Comments Thread For: Ward-Dawson Hangover: The Prediction Walk of Shame

[BattlingNelson]

I don't understand how no one in the camp says anything about the weight before the fight and then after, complain about it? Didn't they know it would happen?

Such info is top secret before a fight. Why give info your opponent can exploit? You'll always hear fighters say that they had a great camp.

[millcitymauler]

I don't understand how no one in the camp says anything about the weight before the fight and then after, complain about it? Didn't they know it would happen?

I was asking myself that same question, but I think the simple fact is that Chad just doesn't have the style or intensity to overcome a beast like Ward who was fighting at his optimum weight. Chad said he ENTERED camp at 170. I don't think it was the weight loss - Ward is just better (at least at '68).

[mistermartin]

I'm sure the weight effected Chad...but I don't respect wut comes off as excuses afterwards. Chad said 168 was his natural wt. Chad made the offer to come down. Chad said he'd get there no prollem. Chad said he'd be faster & stronger at 68...& Scully was the one on record saying chadd looked good during camp. They always had the option to call the fight off. Scully even said fri. at the weigh-in that CD looked better, stronger & more ripped than dre. Chad also weighed more on fight night. about 10 lbs more than dre. & while I think the biggest mistake may have been not to ease into 168 frame. & to start w/ this big fight at that wt...I think the camp overestimated Daws & underestimated dre. Plain & simple. They saw all those holes they were planning to exploit & simply could not.

I knew from the beginning chad would get dominated not bc of wt but for 2 reasons...He wouldn't be able to deal w/ AW's intensity & output. & AW was mentally just stronger. Team dawson thought that by beating berrnard chad was ready. But that was fools gold to a degree. Bc while bernard's mentality & mental strength is iron & Aw is similar in that fashion...bernard is a 50 yr old man so his punch volume isn't on par w/ dre at this point & I knew that'd be the diff. Chad is so used to fighting old guys who want to slow the fight down & make it to the champ rds...his rhythm is just shocked wen he gets in w/ an active young strong fighter...simple. & dre is more like the 34yr old b-hop at this point....w/ the athletticism moreso of a rjj. Wt was only part of the story.

[Boxingwizard]

I'm sure the weight effected Chad...but I don't respect wut comes off as excuses afterwards. Chad said 168 was his natural wt. Chad made the offer to come down. Chad said he'd get there no prollem. Chad said he'd be faster & stronger at 68...& Scully was the one on record saying chadd looked good during camp. They always had the option to call the fight off. Scully even said fri. at the weigh-in that CD looked better, stronger & more ripped than dre. Chad also weighed more on fight night. about 10 lbs more than dre. & while I think the biggest mistake may have been not to ease into 168 frame. & to start w/ this big fight at that wt...I think the camp overestimated Daws & underestimated dre. Plain & simple. They saw all those holes they were planning to exploit & simply could not.

I knew from the beginning chad would get dominated not bc of wt but for 2 reasons...He wouldn't be able to deal w/ AW's intensity & output. & AW was mentally just stronger. Team dawson thought that by beating berrnard chad was ready. But that was fools gold to a degree. Bc while bernard's mentality & mental strength is iron & Aw is similar in that fashion...bernard is a 50 yr old man so his punch volume isn't on par w/ dre at this point & I knew that'd be the diff. Chad is so used to fighting old guys who want to slow the fight down & make it to the champ rds...his rhythm is just shocked wen he gets in w/ an active young strong fighter...simple. & dre is more like the 34yr old b-hop at this point....w/ the athletticism moreso of a rjj. Wt was only part of the story.

I knew Dawson would get dominated by Ward just simply by the results of the Hopkins fight. Dawson can barley beat a 47 year old boxer, who didn't have a jab, and fought in spots. Also Hopkins exposed Dawson in that he couldn't do much if you nullified his jab. Part of that is not true, the problem was Scully made Dawson fight in a way where is left hand was useless, compared to when he fought Diaconu he threw the left cross correctly.

It wasn't necessarily miscalculation by team Dawson. It was just flat out ******ity to underestimate Ward. Dawson can beat Ward, but he has to be 100% mentally determined and ready, he clearly wasn't on the 8th.

[mistermartin]

I knew Dawson would get dominated by Ward just simply by the results of the Hopkins fight. Dawson can barley beat a 47 year old boxer, who didn't have a jab, and fought in spots. Also Hopkins exposed Dawson in that he couldn't do much if you nullified his jab. Part of that is not true, the problem was Scully made Dawson fight in a way where is left hand was useless, compared to when he fought Diaconu he threw the left cross correctly.

It wasn't necessarily miscalculation by team Dawson. It was just flat out ******ity to underestimate Ward. Dawson can beat Ward, but he has to be 100% mentally determined and ready, he clearly wasn't on the 8th.

Yeah. I was up front at that dawson/hopkins fight. I was amazed at how well hopkins could move at 47 & evade shots. I had 7 guys from conn sitting in front of me beggeing daws to just let go & rush hop...force him to fight. Seriously, dawson has the frame, handspeed, technique, & skill to beat anybody. But his brain seems to be his biggest obstacle. He just does not come across emotionally, or mentally as hungry or determined. Maybe the version of him that was fired up & calling b-hop every bi*ch & poosay in the book after fight #1 is the version we could make a case for. But, as it stands his present evel of mental stamina & intensity will not take him any higher than he's gone.

[GRUSTLER]

Yeah. I was up front at that dawson/hopkins fight. I was amazed at how well hopkins could move at 47 & evade shots. I had 7 guys from conn sitting in front of me beggeing daws to just let go & rush hop...force him to fight. Seriously, dawson has the frame, handspeed, technique, & skill to beat anybody. But his brain seems to be his biggest obstacle. He just does not come across emotionally, or mentally as hungry or determined. Maybe the version of him that was fired up & calling b-hop every bi*ch & poosay in the book after fight #1 is the version we could make a case for. But, as it stands his present evel of mental stamina & intensity will not take him any higher than he's gone.

Chad Dawson has never been the same after his first fight with Glen Johnson. Dawson is good but not great while Ward is great status. I wasn't even thinking about the weight in regards to this fight because Ward can beat Dawson on sheer skill and mental toughness alone. Maybe the weight played a part in him not being who he was in the fight but even at 175 Dawson hasn't looked dominate at all. Jean Pascal beat him and Bernard Hopkins made him work for it. Imagine Ward at 175? He would have probably put Dawson out sooner. Everybody screaming about weight but Dawson never has been a world beater at 175 anyways and Ward is just on another level period.

[Ravens Fan]

After spending the last four years beating up card carrying members of AARP I don't understand why so many fans thought Sad Chad was so great?

[whitelightning8]

By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Next time, dammit… I’m listening to my wife.

Because she’s been around me nearly every day for nearly seven years and has endured work trips that have sent me from the Cayman Islands to the Nevada desert and many places in between, the lovely lady Danielle has gleaned a bit of knowledge about the fight game.

She knows the guys I like. She knows the guys I don’t like.

And she knows how much it irritates me when I miss a pick I should have nailed.

Especially, that is… when she’s smart enough to have seen it coming.

Case in point: Saturday night in Oakland.

Anyone who’s read me is aware of my affection for Andre Ward. I did a piece on him early in his career several years ago, hopped the aforementioned flight to the Caymans to see him dismantle Jerson Ravelo and was so taken that I’d not picked against him since – correctly forecasting the breakout upset of Mikkel Kessler, the intermediate wins in the Super Six and the crowning defeat of Carl Froch.

A win that, incidentally, looks a helluva lot better now thanks to Lucian Bute.

Anyway, the man-crush I’d developed on the former U.S. Olympian was so complete that I’d chosen him as the guinea pig in 2011, when my inaugural year-opening crystal ball column revealed that he’d be the consensus choice as the sport’s fighter of the year when December rolled around.

And when it did, I’ll be damned if it wasn’t spot on.

Problem is, when the chance arrived to follow through on all the ground-floor prognostication I’d laid… my good sense took a powder.

In spite of lessons recently taught by Roy Jones Jr. and Chris Byrd, who’d clearly been diminished when traipsing down from one weight to another, I was in the minority believing that another of my faves – Chad Dawson – would retain the role of bully when dumping seven pounds to face 168’s king. [Click Here To Read More]

Case in point I dont mean to be hateful but I've seen this guy write some ridiculous articles and the fact that he thought ward would lose adds to my view that he shouldn't write opinion pieces anymore. He clearly doesn't understand boxing. Sorry I'm in a bad mood.

[ddangerous]

No prediction walk of shame for me this weekend. I had Ward dominantly beating Dawson and making it look easy, and I had Lucas getting a late stoppage on a challenging Ajose. I just shoulda actually put some money on it.

[Champ Is Here]

Lol Hopkins was trying to survive in that fight. If not for the holding, tackling, and dirty shots Dawson would have knocked Hop out, CLEANLY

There's no way what happened Saturday would happen to Dawson at light heavyweight. NO WAY