By Dan Ambrose: In somewhat of a surprise IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute is picking WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson to defeat WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward in their planned September 8th fight.

This is kind of surprising because Bute has long seen Ward as the guy to beat at 168lbs, and has a ton of respect for him. However, respect can only go so far when you’re talking about pitting the smaller Ward against the best fighter in a division above him at 175lbs. It doesn’t matter that the 29-year-old Dawson will be moving down in weight to fight Ward at 168; what matters is that Dawson has the size, speed, reach, strength and boxing ability to nullify all of Ward’s best assets.

Ward’s strengths are his jab, defense and inside fighting ability. Dawson has just as good of a jab as Ward if not better. And, as far as Ward’s inside fighting ability goes, Dawson is too strong and elusive to allow Ward to force him into that kind of fight. Past Ward opponents Carl Froch and Allan Green didn’t have the power to shuck Ward off of them or the elusiveness to escape fro being pinned to the ropes. Dawson is much too strong and quick to find himself forced up against the ropes for long periods of time.

If Dawson can get past Ward it will set up a great fight between Dawson and Bute, as long as Bute can get past Froch on May 26th. There’s a good chance Bute will win that fight, setting up a big fight between Bute and Dawson if the two want to meet. I can’t see Dawson saying no to a fight with Bute, and likewise the same with Bute wanting to take on Dawson.

For Dawson to beat Ward, it’s imperative that he use his jab more and throw more shots than he did in beating Bernard Hopkins recently. Dawson allowed the 47-year-old Hopkins to stay in the fight by not being active enough in many of the rounds. If he had just turned it up a notch, Dawson could have basically shut Hopkins out and won every round.