By Jake Donovan
From the moment this weekend’s fight was announced between light heavyweight king Bernard Hopkins and top contender Chad Dawson, the fear from most observers and industry insiders was that a dreadful waltz was in store.
Hopkins’ pair of fights with Jean Pascal proved to be entertaining, but the legendary ageless future Hall of Famer hadn’t exactly been easy on the eyes in any of his recent fights prior to that point. As fighters get older, they do what’s necessary to win, which is often how Hopkins’ career has been viewed in the twilight.
At just 29 years young, no such excuse can apply to Dawson. Over the course of his career, the athletic southpaw has went from “Bad” Chad, to “Awesome” Dawson, back to “bad” Chad, as in dreadfully bad to watch.
Never one to mince his own words, Dawson himself has an explanation for the transformation from must-see TV to his seemingly going through the motions.
“I became a bored fighter,” Dawson (30-1, 17KO) claimed of light heavyweight title run that ended with his technical decision loss to Pascal last summer. “I got bored. I lost to Pascal and that’s a fight I never should’ve lost.”
The loss motivated Dawson to not only get his career back in gear, but go on a mission to rediscover the confidence and rhythm that allowed him to tear through the rankings, advancing from prospect to contender to champion in a little over a year.
A one-fight stint with legendary trainer Emanuel Steward resulted in a win over Adrian Diaconu – on the undercard of Hopkins’ history-making title win over Pascal – but the two parted ways while he prepares for this weekend’s fight with Hopkins at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Such a move so late into training camp – the split came less than a month ago – is highly unconventional, even for a fighter like Dawson who has changed trainers in the same whimsical manner that sanctioning bodies change titlists these days. However, a conflict in where to set up training camp is what led to the unfortunate separation, as both seemed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company.
As far as Dawson is concerned, though, the move is a blessing in disguise. While being forced to abandon the wisdom of a mastermind like Steward is never a good thing, it allowed the Connecticut-based contender to return to his roots as he reunited with his old trainer John Scully.
In between his runs with Scully, Dawson has trained with a virtual who’s who of cornermen, including Steward, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Dan Birmingham. He learned quite a bit from each, but somewhere along the way lost his swagger that made him such a promising talent on the way up, one that current pound-for-pound claimant Floyd Mayweather insisted was the future of the sport.
Dawson firmly believes that the reunion with Scully will help fill in those missing blanks.
“I felt like if I had Scully in my corner for that (Pascal) fight, (a loss) wouldn't have happened. Just going back to recent fights, my performance, I feel like I started to slouch a little bit, get lazy. I think Scully is that trainer that has what it takes to bring the best out of me. That's why I'm back with Scully.”
Dawson was a hungry and aggressive fighter during his first tour with Scully, one that was forced to end when the then-unbeaten prospect wound up changing management and promotional outfits, creating a conflict of interest in the gym at which he trained.
That same level of hunger remained even when switching to Dan Birmingham, who at the time had a pair of championship-level fighters in Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy. Proof of that came in Dawson’s demeanor when asked if he would navigate around them on the path towards a world title.
“If they’re in my way, I’ll take them out too,” was his reaction at the time. No sugar-coated spin of friendship getting in the way of business or another course of action to be taken. “It’s business in the ring.”
It was that level of confidence that allowed him to advance from taking out Ian Gardner in 11 rounds on Shobox to topping then-unbeaten light heavyweight titlist Tomasz Adamek just 15 months and one division later.
Up until Vitali Klitschko had a say in the matter last month, Dawson was the only fighter in the sport who could claim to have gotten the best of Adamek in the ring. So dominant was his performance that his getting floored late in the fight provided nothing but a momentary scare that came and went before the end of that 10th round.
The fight came eight months after Hopkins rebounded from a pair of controversial losses to Jermain Taylor – ending his record-breaking middleweight title reign – to dominate Antonio Tarver, who at the time was regarded as the best light heavyweight in the world.
Naturally, Dawson wanted Hopkins since his goal was always to fight the best. The hunt lasted four years, requiring losses by both fighters and Dawson becoming the mandatory challenger to the winner of Hopkins’ rematch with Pascal in order for the fight to finally happen.
Along the way, Dawson’s stock declined thanks to a four-fight set against the likes of Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver over a two-year stretch, fights that did nothing to draw in new fans or even maintain the interest of those who believed him to be the truth.
Losing to Pascal in the lethargic manner that he did hardly helped matters any. Dawson enjoyed a late surge and turned the tide when an untimely cut forced the bout to go to the scorecards with more than a round to go. Giving away all of the early rounds proved to be his undoing, leaving him beltless, and without his undefeated record or a fan base to speak to.
Simply put, he was a man without a county, and a fighter he no longer recognized when looking in the mirror. The same fighter whose handlers once promised would become heavyweight champion of the world when all is said and done was already on the verge of being written off while in the prime of his career.
Even worse, Dawson was puzzled as to how to turn it around.
“One thing about me, I love to learn. I feel like if I’m not learning anything from a trainer, I feel like it’s time for me to go.”
Such self-discovery prompted him to turn to the man who first taught him the ropes when he entered the pro ranks a decade ago. Within minutes, Dawson realized the missing piece to the puzzle was the one he was forced to remove years ago.
“[J]ust thinking about working with Scully back in the day, that's when I was the happiest. I was learning. I was stopping guys. I was knocking guys out. So I felt like in order for me to be
myself again and go back to knocking guys out and showing guys what I'm made of, I had to go back to my old roots, and that was John Scully.
“[S]ince we've been in camp, I've learned so much, and I've picked up so much. It's like we picked up right where we left off. And if you ask me, I regret ever parting with Scully. I regretted that for a long time. I got a chance to work with some great trainers, Floyd Sr, and Eddie Mustafa Mohammed and other guys like that. But this is where I feel more comfortable. I feel more comfortable with Scully.”
It remains to be seen how comfortable he will feel in the ring on October 15, which marks his debut as a pay-per-view headline attraction. His self-admitted growing disinterest in the sport led to enough of a fall from grace where the odds are much closer than should be the case for a 29-year stud in his prime against a 46-year old with more than 20 years in service.
Back when Dawson first pursued this very fight, most believed that Hopkins refused to show interest in it due to the risk-reward ratio being far greater than other opportunities made available for the aged veteran at the time. Even with the backing of HBO and the money that came with his appearances, Dawson still wasn’t enough of a draw to demand the fights of his choosing, instead forced to settle for what was presented to him.
The fall from future pound-for-pound king to ousted ex-champion on the outside looking in allowed him to embark on a journey that led to his rediscovering what led him to the top to begin with. Now it’s up to the fighter himself that all of the pieces to the puzzle have been put back together, as anything else prior to fight night is simply just unverified claims.
“Like I said, I'm here to prove everybody wrong. The critics have been doubting me for years. They've been throwing me off saying I'm not worthy of this. But on October 15th, I will prove to everybody that I'm the best light heavyweight in the world still. And Bernard can't touch me. He won't touch me, and I'm going to prove that.”
Sounds like the “Bad” Chad of old. All that’s left is for fight night to prove if Dawson can once again be awesome.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
