by David P. Greisman, live from ringside

MONTREAL – Chad Dawson knew he was outnumbered. There would be some 10,000 screaming Canadians taunting him and chanting for Jean Pascal.

Taunt and chant they did.

Pascal knew he had support, but he also knew those weren’t the numbers that mattered. All that counted were the two fighters in the ring and the points on the judges’ scorecards.

Pascal was the one who would have to take on Dawson and take the rounds in the eyes of the judges. Dawson has the speed and discipline to stick and move. Pascal has a history of inserting himself into momentum-changing brawls. Pascal, then, was the one who would have to take the fight to Dawson.

Take the fight to Dawson he did.

Pascal parlayed early aggression into late success. A combination of punches that he returned to time and again would eventually hurt Dawson on more than one occasion. The rounds that he took with activity in the first half of the fight added up. They were joined by rounds taken in the second half of the fight, giving Pascal a unanimous technical decision win.

The fight ended after an accidental head butt opened a nasty cut over Dawson’s right eye, a gash that appeared to be around two inches in length. It was deep enough and in a bad enough location, stopping the bout a little more than two minutes into the 11th round, a time when Dawson had seized the momentum, but not yet the victory.

An incomplete round stopped on an accidental head butt still needs to be scored. Judges John Keane and Gerald Ritter had Pascal ahead 106-103, or seven rounds to four. John Woodburn gave Pascal all but two rounds, seeing the fight 108-101 in Pascal’s favor.

Much of Pascal’s success came from his unorthodox offense, aggression that occasionally saw him pouncing with a counter but more often had him charging forward with his head down and his punches flying from all angles.

His bread and butter? A wide lead right hand, usually to the body, usually followed by a left hook to the head.

Dawson had a habit of ducking his head down to the left, attempting to duck the incoming right. When he didn’t do that, he took hard shots to his stomach. When he did do that, he took hard shots to his head.

A right hand hurt Dawson badly in the seventh round. His knees gave, but his resolve didn’t. He battled back, fighting Pascal’s fire with heat of his own.

Another right hand in the eighth had the same result. Dawson had thrown a right hand to the body, followed by a left and two more rights, also to the body. He followed with a straight left when Pascal countered, catching him with a right. Dawson wrapped his arms around Pascal’s neck, holding his opponent in order to hold himself up.

He held up under duress. He recovered and, in the ninth round, retaliated.

Pascal had attempted to overwhelm and overpower Dawson against the ropes, throwing heavy shots from wider angles. Dawson landed a straight shot that stopped Pascal’s onslaught and started the beginning of his own.

Dawson continued to send out smooth, smothering, damaging combinations in the 10th. Pascal appeared to be running out of steam. Dawson was heating up. In the 11th, Pascal summoned enough energy to try to take the fight back, charging forward once more with his old reliable. Dawson knew it was coming. He sent out a left uppercut that stopped Pascal in his tracks, standing him up stiffly.

Dawson moved in. Pascal did the same. Their heads clashed. The fight was suddenly over.

Dawson suffered his first defeat, falling to 29-1 (with 17 wins by way of knockout) and losing his claim as the top 175-pounder in the sport. Pascal earned that recognition, raising his record to 26-1 with 16 knockouts, raising his arms, raising championship belts.

Some numbers do matter. At light heavyweight, Pascal is now No. 1.

On the undercard:

- Dierry Jean TKO6 Antonio Soriano (welterweights).

Jean, who is from Montreal, put on a virtuoso performance, making Soriano miss, making Soriano pay, and making Soriano quit in his corner.

Trust me on this: You want to see Jean. He has slick defense combined with fast combination punching. It got to the point that Soriano, a resident of Lakeside, Calif., had just had enough. He could not hit Jean, and every fast shot pierced his guard and swelled his face.

Though Jean largely took his foot off the gas after strafing Soriano in the first, and though Jean conceivably could have finished Soriano earlier, his was an understandable strategy. Jean is normally a junior welterweight, and a diminutive one at that. Soriano has fought at welterweight and junior middleweight. The size difference meant picking spots and pot-shotting.

Jean is now 18-0 with 12 knockouts. Soriano is now 15-12-2 with 10 knockouts.

Oh, and Jean’s nickname is “Dougy Style,” pronounced like Doogie Howser. No foolies.

- Tony Luis UD8 Adrian Verdugo (lightweights).

The less said about this one, the better. Luis, of Montreal, won by scorecards of 78-74, 79-73 and 80-72. He improves to 10-0 (3 knockouts). Verdugo, of Los Mochis, Mexico, falls to 12-2-1 (9 KOs).

Moving on…

- Kevin Lavallee KO1 Genaro Garcia (junior lightweights).

Lavallee, who is from Ste. Adele, Quebec, made very short work of Garcia, who is from Mexico City, Mexico, putting him down twice and scoring the knockout just 76 seconds in.

A right hand from Lavallee followed by a left put Garcia down about 35 seconds after the opening bell. Lavallee closed in, sending a right to the body, a left to the body and then a left hand upstairs. Garcia remained down following those punches, looking hurt more from the body shots than anything else, but also appearing as if he had been overwhelmed by his opponent.

Lavallee improves to 2-0 (2 KOs). Garcia falls to 9-9 (6 KOs).

– Rubin Rivera SD6 Wayne John (heavyweights).

The very out-of-shape heavyweight Rivera surprised the not-in-as-bad-a-shape-but-still-not-in-good-shape John. Rivera, who weighed just below 270 pounds, knocked John down in the first round and did a good job countering the 218-pound John throughout.

Two judges saw the bout 57-56 for Rivera. The third, Jean Lapointe, had it 59-55 for John, giving the first round to Rivera 10-9 and then finding each of the remaining five rounds for John. Lapointe has been judging boxing since 1983, according to BoxRec.com. He probably shouldn’t be judging boxing anymore, according to me.

Rivera, of Puerto Rico, is now 3-4 (1 KO). John, of Montreal, suffers his first defeat and is now 4-1 (2 KOs).

- Arash Usmanee TKO2 Hugo Pacheco (lightweights).

In the show’s opener, Usmanee, who is from Montreal, knocked Pacheco, of Mexico, down three times – once in the first, twice in the second – forcing referee Marlon B. Wright to step in and call a halt to the bout one minute and 28 seconds into the round.

Usmanee improves to 6-0 (3 KOs). Pacheco falls to 11-16-1 (9 KOs).

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com