Andre Ward could face Hopkins-Dawson winner

By Boxing News - 04/27/2012 - Comments

Image: Andre Ward could face Hopkins-Dawson winnerBy Allan Fox: Dan Goosen, the promoter for WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward, wants to set him up with the winner of this Saturday’s fight between 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson, according to the latest boxing news.

Goosen especially likes the idea of putting Ward in with Hopkins. However, there are a couple of things working against that fight from happening.

First off, Hopkins is likely to lose to Dawson on Saturday unless he’s given one of those gift decisions that boxing has been seeing more and more of as of late. Secondly, both Hopkins and Ward have said they have no interest in fighting each other.

Goosen doesn’t seem to care, saying to RingTV “It’s business…Look, they’ve had somewhat of a relationship, but this happens to be a sport that has somewhat of a business side to it as well.”

Even if Goosen is able to convince Ward to take the fight, I don’t see it working with Hopkins. He’s like a mentor type figure to Ward, and I doubt he’ll want to agree to that fight. It would be like Hopkins fighting a younger, quicker version of himself, and I doubt Hopkins will want to do that coming off of what likely will be a very tough fight against Dawson. That’s under the best care scenery of Hopkins beating Dawson. Looking back at their fight last October, Hopkins was getting out-worked by Dawson and he wasn’t able to keep up with Dawson’s combinations and faster shots. Hopkins injured his left shoulder in the 2nd round, and that may have saved him from a defeat on that night.

Goosen would be better off talking more about matching Ward against Dawson rather than Hopkins, because at least it would be a reality based conversation. However, it’s not a good match-up for Ward, because Dawson has a good jab, and bigger size than Ward. He’s not someone that will be pinned against the ropes and beaten like many of Ward’s opponents have been in the past. Ward also won’t be able to dominate Dawson with his jab and right hand like he did against the slow-footed Carl Froch, because Dawson throws better combinations and has a longer reach than Ward.

Dawson is clearly the better fighter than Ward on the outside, and on the inside it won’t matter, because Dawson won’t allow Ward to trap him in that kind of fight. He’ll keep the fight in the center of the ring at all times.



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