Quote Originally Posted by ICB View Post
I missed the whole thing going back to bed, but as already been mentioned not overly suprising. Moving down in weight to SMW when you've been fighting at LHW for pretty much most of your career is suicide.

Of course he isn't going to have the legs, he's going to be as weak as kitten. Not to make excuses because i haven't seen the fight yet, but its not that suprising to me. Yes Andre Ward is a very good fighter but i suspect the weight hindered Dawson.
That certainly wasn't the difference in this fight. I have no idea what Dawsons game plan was honestly, but what isn't surprising is that he only fought in spurts and didn't work hard enough to gain any momentum early. In hindsight the two are polar opposites that way, Ward is exceptional at establishing his own and disrupting another fighters rhythm, he doesn't waste energy and capitalizes on openings without fail. Dawson looked good for the first couple of rounds but didn't get into gear, and as soon as Ward landed some good shots Chad seemed lost. The difference tonight was simply that Ward kept pressing once he had Dawson shook up. Chad looked no better against Pascal or even in his last fight, Ward just works a lot harder than he is used to. The guy is a lot like Hopkins only with the gas tank to actually fight 12 hard rounds, he will be extremely hard to beat.