Dawson Wants Bout With Jones

By Boxing News - 01/24/2008 - Comments

dawson575644343.jpgUndefeated World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (25-0, 17 KOs) expressed disappointment recently with Roy Jones Jr, who called out a number of fighters after beating Felix Trinidad last Saturday at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Specifically, Jones, 39, said that he’d be interested in fighting all comers, naming Joe Calzaghe, Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor as potential opponents that he’d like to mix it up with. However, one name that he left was Chad Dawson, the WBC light heavyweight title holder. Dawson had this to say about being ignored by Jones:

“Let’s see, he named middleweights Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor, super middleweight Joe Calzaghe, light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins, who has been asking for a rematch for over 10 years, and junior middleweight Oscar De La Hoya. Funny how big old ‘Superman’ doesn’t want to pick on someone his OWN size, like the reigning WBC light heavyweight champion – ME.” For whatever reason, Jones seemed to avoid mentioning the 25 year-old Dawson’s name, even though he’s widely considered to be the best fighter in the light heavyweight division.

It’s not surprising that Jones left out Dawson’s name, for he has blazing fast hands, good foot movement, and is difficult to hit on a regular basis. Even worse that that, Dawson is a southpaw, a style that has given Jones trouble in recent years, as he was beaten twice by Antonio Tarver. However, if Jones is serious about wanting to take more risks in this stage in his career, Dawson would be an excellent option for him to accomplish this. Of course, this would be a long shot fight for Jones to win, because Dawson would likely give him fits with his powerful body attack, and his ability to throw combinations.

I don’t see Jones being able to out-land him, not now, since Jones has been rather economical with his punches in recent years. Jones would have to take Dawson into the deep rounds, hoping to tire him out with shots, and then try to land something big. However, the ease with which Dawson defeated former WBC light heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek in their February 2007, which resulted in a lopsided unanimous decision for Dawson, would seem to indicate that Jones would have only a knockout chance at winning against Dawson.

I doubt seriously that Jones would even consider fighting Dawson, mainly because it would be an almost guaranteed loss for Jones, and he wouldn’t get the big money that he would for fighting someone like Pavlik or Calzaghe. I don’t expect Jones to fight either Taylor or Hopkins, as both of them have tough bouts ahead of them – Taylor vs. Pavlik and Hopkins vs. Calzaghe – and I don’t see either of them winning.

Dawson has a bout against former light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson on April 12th. In the past year, Dawson has been calling out Antonio Tarver, also a former light heavyweight champion, but has had no luck in getting him in the ring. It seems as if Dawson is someone that is being avoided by the top fighters, who probably know that they wouldn’t have much of a chance at winning, and want to avoid getting loss on their record.



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