By Allan Fox: WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) is hoping that a victory over WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) on Saturday night will give his career a big shot in the arm with him picking up a lot of fans. Dawson, 30, and Ward meet up at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California in a fight that will be aired by HBO, along with a fight between WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and Manuel Charr in a split site telecast.

Dawson said as quoted by Yahoo Sports News “A victory over Andre Ward would mean a lot for my career. We’re talking about somebody who is rated very high on the pound-for-pound list, and somebody who has a lot of recognition.”

A victory for Dawson may not turn him into a star over night, but it he were able to take that victory and follow it up with victories over the likes of Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, and Arthur Abraham, Dawson will be well on his way to becoming a big star. Sadly, Dawson would be lucky if he can even one of those fighters to face him in the ring.

Froch may be retiring after three more fights, Kessler is selective in who he faces nowadays, and Abraham may lose his new WBO super middleweight title in his first defense no matter who he faces. Just because Dawson beats Ward doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to line up the big fights that he might be hoping he’ll get after a victory over Ward. It doesn’t happen that way in boxing unfortunately.

Dawson is going to have to be a lot more offensively minded against Ward than he’s been showing in the past three to four years. Being economical with his punches won’t get the job done against him and it will cause him to get out-worked by the busy Ward or mugged on the inside.