By Mark Vester
Gary Shaw, the promoter for Chad Dawson, thought the headbutt by Jean Pascal in the eleventh round was intentional. Pascal won a unanimous eleven round technical decision over Dawson to unify the WBC/IBO light heavyweight titles. Dawson was behind on the cards, but he had Pascal in all sorts of trouble in the eleventh round. There was a clash of heads that opened up a a very bad cut above Dawson's right eye. The doctor quickly stopped the fight.
Shaw wasn't happy with the clash of heads and the doctor stopping the fight. Even with the bad cut, Dawson wanted the fight to continue. Shaw had Pascal ahead in the fight and thought Dawson made a mistake by allowing Pascal to gain confidence by winning several of the early rounds.
"I thought the headbutt was intentional. Pascal's corner was telling him to run the last two rounds. I thought the doctor should have let the fight go. It was a very important fight with two championship belts and the ring title. I thought the doctor should have let the fight go. I had the same score as the two judges 106-103 [for Pascal]. The other score, 108-101, was a disgrace," Shaw said.
