By Michael Marley

He fussed and feuded with promoter Big Gary Shaw. (Shaw remains mum.)

He clashed with manager Mike Criscio and unceremoniously dumped him. (Lawsuits to follow.)

His relationship with adviser James Prince was a tension convention and Prince sued him. (Now, Prince is his de facto manager and Criscio remains out.)

Some family members told light heavyweight champion Bad Chad Dawson that some of his newer “associates” were fleas looking to enrich themselves.

Is it any wonder the lefthander from New Haven did not bring his “A game” into the ring against Jean Pascal in Pascal's hometown of Montreal?

Trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, who has more or less seen it all at age 58, saw the warning signs while they were training for Pascal.

“I knew Chad's head was clouded,” Muhammad said. “Chad, he confided in me about some of those things. He had all of these outside (of boxing) problems going on. Sure, it affected him.”

Muhammad's frustration grew as he saw a diminished Dawson looking flat in the gym. The trainer said he was caught in the business crossfire.

“My job is to train Chad, all that other stuff is not my business so I stayed out of it.”

Arriving in Montreal, Muhammad's uneasiness grew stronger.

“The whole situation was bad. We were treated like third class citizens by (Pascal promoter) Yvon Michel. One day, we had no ride to the gym. We unpacked our bags and, when it was time to go to the gym, the driver had left us on Michel's orders.

“Our hotel was OK but the employees were great. They all disliked Pascal, they told us that. They say he's too bragaddocio,” Muhammad said.

The trainer is done with the rear view and he's licking his chops for the contractually mandated rematch against Pascal.

But it wasn't an immediate rematch clause, that door was left open, and Pascal is threatening to commit elder abuse against Bernard Hopkins Dec. 18 on HBO in boxing crazy Montreal.

(Hopkins owns a 51-5-1, 32 KOs record while Pascal is 26-1, 16 KOs.)

Muhammad knows BHop turns age 46 on Jan. 15, two days before Muhammad Ali's 69th natal day, but he feels that, properly directed, Bernard can use his old age and treachery to thwart Pascal.

“Bernard can win this fight, he can. He has to fight him like he fought Roy Jones, he has to go right after him. I don't see nothing that great about Pascal.

“Chad had a bad night and he was was going to knock Pascal out when he got badly butted. The guy was butting Chad all night. I kept complaining to the referee and he said, “These things happen in boxing.” What kind of a comment is that from a referee?”

Finally, Muhammad said, the loss to Pascal should serve Dawson well going forward.

“It was a wake up call for Chad. I am quite sure he will beat this guy when they fight next time.”

And, the trainer believes, more opponents will be amenable to fighting Dawson now.

“Nobody was jumping up to fight Chad before. But you see how Bhop jumped up to fight Pascal,” Muhammad said.

Michael Marley is the national boxing examiner for examiner.com. To read more stories by Michael Marley, Click Here .