By Keith Idec

Emanuel Steward will occupy a different ringside seat Saturday night in Los Angeles, now that he’s no longer training Chad Dawson.

The HBO analyst does, however, have a bit of advice for the talented southpaw as he prepares to challenge WBC light heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins at Staples Center.

“The only thing he’s got to watch out for is those mental lapses that he has,” Steward said. “He loses focus for a while. Then he comes back into the fight. Bernard’s going to try to seize those opportunities. So I see it as a tough fight.”

Steward trained Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs, 1 NC) for his unanimous decision victory over Romania’s Adrian Diaconu (27-3, 15 KOs) in a 10-rounder May 21 in Montreal. They parted ways prior to the biggest fight of Dawson’s career because Dawson didn’t want to train at Steward’s Kronk Gym in Detroit, which led to Dawson’s reunion with former trainer John Scully.

No matter who is in his corner, Steward is certain Dawson can succeed against Hopkins in ways Jean Pascal could not during their two fights. Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs) defeated Dawson by 11-round technical decision nearly 14 months ago in Montreal, but Pascal settled for a maligned majority draw with Hopkins in their first fight four months later in Quebec City and lost a unanimous decision to Hopkins in their rematch May 21 in Montreal.

“That’s the worst style in the world for Bernard at this stage of his career,” Steward said regarding Dawson. “He’s tall, left-handed, very coordinated, can move a little bit and do things. And he’s rougher than all the fighters Bernard has fought. He can get inside and do the things he wants to do. He’s not like Pascal. When [Dawson] did open up in that 11th round [against Pascal], when he woke up, he would’ve taken Pascal out. It wasn’t going to go to the decision. He can fight.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, NJ., and BoxingScene.com.

Tags: Emanuel Steward , Bernard Hopkins , Chad Dawson , Hopkins vs Dawson , Hopkins-Dawson