So what should Dawson do now?

can we stop with the weight drained crap? It was his choice to go down, he was the one that pushed the fight. Bottom line is he got his ass handed to him by the better fighter. True indeed. But, let's look at this objectively; weight played a factor. Dawson thought he could make the weight and perform; he miscalculated, though.

Dawson had no speed at all, his foot was glued to the floor, there was no snap in his punches, no defense, he was getting hit by the same punch the whole night. Dawson didn't even keep his right hand up, he did some weird shoulder rolls crap that made him vulnerable to Ward's left. I'm not going to take anything for Ward's victory, because they obviously did their homework. It was just poor preparation by Dawson's camp, some of that blame goes to the trainer. Dawson shouldn't have never accepted Ward's term in the first place. If his trainer and manager knew better, they would have went against it. I knew Dawson's skills degraded in the Hopkins fight, Dawson couldn't even properly throw a straight left without being off-balance, Scully didn't even teach Dawson how to throw a straight left. The gameplan of Hopkins was obvious, which was using foot-movement to nullify Dawson's jab, and Ward simply adopted it. Scully is not a world class trainer, and you will need a world class trainer, to properly prepare for a world-class fight. why bother saying this in the middle of a post where you do nothing but attempt to take everything away from his victory?

I think Dawson can beat Ward at 175, just depending on how much Dawson improves. There is still things Dawson can improve on. Chad has never been hit clean as constantly and consistently as Ward caught him tonight and he couldn't really do anything in return. Ward found the key to Dawson's defense and pulled the plug on his offense. He doesn't need Ward to continue being one of the best fighters in boxing. The Light Heavyweight belts are fragmented to the point that he can spend his time on that and rematch Pascal. Froch not only revived his career, but he's at the highest point of his career because, even if he isn't the best, there are other people to fight. Dawson should just do what Froch is doing and exclude Ward out of any future plans regardless of what happens in the future...

No... This was not a fight of weight draining or size, it was a fight of Ward completely and totally out skilling Dawson. He out thought him every step of the way. He took away all of Dawsons advantages, and he would do it again. Dawson had no speed at all, his foot was glued to the floor, there was no snap in his punches, no defense, no lateral movement, he was getting hit by the same punch the whole night. Dawson didn't even keep his right hand up, he did some weird shoulder roll crap that made him vulnerable to Ward's left. I'm not going to take anything for Ward's victory, because they obviously did their homework. It was just poor preparation by Dawson's camp, some of that blame goes to the trainer. Dawson shouldn't have never accepted Ward's term in the first place. If his trainer and manager knew better, they would have went against it. I saw Dawson's skills degrade in the Hopkins fight, Dawson couldn't even properly throw a straight left without being off-balance. Scully didn't even teach Dawson how to throw a straight left, nor how to use distance. There is a lot of things Scully should have taught Dawson but didn't. The gameplan of Hopkins was obvious, which was using foot-movement to nullify Dawson's jab, and Ward obviously took a page off of Hopkins playbook. Scully is not a world class trainer, and you will need a world class trainer to prepare for a world-class fight.

I think Dawson can beat Ward at 175, just depending on how much Dawson improves. There is still things Dawson can improve on. No... This was not a fight of weight draining or size, it was a fight of Ward completely and totally out skilling Dawson. He out thought him every step of the way. He took away all of Dawsons advantages, and he would do it again.

As a Dawson fan, I'm not that disappointed, I kind of expected this. Dawson will bounce back. Some fans will say he needs a new trainer? Dawson was at his best when he was with Floyd Sr, but those bridges are burned. Maybe he should switch to Steward, he will teach Dawson how to use his height and reach better. Dawson didn't look fast at all, he wasn't moving as much, and he was right in front of Ward all the time. Keep in my I'm not making excuses for Dawson, Ward probably would have beaten Dawson at 175. But Dawson's skill go up and down everytime he switches trainers. As much as I like to blame the trainers, it's all on Dawson. I honestly don't want to see him fight again after he quit. I don't like quitters. He should have taken a dive, or gotten his corner to throw in the towel, but to straight up say "Its over, I'm done, Get me out of here"; its disgraceful.

can we stop with the weight drained crap? It was his choice to go down, he was the one that pushed the fight. Bottom line is he got his ass handed to him by the better fighter.

Unify against Cleverly, Shumenov, and Cloud (3 good fights that he should be able to win) and eventually rematch Pascal. I, also, want to see him against Campillo (unlike Cloud, Chad would actually beat him). Sillakh getting upset delayed a very dangerous contender. Ward will stay at 168 for some time so Dawson can continue to be the #1 fighter at 175. I think Dawson can beat Ward at 175, just depending on how much Dawson improves. There is still things Dawson can improve on.

Unify against Cleverly, Shumenov, and Cloud (3 good fights that he should be able to win) and eventually rematch Pascal. I, also, want to see him against Campillo (unlike Cloud, Chad would actually beat him). Sillakh getting upset delayed a very dangerous contender. Ward will stay at 168 for some time so Dawson can continue to be the #1 fighter at 175.

I like Chad but damn...weight drained or not, he fights with no sense of urgency. He fights laid back as if the fight will last forever. He and his team seemed to not have a plan B. How does an elite fighter get hit in the same spot (right face/head) that many times and not adjust? Something is just lacking with Chad. Dawson is a type of boxer who needs a trainer to discipline him so he can fight to the best of his abilities, a lot of boxers are like that, the problem with Dawson is that he switches trainers so often. He was at his best with Floyd Sr, because Sr. didn't put with Dawson's bad habits. Floyd Sr. knows how to prepare a boxer for a world championship fight, Scully can't. The offer he accepted from Ward and the way he has recently fought, he was asking for a loss. As much as I don't think highly of Scully as a trainer, it was Dawson who dropped Steward. If Dawson stayed with Steward, he would have beaten Hopkins the first time, there wouldn't have been a second fight. Also Scully was giving Dawson the wrong advice, it wasn't the right hand Dawson had to worry about, it was Ward's left hook. Dawson as you saw today, was just poor preparation, no plan B, he was just off on his own, no foot movement, no defense, on top of that he had to sacrifice a lot just to make weight. As a Dawson fan I was afraid this going to happen, against Ward you need to be 100% mentally determined and mentally ready, and he clearly wasn't.

Tavoris Cloud is waiting at the gates of light heavy

I like Chad but damn...weight drained or not, he fights with no sense of urgency. He fights laid back as if the fight will last forever. He and his team seemed to not have a plan B. How does an elite fighter get hit in the same spot (right face/head) that many times and not adjust? Something is just lacking with Chad.

Chad needs to take a loonng break, and assess his career. He has 4 beautiful kids, and his health Is most important. He took a solid beating tonight, and even at 175 he still would have taken a beating. People forget Dre won gold @ 175, and basically will dominate there too when he decides to move up. Not too many more options outside of a Pascal rematch or maybe Cloud.

Problem with him taking this fight and the way he lost was it lowered his stock. Going back and winning at 175 would be good but he probably will never be big because of this fight. I think the weight definitely played a roll in his loss, I see your points. I don't think it hurts his stock at all because 1.) This was a big event... for boxing fans, not the casual fan, and 2.) because it was a boxing fan's fight, everybody knows what Dawson and Ward were up against respectively. It was the best fighting the best, maybe not on the most even of scales , but a great event for boxing.

I agree. I'm surprised people are justifying it. It was massively disappointing. Maybe seeing Ajose fight his ass off spoiled us. But I expected more from Chad. Remember how he fought back when Glen had him hurt in their fight? That Dawson has gone. Tonight was closure on that. Right, because Dawson and Ajose are so similar.

Just go back to 175, he'll be fine. He`ll be fine there because there`s nobody in that division. Well I guess he should rematch pascal.

I was referring to when he got up from the final KD. I usually don't make a bit thing of these No Mas-es fighters pull,it happens. But this was a bad one. So you're okay with a fighter just playing keep away in a losing effort. That makes sense.

Go back to 175, continue his reign and restore some of the credibility he lost tonight. And maybe if he rebuilds well enough, have a rematch with Ward at 175, because not to make excuses or anything, I thought the weight affected him quite a lot. Yeah the weight obviously effected him, Dawson looked like a zombie, but for a guy that supposedly prepared for Ward, he looked lost. I blame not just Dawson but the trainer. Scully just sucks. He needs to go back to Steward or Floyd Sr, someone that can fix his bad habits.

sad chad got turned out...his career is pretty much over. "Get me the **** outta here" -chad dawson telling the ref to stop the fight :lol1:

Go back to 175, continue his reign and restore some of the credibility he lost tonight. And maybe if he rebuilds well enough, have a rematch with Ward at 175, because not to make excuses or anything, I thought the weight affected him quite a lot.