Dawson vs. Stevenson: Chad in a dangerous fight on June 8th

By Boxing News - 05/22/2013 - Comments

679By Eric Thomas: WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KO’s) is potentially making a big mistake by taking on slugger Adonis Stevenson (20-1, 17 KO’s) next month on June 8th in Stevenson’s home country in Montreal, Canada at the Bell Centre.

Dawson just finished losing to WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward by a 10th round TKO last September in a fight where Dawson was knocked down three times before it was stopped.

Like with the Stevenson fight, Dawson was very accommodating by agreeing to fight Ward in his home city of Oakland, California and even melting down to 168 instead of pushing for a catch weight.

Stevenson fights well at home in front of large crowds, and that’s going to make it tough on Dawson because he’s going to be looking to slug it out. Stevenson feeds of the energy from the crowd and he’s got fast hands and big power. Whether Dawson can stay calm and keep Stevenson on the outside is the big question.

Dawson wasn’t able to do that with Andre Ward last September and he paid for it by getting knocked down from left hooks in rounds 3, 4 and 10. Ward was able to get inside on Dawson easily and then make him pay each time. Stevenson will be trying to do the same thing with Dawson, and if he hasn’t learned from the mistakes he made in the Ward fight then he’ll get stopped again. It’s as simple as that.

Stevenson, 35, has a seven-fight win streak going and he’s knocked out all seven of his opponents. Stevenson carries his power late, and so Dawson isn’t going to be able to count on him gassing out and letting Dawson take over to get a stoppage of his own late in the fight.

Dawson is going to have to box and keep the 5’11” southpaw Stevenson on the outside where he’s a lot less formidable. Dawson can box circles around Stevenson if he can keep him from landing his big shots.

Also on the card will be the following fights:

Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Darley Perez
Eleider Alvarez vs. Allan Green
Jose Pedraza vs. TBA
Didier Bence vs. Eric Barrak
David Lemieux vs. Robert Swierzbinski
Kevin Bizier vs. Carlos Adan Jerez
Artur Beterbiev vs. Christian Cruz
Sebastien Bouchard vs. Francesco Cotroni



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