By Cliff Rold

There are titlists and then there are champions.  Boxing has plenty of the latter but only a handful of the former across boxing’s seventeen weight divisions.

Short of a draw, boxing will have one more champion after Saturday night.

This is the sort of fight anyone who loves the sport can get excited about.  Despite an (over)abundance of skilled, older fighters who were able to hang around longer than usual in this era, boxing is often at its best when it is a young man’s game.  Battles between established names can make grand theatre at any stage but younger men bring something extra.

Even if they find themselves creeping up the pound for pound ratings, they still have something to prove.  They can still go at full speed.  They are still more likely to be reckless. 

Light Heavyweight Chad  Dawson is regarded by most as the best Light Heavyweight in the world.  He’s cleared out a pair of the best old veterans in his class.  Now he faces a wave of younger threats all as hungry as he for big paydays and big respect.  First up is Jean Pascal and Pascal has the homefield advantage, playing to what will be a partisan crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

They are arguably the two best Light Heavyweights (Tavoris Cloud could argue with Pascal’s slot).  Ring Magazine will recognize the winner as the true Champion of the World.  It’s the right call.  Joe Calzaghe vacated Ring’s belt, and the most popular claim to the crown, in 2009.  Zsolt Erdei, who held a claim to the lineal crown, vacated his WBO belt and sole link to the lineage last year as well, moving up to Cruiserweight.  His change of mind and return to the class is no matter. 

He, like everyone else, will be in line for the winner of this one.  It will be two fighters, both in their 20s, both in their physical prime, for the real Light Heavyweight Championship of the World.

It doesn’t get much better than this on paper.  Will it meet its promise in the ring?

Let’s go to the report card

The Ledgers

Chad Dawson
Age: 28
Title: None
Previous Titles: WBC Light Heavyweight (2007-08, 3 Defenses; Vacated); IBF Light Heavyweight (2008-09, 1 Defense; Vacated)
Height: 6’1
Weight: 174.11 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 174.1 lbs.
Hails from: New Haven, Connecticut
Record: 29-0, 17 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #1 at Light Heavyweight
Record in Title Fights: 7-0, 2 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 4 (Carl Daniels, Tomasz Adamek, Glen Johnson, Antonio Tarver)

Vs.

Jean Pascal
Age: 27
Titles: WBC Light Heavyweight (2009-Present, 2 Defenses)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’11
Weight: 174.2 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 171.75 lbs.
Hails from: Laval, Quebec, Canada (Born in Haiti)
Record: 25-1, 16 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #2 at Light Heavyweight
Record in Championship Fights: 3-1, 1 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 2 (Adrian Diaconu, Silvio Branco)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 1 (Carl Froch)

Pre-Fight Grades
Speed – Dawson A; Pascal A
Power – Dawson B; Pascal B
Defense – Dawson B+; Pascal B-
Intangibles – Dawson A; Pascal A

While both fighters earn strong marks for their hand and foot speed, Pascal may have the slightest of edges in terms of raw, athletic speed.  He’ll need every split second because he’s not as technically sound as Dawson.  Dawson works off the jab and throws crisp combinations which include a snappy hook to the body.  Pascal has a jab but he often neglects it, or merely paws, as he lets loose with an arcing right over the top, a whipping left hook, and winging blows to the body.  He’s loaded with aggression but Pascal also leaves himself wide open.

It is a bonus for viewers.  Pascal has become a dependable action fighter, leaving his mark in a memorable if losing war with Froch and two brutal battles with Diaconu.  What helped in making those fights wars was Pascal’s willingness for battle and a pile of guts.  Never was that more evident than in the Diaconu rematch.  Pascal, leading on the cards, suffered shoulder injuries during the Diaconu fight that left him wining with one arm for dangerous stretches.  It was a jaw dropping display of courage. 

His courage will be matched Saturday.  Somehow, Dawson has picked up a reputation as boring among some.  It’s an egregiously false characterization, a confusion of an inhibited personality with what is seen in the ring.  Dawson’s first, albeit disputed, win against Glen Johnson was a savage affair.  That his rematch win over Johnson, or pair of decisions over Antonio Tarver, were less dramatic weren’t because Dawson ran or hid.  Dawson simply was too good technically and still there were pockets where his instinct was to stop boxing and mix.  He’s got some real fighter inside him.

Dawson is not without flaws.  He has been hurt.  Johnson had him reeling; veteran Eric Harding dropped him before his title run; and Adamek dropped him to stop Dawson from pitching a shutout in “Bad” Chad’s first title win.  Pascal had his chin questioned before rising to the title level but absorbed big shots from Froch and Diaconu.  Neither man Saturday is a light out banger but both are quick enough to hurt the other at any time with a blind shot.

One, the other, or both, will do just that at some point.  Viewers who have seen them develop know how they will react when it happens.  The chance for a fast paced escalation of violence will ensue from there

The Pick

Pascal has to hope that it is he who does the stunning early.  Build an early lead, on his turf, and Dawson might feel like he has to dig in.  That would play to Pascal’s strength’s.  The Canadian-based Pascal is effective when he can flurry and smother a foe.  The big downside in picking Pascal though remains his wildness.  He wasn’t just outfought by Froch; he was outboxed.

The difference in boxing ability between Froch and Dawson is palpable.  Add in Dawson’s advantages in height and reach, and Pascal’s previous shoulder issues, and Dawson should be in the favorite slot he occupies.

There have been comments about Pascal being the first younger man Dawson has seen in some time.  It’s a true if irrelevant point.  The old men Dawson was facing could still fight and weren’t that far removed from being the best Light Heavyweights in the world.  It remains to be proven Johnson is old in the ring at all just yet.  

Favorites are about betting though and underdogs drive the wagers.  Pascal is a live ‘dog on Saturday.  He’s going to attack Dawson at a speed unlike anything Chad has seen yet in his career and have some big moments.  Dawson’s edge in experience, straighter shots, and jab will see him control a lot of rounds but Pascal’s aggression is going to steal some frames for him.

It’s going to be close but the hometown edge is hard to ignore and Pascal’s shoulders holding up is assumed in the pick.  We’ll go with a narrow upset for Pascal in a potentially debated decision on Saturday night.

Report Card Picks 2010: 19-10

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com