By Dan Ambrose: If Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) gets by 46-year-old WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) next month in their fight on October 15th, Dawson could end up facing the winner of the British clash between WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (22-0, 11 KO’s) and Tony Bellew (16-0, 10 KO’s), which occurs on the same night in Liverpool, England.

Facing Bellew or Cleverly obviously isn’t a dream fight for Dawson, but it will give him a nice little paycheck while in the process giving him a fairly easy opportunity to add another belt to his collection. Dawson has never been into collecting titles in the past, as he’s been more interested in getting the biggest fight that can make money.

This is a fight that Cleverly’s promoter Frank Warren wants, so hopefully he can make it worthwhile for Dawson travel all the way to the UK to face the winner of this fight. It’ll likely be Cleverly that comes out on top of that fight, Cleverly is a flat-footed pressure fighter that likes to come forward constantly. He’s the type of guy that Dawson eats up.

The same goes for Bellew, although he’s more versatile because he’s taller and can box and punch equally. However, the speed and class difference between Dawson and Bellew is pretty substantial. Bellew would have to get lucky with a big shot to beat Dawson, whereas Cleverly’s only hope is if Dawson decides to stay in one place all night long to fight him in a small area. That’s obviously never going to happen, which is why I see Bellew as being the tougher fight for Dawson. I do think Dawson beats Hopkins fairly easily, and Bellew also sees Dawson winning that fight based on work rate.