Thread: Should Dawson have fought on?

In my opinion Dawson made the right decision. I think everyone knows how much they're willing to take! Dawson reached his limit of pain, humiliation and disgust and said I'm done! What do you think?

There was no point in him continuing, I think anything past that would have just further damaged his career. No point in that fight continuing, he was getting badly hurt in there, and there was no way he was going to win, he couldn't land effectively and he was outclassed.

I agree that he was being dominated and in his head he already lost. When you start thinking you've lost, well it just becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Kudos to Ward. I would Rank him #1 p4p but I can't think of a reason to dethrone Mayweather.

My Personal top 3 are

Mayweather
Martinez/Pac
Ward
Moreno(watch this guy in bantamweight. I swear he fight so reminiscent like Sweet Pete its eerie)

I think that at the end of the day it's Dawson's career and Dawson's faculties. At least he is responsible, you could make a case for his corner pulling him out sooner. He was just mismatched in there, reminds me of Jermain Taylor in a way. Got talent, gifts etc but tactically, mentally there is nothing. Ward is a geat fight and I have been high on him for some time (wasn't always so I was won over at some point) but I can't put his win down to Ward being fantastic, I think he did a lot of things extremely well but Dawson also did a lot of things extremely badly.

For example, how hard is it to at least compete for foot positioning, lead hand positioning etc? Not a rhetorical question but the assumption is that it is at least a blatantly observable disadvantage if your not even trying to establish anything Tactically he was fucken horrible. Ward usually switches up mid fight just to upset a guy's range a little.... To not have to do this against a bigger, longer and arguably more athletic guy (who I thought was very talented) like Dawson is a bit telling.

He was completely taken out of his depth and looked to be clueless. On the inside, outside you could literally see him wilt forward when caught clean late on. He clamored so hard to get that stage of career and had finally looked to turn the corner after Hopkins but at the end of the day he again coasted mentally, fell back into a preservation mode and when Ward read him like a book and started kicking in the door, it was either go out firing or quit with urgency. Only a man knows what he's willing or able to endure in the hopes of prevailing. I don't think it was Dawson 'choosing' what to do or not do, it was Ward taking it away physically and mentally. He opted out. He'll have to live with it.

He made the right decision. He must have known he had nothing left and absolutely no chance of winning.

All he would have been doing by continuing was risking brain damage IMO.

I thought Dawson was doing OK until the knock down in round 3 and then he was in survival mode and took a systematic beating. He did go 10 rounds so part of him must have wanted to see the final bell for his own pride. The weight was a factor and certainly weakened Dawson. Ward is not a big hitter but the constant pressure applied forced the stoppage.