By Thomas Gerbasi

Having a former world champion like Eddie Mustafa Muhammad in his corner isn’t just a tactical decision for current light heavyweight boss Chad Dawson. It’s a reminder of how things used to be in boxing, and how they could be once again.

“I always ask him how it was when he was fighting and he always says that the best fought the best,” Dawson told BoxingScene. “Guys weren’t afraid to fight each other, promoters weren’t scared to put their best fighters in with another promoter’s best fighters, and it was a totally different ballgame. That’s when boxing was boxing. You didn’t have fighters ducking each other, and the best fought the best. When (Marvin) Hagler fought Sugar Ray Leonard (1987), they both were the best at the time in the division, and they fought each other and didn’t have a problem fighting each other. That’s not going on in boxing right now.”

And no one knows that better than Mustafa Muhammad, whose heyday in the late 70’s and early 80’s was filled with names like James Scott, Marvin Johnson, Jerry Martin, Michael Spinks, Rudi Koopmans, and Lotte Mwale. They were all top contenders or champions, and Mustafa Muhammad didn’t avoid any of them.

Yet Dawson, at 28, has been stuck in a holding pattern as of late. His last performance was in November of 2009, and since September of 2007 he’s been forced to play the seniors tour in two bouts apiece against Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson. He finally returns this Saturday night against Jean Pascal, but that doesn’t completely erase the frustration of the last nine months.

“It’s been frustrating but what can I do?” asked Dawson. “The Pascal fight was supposed to happen in June, but he had shoulder surgery, so that postponed the fight. This is my first fight this year, and it is kinda frustrating due to the fact that I’m a young guy and I feel like I should be fighting more often.”

He pauses.

“Hopefully I can get one more fight in this year.”

It may be a recurring theme these days, but that’s because it’s the only consistent one in boxing – fighters aren’t fighting, and the best scraps are taking place in the negotiating room, not the ring. It’s certainly not what young guns like Dawson expected out of the game. The way Dawson grew up, you assumed that once you got a world title belt around your waist that the heavens would open and there would be more fights than you could handle. Not the case anymore.

“When you’re the champion, there’s a whole line of guys lining up to fight you, but in my case, that didn’t happen,” he said. “I was fortunate to get two rematches with Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver, and it was the last two years of my life fighting those two guys, so I’m happy to be fighting a new face and especially I’m excited to get a young guy like myself so I can show the world that I’m not just fighting older guys; I can beat a young guy too.”

Yet before looking at Saturday night, there’s still the ghost of one of the seniors tour members floating around practically every conversation concerning Chad Dawson, and that’s Bernard Hopkins. But Dawson has finally decided that enough is enough when it comes to ‘The Executioner’.

“I reached that point after the last Glen Johnson fight after he didn’t step up to the plate,” said Dawson. “I don’t need Bernard Hopkins anymore. I think it’s come to the point where he’s gonna need me pretty soon if he ever plans on fighting again. But that’s not what the sport is about right now – I want to fight the best and right now I don’t even think Bernard Hopkins is the best in the division anymore. I think he’s maybe five or six in my opinion, and these young guys coming up are well-prepared for him. Bernard’s Bernard – he’s a great champion and a Hall of Famer, but the young guys coming up, I don’t think he’ll be able to hang with us.”

With that statement, Dawson has made a statement for the sport. Sure, guys like Hopkins, Roy Jones, and the rest of the game’s last generation of stars can still get their share of attention, but if the sport’s going to get into another Golden Age, it needs the under-30 crowd to step up and be noticed. Dawson is one of that crowd, and he’s ready to do his part in his division, starting with the fight against the 27-year old Pascal, who is as equally dynamic and willing to put his neck on the line against his fellow 175-pound standouts.

“In the next few years I think the light heavyweight division will come back to life,” said Dawson. “You’ve got the Super Six tournament going on and those guys will probably be coming up to 175. We’ve got me, Pascal, and Tavoris Cloud right now at the top of the division, so in the next couple years it should be a live division and I’m looking forward to bringing the division back to life.”

And while the most recent era led by Jones, Tarver, and Johnson was solid, if Dawson, Pascal, Cloud, Beibut Shumenov, Jurgen Brahmer, Nathan Cleverly, and some graduates from 168 pounds like Andre Ward, Carl Froch, and Andre Dirrell move up, the division could compare to its 1980s heyday, one that Mustafa Muhammad is well acquainted with. Yet that’s not to say Dawson is completely trashing the “old” guys. In fact, he took a lot from 48 rounds with Tarver and Johnson, a masters course that his peers can’t match.

“They’re tricky veterans, and me going through those experiences with those two guys, I have kind of a head start on Tavoris Cloud, Jean Pascal, and any other young light heavyweights,” said Dawson. “Those guys were on top of their games before I came along and it’s a great feeling to have those two names on my resume.”

But now it’s all about Pascal, who bounced back from his lone career loss against Froch in 2008 to put together a four fight winning streak that includes a win over Adrian Diaconu for the WBC title in 2009, and title defense victories over Diaconu and Silvio Branco.

“He’s another young, athletic guy like myself,” said Dawson of Pascal. “The only thing is, he doesn’t have the experience I have. He hasn’t been in there with the big name fighters. He’s been in there with Carl Froch, which before this was his biggest fight to date, and he lost that fight. So I’m gonna go out there on the 14th and do what I have to do to win the fight. I understand that he’s a young and fresh guy like myself, and it’s gonna be an exciting fight, but I’m looking to come out with the victory.”

Perhaps even more importantly, when Dawson gets in front of the HBO cameras this weekend at Montreal’s Bell Centre, he’ll be facing a foe who will get after him and make him fight, making it the perfect recipe for the type of performance Dawson needs after his clear-cut, but less than scintillating outings against Tarver and Johnson (in the rematch). Add in the fact that he’ll be going into enemy territory since Pascal hails from Laval, and Dawson’s urgency to make a dominating statement is clear.

“I have to change my mindset a lot because the judges and the officials could get kinda tricky over there,” said Dawson. “I don’t really want it to go to the scorecards because I know if it’s a close fight and it goes to the scorecards, there’s a 95% chance they’re gonna take it away from me. So, not to say I’m going out for the knockout, but I’m going out to dominate every round and that’s what we have to do – we have to dominate every round and make it clear to the judges and the officials that I won the fight.”

And from there, it’s hopefully on to even bigger and better things for New Haven’s ‘Bad Chad’, a fighter who just wants to fight.

“The promoters are the ones that make the fights and it’s all up to them – it’s not just the fighters – but my promoter, Gary Shaw, isn’t afraid to do that with me because he knows my ability and he knows my talent,” said Dawson. “I’m going to Canada to fight Pascal in his backyard, so that shows you right there that I’m not afraid to fight anybody. I’ll go anywhere to fight anybody, it doesn’t matter. I feel like I’m the best in the division right now, and if Pascal thinks he’s the best, we’re gonna fight to see who’s the best.”