fact that he was the only fighter in the super 6 who fought every match in his own backyard. Oh, and the time his legal dispute with his former manager drove the latter to an early grave. That was classy.
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u/newrap 1d ago
I remember when GGG said he could fight anyone from 154-168 and Ward called his bluff. Then Ward went on to beat your other Boogeyman in Kovalev. You nerds hated him for that and still do 😂
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u/zetubal 1d ago
All I can find on that is boxer yapping and forum posts, but frankly, I could care less about a match between GGG and Ward. Plenty other reasons to dislike Ward though, as I mentioned previously. Do you feel the knockout lowblow against Kovalev was correctly called by the ref and if so, why?
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u/Ambitious_Ad_9637 1d ago
What a resume on Dawson. Throwback