For the fourth time in the last 19 months, 27-year-old Chad Dawson will face an opponent this weekend that is at least 13 years his elder.
That was the case when he defeated Glen Johnson by unanimous decision in April 2008. It was the case when he defeated Antonio Tarver convincingly twice in the span of six months.
And it will be the case again on Saturday, when Dawson (28-0, 17 KO) is set to face Johnson in a rematch at XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
According to Dawson, facing fighters who are arguably past their primes remains a challenge, one that he looks forward to again.
“Why do it again? Glen Johnson is the No. 3 ranked light heavyweight out there,” said Dawson over a teleconference. “I can’t get the Bernard Hopkins fight, so why not do it again? It was a great fight and I’m looking forward to the second fight.”
Unfortunately for the undefeated Dawson, rematches with over-the-hill opponents may be the best he can hope for at this point.
Hopkins continues to pursue other options. Joe Calzaghe doesn’t appear to be coming out of retirement. Roy Jones Jr. is looking more and more like the 40-year-old he is.
As much as Dawson tries to seem excited on facing Johnson a second time, there’s an obvious rise in his voice when even the notion of an increase in competition is brought up — such as taking the place of Jermain Taylor in Showtime’s Super Six Tournament.
“I think it’s a great idea, I’ve asked Gary (Shaw, Dawson’s promoter) a few times about the tournament,” Dawson said. “It JT happens to drop out I would love to take his spot.”
Of course, for Dawson it’s never that easy. According to Shaw, HBO owns the option on Dawson’s next fight, making him a long shot for replacing Taylor — if Taylor even drops out at all.
Shaw believes that if Dawson continues to fight — he’s already expressed interest in retiring since long training camps in Las Vegas keeps him from his family in Connecticut — he could eventually add weight to his frame and move to the heavyweight division.
“As Chad gets older and puts on weight, he’ll be the heavyweight champion in my eyes,” Shaw said.
To put things into perspective, WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko weighed in for his last three fights at 251, 230.5 and 253.5 pounds — meaning Dawson would have to add around 60 pounds to his comfortable fighting weight.
One thing Dawson could do to help his case is to deliver a spectacular knockout on Saturday.
Knockouts earn fans, which means more financial leverage in trying to negotiate a deal with Hopkins.
The soft-spoken Dawson has never been the type of fighter to search for the knockout however, although he has expressed a desire to win Saturday’s fight convincingly after Johnson complained about the judges’ scoring in their first meeting.
“My expectations for the first fight where I knew it was going to be a war,” Dawson said, who won the first fight by 117-11 on two scorecards and 116-112 on the third. “I’m looking for the same thing in this fight and I want to win it convincingly.”
Not to say Saturday’s rematch can’t turn into a close fight, as Johnson is a former light heavyweight champion and still believes he deserved to win their first encounter.
But even Johnson himself couldn’t help but sound like an old fighter as he commented on the rematch.
“This fight means a lot to me because it will let me know where I’m at,” Johnson said. “I am 40 years old and I’m fighting Dawson who is a young man. It’s been well-documented that he’s the most talented super-middle, light heavy, cruiserweight out there. Therefore it’s really going to let me know where I am.
“That’s the most important thing.”
Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com.
Source: lasvegassun.com
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