I don't necessarily think the weight was an issue, perhaps it did decrease his ability to absorb punishment....but come on, he looked like he always does. He was throwing shots, some big shots, nice combos, but he just couldn't catch Ward. If anything, I was shocked at how aggressive he came out in the first two rounds.
After the first two rounds it appeared, to me at least, that Ward was in trouble. He was having a very difficult time getting to Dawson. Then Ward, like he always does, made the necessary adjustments. He came out and found a way to gain an edge. He noticed Dawson was throwing that right hook counter when he came lunging in, so he figured out a way to get a short left hook on the inside of that right hook. That was the punch that dropped Dawson.
I was really impressed with Andre Ward. His ability to make adjustments in the ring & do what he has to do to win is phenomenal. The only thing that seemed different about Dawson to me was his ability to take a shot, and who knows if that was due to the weight, cause everything else he did seemed the same to me. He was fast, sharp, and came out energetic...he just couldn't get to Ward.
Ward is a special fighter & he makes other elite fighters look bad. That's all I think it was.
Eric Harding knocked down and hurt Dawson with a jab. And that bum Shannon Miller put him on his ass too. It's not like Dawson is known for his steel chin.
lol I don't think he has/had a steel chin..I just wasn't expecting to see Ward hurt him. That's also the only reason I can see why anyone would say he was weight drained, because he appeared to fight like he always fights. Thanks for the info though, I have never watched the Shannon Miller fight.
I gotta agree... first two rounds, chad was looking pretty good... when chad got knocked down, he went back into his pot-shotting shell and ward just outjabbed and outworked him. dawson doesn't have a good boxing mind... he couldn't adjust to the jab at all and was getting peppered with it at will...
ward either is very smart or had a great game plan... ward was hurting chad to the body with hard right hands... then when chad dropped his guard to block those right hands, ward started shooting his left to nail chad's unprotected noggin, and later he was able to land right hands too... chad fought a dumb fight... he should've used his legs more for his defense instead of just ducking down and standing in front of ward..
Eric Harding knocked down and hurt Dawson with a jab. And that bum Shannon Miller put him on his ass too. It's not like Dawson is known for his steel chin.
Dawson was also knocked down vs Adamek and had his legs buckle like 3 times vs Pascal, Johnson may have even hurt him once or twice too.
Wards shots were placed PERFECTLY on the chin of Dawson, shots Chad didn't see and those dropped him.
Whether he was at LHW or SMW he was going down vs Ward.
I noticed no difference in the way he fought at all. The only think that appeared strange was his inability to take Ward's punches. However, he was mainly being hurt with a sneaky fast hook on the inside that he couldn't see, while throwing his own hook. Sometimes that can hurt more than some heavy/powerful shot that yo can see coming, like something from the Adamek fight.
Again, who knows whether the weight hurt him or not.
What happened was Andre Ward dominated & stopped him. That's all I know for sure, and I was personally very impressed with his performance.
Eric Harding knocked down and hurt Dawson with a jab. And that bum Shannon Miller put him on his ass too. It's not like Dawson is known for his steel chin.
i agree. dawson has looked crap for years. he just mentally checked out of the fight after he got knocked down those first two times.
What the **** are you talking about
He looked great against hopkins witch no one normaly dos, he had one lackluster fight against pascal that is all.
I fed up with people that dont understand that when two fights are in a fight, and one of them is more skilled ,the other one will look less good, but that has NOTING to do with have the loosing fighter would look against another apponent.
Dawson would proberly have completly outboxed most fighters this saturday but he meet a better fighter, period end of story
he looked the same as pascal, he couldnt adapt to the style, so he doesnt try much just lets the fight go by, this time he wasnt fighting them old dudes or the amateur sloppy pascal
i told yall ward will dominate easy cause he can adapt to lot of styles hes proven it before n he did it again, the first two rounds he was figuring him out, u can see that dawson looked like he was gona make it a good fight
To me he looked dead from the opening bell, and when he got him with those light shots and went down it was clear.
I noticed no difference in the way he fought at all. The only thing that appeared strange was his inability to take Ward's punches. However, he was mainly being hurt with a sneaky fast hook on the inside that he couldn't see, while throwing his own hook. Sometimes that can hurt more than some heavy/powerful shot that yo can see coming, like something from the Adamek fight.
Again, who knows whether the weight hurt him or not.
What happened was Andre Ward dominated & stopped him. That's all I know for sure, and I was personally very impressed with his performance.
There is no proof whether it did or not. That is up to speculation.
I was not in Dawson's camp, I wasn't dieting with him/training with him, so I don't know. All I can do is form a personal opinion off what I have seen & what the media has showed me.
Dawson and his team claimed the weight was not a problem. They claimed Dawson had never even watched what he ate before, or followed any form of strict diet. Supposedly he was following a diet for this fight & the weight was not an issue. Whether or not that is true is up to speculation, but that is the information that was put out there for the world to see,
I've seen weight drained fighters at weigh-ins... Miguel Cotto when he was fighting at 140, Brandon Rios at 135, etc, etc...Dawson looked fine at the weigh in. I was actually surprised at how well he looked, expecting him to look more drained despite the information his camp released. This lead me to believe that perhaps everything they said was true.
Then he came in and fought just like he always fought...he just never fought Andre Ward before.
Yeah, Dawson was just taken out of his comfort zone. When Ward was getting up close and personal he simply doesn't know what to do. Andre ward's left hook was landing at will. Dawson had no way to respond to it.
He really did. Dawson is at his best fighting at long range. He doesn't do well when he doesn't control the tempo. Ward kept the fight at mid range & inside & Dawson simply had no answer.