Chad Dawson... Why so great all of a sudden???

Seems recently Dawson is being hyped to the moon, best fighter at LHW by a distance, dominant champ etc.

But it was only 2 years ago he was beaten pretty handily by Jean Pascal. Since then wins over a distinctly average Diancou (sp) and an ancient Hopkins and all of a sudden there is nobody can touch him barring Ward?

How on earth did he manage to go from being put down as a good but not great slightly over hyped fighter. Too best in the world, almost unbeatable fighter in the space of 2 fights?

For the record I never wrote him off after the Pascal fight and have rater him since 1st found out about him after the 1st Tarver fight. But just confuses me where the drastic change in opinion came from.

I have never rated Dawson.

He isn't "Great" although his record isn't actually particularly bad, I would say it's of a rather high standard with lots of decent names about it. Without a shadow of a dou bt after beating B-Hop (No one else in the division could do it even if he is 100) he is the number one in the division.

Not sure how many guys on here have been saying he is a great etc. perhaps on other hype website, however it is undeniable the man has a lot of talent and he appears to have an awful lot more but doesn't seem to be able to tap into it properly.

I don't actually think there's been that great a change in the perceptions of Dawson for the most part, to be honest. From what I see, most regard him now as they did three or four years back - as a very talented fighter with the potential to be special, but who still has a long way to go before he can say he's realised that potential.

His record is actually one of the best in boxing in the past few years; Adamek, Diaconu, Johnson, Tarver, Hopkins etc is not a list of victims to be sniffed at. His talent is unquestionable, his mental application less so.

Fret not, anyway - once Ward beats him he'll be derided by all and sundry again!

if hopkins had a bit more gas he could have beaten dawson. dawson looked silly at times and never landed anything decent. hopkins just struggled to stay on the offensive for more than 30 seconds at a time. expect ward to show what a younger hopkins would have done and beat him very easily

I pretty much agree with Chris, can't agree with you Alan in regards to Pascal beating him handily, Dawson threw the fight away, if he was more aggressive I'd have no doubt he would've stopped Pascal, pretty close fight but Jean definetly deserved the nod I'll not argue that.

Dawson is a world class operator in my opinion can certainly deliver more, IMO no certainly Ward beats him, I'd probably favour it 55-45 in Wards favour, but if Chad is a decent price might be worth a punt.

Cheers

Rodders

I'm in agreement with the post above. I am surprised people seem to think that a win for Ward is a forgone conclusion. I would narrowly favour Ward if pushed, but this will be a totally new challenge for him. Out of all Ward's opponents none possess the technical ability of Dawson, and when we factor in the new weight then there are a couple of things for Ward to ponder. If we saw the blueprint for beating Dawson in the Pascal fight, then I would question if ward has the attributes to execute that blueprint to the same effect.

I havent noticed a considerable switch in opinon on Dawson really, other than what hes probably entitled to by virtue of becoming one of the few "Ring" champions. I would agree with Chris' post in terms of how I see Dawson but I also think he is getting some added credit for being a guy who takes on challenges. He basically fought everyone at light heavyweight that was worth fighting (Cloud aside maybe) and has now gone down to challenge Ward which is definately another very tough challenge. Froch gets massive credit for his approach to opposition but Dawson isnt far behind.

Is he a great? Or is he merely the best and still in a sort of cruising mode? I think his potential to be something special puts him where he is.