Ward to have to deal with Dawson’s height and reach advantage on September 8th

By Boxing News - 07/17/2012 - Comments

Image: Ward to have to deal with Dawson's height and reach advantage on September 8thBy Scott Gilfoid: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) is going to have to find a way to deal with the height and reach advantage of Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) on September 8th at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. Ward is listed as the favorite to win this fight, he’s going to have be giving away five inches in reach against the long-armed Dawson.

That could be a problem for Ward if he’s not able to force the fight to the inside like he’s done against opponents like Carl Froch, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler in the past three years. There’s little question that Ward is the better inside fighter compared to the 29-year-old Dawson. The difficulty here is how will Ward be able to force Dawson to fight that kind of fight?

This isn’t going to be easy for Ward, because Dawson is so quick and skilled defensively. Ward has been able to get inside on fighters by throwing a fast right hand and then collapsing in on them to start the in fighting. But Dawson is elusive, and moves well on his feet for a tall fighter. He’s not going to be as easy to trap as the slower-footed, less-skilled fighters that Ward has been dining on recently.

At the same time Ward may not be able to trap Dawson inside once he gets him there. Dawson is powerful, and not the type that can be easily forced up against the ropes for long periods of time. The only way I can see that happening is if Dawson is weakened from the ordeal of stripping down to 168 from his normal weight of 175 lbs. I doubt that he will, however, because his team are pretty confident that he can take off this small amount of weight without it hurting him. He’s probably going to be the heavier guy in this fight after he rehydrates and that further could be a problem for Ward if he tries to take it to the inside.



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