Dawson vs Ward on HBO - Saturday night fight thread

[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.

[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.

[amat]

Do you know why the crowd was booing during the pre fight talk?

Oh cool Shane is there in the ring.

I was at the fight, just got back actually. That was because they introduced celebrities ringside and Matt Kemp (a Dodger in Giants territory) and Metta World Peace (a Laker in the same building the Warriors play in) were at ringside. It wasn't Jamarcus Russel again lol.

Anyways, awesome display by Ward. He culd not miss with the left hand, he absolutely took Chad's manhood away from him. This is the 7th Ward fight I've been to and there was a DEFINITE nervous energy among the crowd. Seeing them next to each other, Chad was sooooo much bigger. He's taller, lankier with broader, more filled out shoulders. I think he was intimidated coming in though, he took no risks and he tried to play nice with a crowd where everyone hated him. It was a real Oakland crowd though, it was more like a rap concert honestly and I might be contact high (no lie lol.)

He couldn't miss with the left hook, Dawson was so much bigger but didn't try to muscle him out of the clinch at all! Ward looked tentative in the first and early in the second in the clinches but Chad didn't seem to even have the desire to impose his will. He completely abandoned the jab and could not for the life of him stop that short little left hook of Ward's.

Good stuff, it's really cool to have big time boxing in the Bay Area and even though there were more empty seats then I expected (they sold tickets to the entire top deck which they normally don't do), it was a decently electric atmosphere. Who beats Ward now? I don't see anyone doing the job.

[Dropanuke]

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

[Majesty]

Do you know why the crowd was booing during the pre fight talk?

Oh cool Shane is there in the ring.

I was at the fight, just got back actually. That was because they introduced celebrities ringside and Matt Kemp (a Dodger in Giants territory) and Metta World Peace (a Laker in the same building the Warriors play in) were at ringside. It wasn't Jamarcus Russel again lol.

Anyways, awesome display by Ward. He culd not miss with the left hand, he absolutely took Chad's manhood away from him. This is the 7th Ward fight I've been to and there was a DEFINITE nervous energy among the crowd. Seeing them next to each other, Chad was sooooo much bigger. He's taller, lankier with broader, more filled out shoulders. I think he was intimidated coming in though, he took no risks and he tried to play nice with a crowd where everyone hated him. It was a real Oakland crowd though, it was more like a rap concert honestly and I might be contact high (no lie lol.)

He couldn't miss with the left hook, Dawson was so much bigger but didn't try to muscle him out of the clinch at all! Ward looked tentative in the first and early in the second in the clinches but Chad didn't seem to even have the desire to impose his will. He completely abandoned the jab and could not for the life of him stop that short little left hook of Ward's.

Good stuff, it's really cool to have big time boxing in the Bay Area and even though there were more empty seats then I expected (they sold tickets to the entire top deck which they normally don't do), it was a decently electric atmosphere. Who beats Ward now? I don't see anyone doing the job.

dude im shocked we haven't run into each other yet, I'm in Fremont and am up in Oakland all the time! Especially at the Oracle when the Lakers play there

[Mars_ax]

Do you know why the crowd was booing during the pre fight talk?

Oh cool Shane is there in the ring.

I was at the fight, just got back actually. That was because they introduced celebrities ringside and Matt Kemp (a Dodger in Giants territory) and Metta World Peace (a Laker in the same building the Warriors play in) were at ringside. It wasn't Jamarcus Russel again lol.

Anyways, awesome display by Ward. He culd not miss with the left hand, he absolutely took Chad's manhood away from him. This is the 7th Ward fight I've been to and there was a DEFINITE nervous energy among the crowd. Seeing them next to each other, Chad was sooooo much bigger. He's taller, lankier with broader, more filled out shoulders. I think he was intimidated coming in though, he took no risks and he tried to play nice with a crowd where everyone hated him. It was a real Oakland crowd though, it was more like a rap concert honestly and I might be contact high (no lie lol.)

He couldn't miss with the left hook, Dawson was so much bigger but didn't try to muscle him out of the clinch at all! Ward looked tentative in the first and early in the second in the clinches but Chad didn't seem to even have the desire to impose his will. He completely abandoned the jab and could not for the life of him stop that short little left hook of Ward's.

Good stuff, it's really cool to have big time boxing in the Bay Area and even though there were more empty seats then I expected (they sold tickets to the entire top deck which they normally don't do), it was a decently electric atmosphere. Who beats Ward now? I don't see anyone doing the job.

I bet it was a fun fight to watch live, especially after De Marco vs Molina ended in about 60 seconds of the 1st round. Thanks for the report.
cheers

[CutMeMick]

A part of me want's to believe this was a good win for Ward and a part of me tells me that the weight played a big role...

Ward mentioned he's thinking of moving up to LHW... Since BCD will obviously move back up maybe they can meet again once they've both racked up some wins.

I have no doubt that BCD wins his next fight at LHW.

[Mars_ax]

A part of me want's to believe this was a good win for Ward and a part of me tells me that the weight played a big role...

Ward mentioned he's thinking of moving up to LHW... Since BCD will obviously move back up maybe they can meet again once they've both racked up some wins.

I have no doubt that BCD wins his next fight at LHW.

Dawson said in the post fight interview last night that he's still got his Lt. Heavyweight titles, and will go back to fighting at that weight. I doubt that he'll want anymore of Ward at any weight.

[beenKOed]

Knew this fight would be good. It could have been great if Dawson would have moved, just a little and let his hands go. After that first KD, Dawson was like a robot, he had no answers for anything Ward was doing. I started to feel for the guy. Ward looked him over for a round and then took over. He made it look easy!

[IamInuit]

First I am not a fan of Dawson or Ward and was starting to believe that weight might not be an issue given how he looked at the weigh in and the words spoken out of his own mouth. I even suggested that his fans could not use weight as an excuse because of those early observations. After witnessing the fight however I’m not sure it’s an excuse.


Kind of funny how Ward talked about LH after the fight but he would not go past 168 for Dawson. How can anyone deny that weight was not an issue? He looked like a three toed sloth from the opening bell. Sure he made weight on the first try and said he never felt better and actually looked comfortable at the weigh in but he was obviously drained. If there was a fight where compubox gave a glimmer of truth in the punch stats it was this one. Dawson once again forgot where he was and again looked like a deer in the headlights. Combined with his lack of output he was doomed. He's got to be one of the most mentally fragile fighters in the sport.

Dawson started off trying to establish himself on the inside rather then use his natural advantages. That could have not been the game plan and the only reason he did that is because he knew he was half empty before the fight started. Dawson went down three times in that fight and Ward is no puncher. Prior to that he was only down once in his career against Harding. Anyone who tries to suggest to me after what I saw that weight was not a key factor is….

[ruthless rocco]

told you dawson sucks!

he didn't disappoint!

[Kirkland Laing]

Dawson really didn't do a lot in this fight for whatever reason. After the first two knockdowns he was just thinking about making it to the final bell. That's not taking anything away from Ward however, the guy is clearly something special. I agree with the late Hopkins era comparisons. It's a shame Ward doesn't have a mouth like Broner, he'd be much bigger than he is and at least able to fill that arena.

EDIT: What was SSM doing in the ring before the main event?