By Dan Anbrose: Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) is only 10 pounds away from fighting weight for his title challenge next month against unbeaten WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Dawson is at 178 pounds right now, and in danger of coming in too light if he loses too much more weight for his fight at 168.

Dawson told the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights crew “I’m at 178 now. I can make weight easy and I’m at my right weight.”

Andre Ward probably wasn’t pleased at hearing that news, because if Dawson isn’t weakened from having to drain down to the 168 pound limit for this fight, Ward could be in for a lot of problems. One of the biggest advantages that Ward had for this fight was that Dawson would likely be weakened by coming down in weight from 175. However, if Dawson effortlessly makes weight then it’s going to create some problems for Ward.

Ward will still have a big advantage in fighting at home in front of what could be a crowd of 10,000 fans. Ward also is the much more accomplished inside fighter compared to Dawson. However, that’ll only be an advantage if Ward can force Dawson up against the ropes like Ward has been doing against his other opposition recently. Ward was able to dominate Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch on the inside with his smothering attacking style. However, none of those fighters have the boxing skills that Dawson possesses, and it may be hard for Ward to duplicate the same results that he had in those fights if Dawson refuses to get caught in an inside war.

Dawson is coming off a 12 round majority decision win over Bernard Hopkins. Dawson could have made that a very easy fight but he failed to throw enough punches to cruise to victory the way that he should have.