Dawson vs Ward on HBO - Saturday night fight thread

[armin]

And nick canon should stick to his day job whatever that may be

[Majesty]

Like I said, when Ward comes out he can change the entire gameplan of another fighter. Like Tyson said everyone has a plan till they get hit, Dawson came out thinking one way and Ward came in and clocked him hard and that changed his mind for the entire fight.

This kid has flown under the radar too long and if you look at his record and the names on it, how he hasn't been in the p4p number 10 discussions is funny. Tonight was his coming out party.

[Majesty]

Like I said, Ward's style is very similar to Hopkins but he has a better jab and if Hopkins style caused Dawson some issues, Ward's was going to devastate him and it did.

That reminds me of the way Hopkins shut down Glen Johnson.

[Mars_ax]

Like I said, Ward's style is very similar to Hopkins but he has a better jab and if Hopkins style caused Dawson some issues, Ward's was going to devastate him and it did.

That reminds me of the way Hopkins shut down Glen Johnson.

I agree with you, Ward does resemble Hopkins, one thing Hop used to do in his younger days that Ward doesn't is go to the body. Hop was a devastating body puncher.

Good call Maj.

[Majesty]

Like I said, Ward's style is very similar to Hopkins but he has a better jab and if Hopkins style caused Dawson some issues, Ward's was going to devastate him and it did.

That reminds me of the way Hopkins shut down Glen Johnson.

I agree with you, Ward does resemble Hopkins, one thing Hop used to do in his younger days that Ward doesn't is go to the body. Hop was a devastating body puncher.

Good call Maj.

Was a fun fight to watch, It's sad I almost forgot it was happening since I was talking to some people that work with Ward about two weekends ago.

The thing is, Hopkins style when he was older is more similar to what Ward does now in his youth. He has an old school kind of style that Hopkins relied on when he was 40 that Ward relies on now with an added jab, it's actually very very smart. Because it works for Hopkins who is 40 to reserve energy and wear out younger guys, Ward IS a younger guy and using it can only benefit him even more, so I had a feeling Dawson would be in a world of hurt especially given Ward hit's harder than people give him credit and Dawson always has a tendency to leave himself open even when in complete control, once Ward found those openings Chad had no escape. Those cracks in his armor that have been apparent since his career began were fully exploited tonight by Ward.

Hopkins saw the same thing in Dawson just didn't have the tank to take care of it(though I do feel that it would have happened on the night when Hopkins and Dawson FIRST fought when Hopkins winded him with that body punch) but by the second fight, that time out of the gym and rehab obviously effected Hopkins effectiveness. So I knew it wasn't meant to be there. But when Dawson said "I wanna fight Andre Ward" I knew that was it

[Mars_ax]

I guess all the credit needs to go to Ward, who would have thought he'd knock Dawson down 3 times and stop him in a later round. Nobody has come close to dominating Dawson like that.

Having said that and not to take anything away from Ward's brilliant performance, but Dawson looked pathetic in there tonight.

[mrbig1]

Ward kicked Dawson ass tonight. Ward has to be #2 p4p.

[Spicoli]

Watching Merchant interview always makes me think I've been a failure at drinking

[Spicoli]

Wow. I've never heard a fighter that direct

"Its over"

"I'm finished"

"I'm done"

save the weight drain talk...his mentality remained the same

[Majesty]

Ward's jab. speed, and left hook were key. Dawson was the one talking about how easily he could make 168 and how he'd hold both the 168 and 175 pound titles when he initially challenged Ward. I knew from the get go after the Hopkins rematch if Dawson fought Ward he'd get destroyed and he did.

Ward has this uncanny ability to just shut down another fighter's style. For such a young fighter it really is a marvel to see.

[IamInuit]

So much for my optimistic theory.

[Mars_ax]

Watching Merchant interview always makes me think I've been a failure at drinking

I like Larry but he's getting old as dirt, Max does a much better job with the interviews these days.

Maybe you're not drinking enough Spicoli.

[ICB]

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.

[p4pking]

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.

[Dropanuke]

I smell ward vs froch 2!! But has to be in Germany or somewhere like that