OAKLAND, CA — What had been billed as a “superfight” between two prime fighters quickly turned into a one-sided super performance for Andre Ward, who physically and mentally broke Chad Dawson over several knockdowns in route to a 10th round TKO stoppage.
From the outset, Ward’s upper body movement and counter-punch timing nullified Dawson’s offense. The southpaw challenger struggled to land his straight left hand and would only land 29 power shots over the course of the fight. By the third, Ward was regularly landing power jabs and right crosses while a surprisingly slower Dawson waited in vain to counter. A short straight left would floor Dawson at the end of the round.
The fourth would be even worse for Dawson; he was dropped in the opening moments by another left. This time, Ward succeeded in hurting Dawson with follow-up left hooks. The champion appeared close to a stoppage after landing an uppercut, but Dawson held him off with his own uppercut. Ward would stay with his left hook, which because of Dawson’s southpaw stance and leaning resulted in Ward’s money punch landing behind the ear.
Ward continued to get off first in the middle rounds while Dawson was reduced to single-digit connects on half-hearted punches from the outside. Inside was no better; Ward badly stunned Dawson in the eighth with several guard-splitting uppercuts. Straight rights hurt Dawson in the ninth and the end was near as Ward added in more left hooks to take another one-sided round.
It would be the cuffing left hook that destroyed Dawson’s equilibrium; the challenger legs badly wobbled and Ward pounced with flush power shots through the guard for a third knockdown. Dawson was not physically spent, but mentally wanted no more and informed referee Steve Smoger to stop the fight.
The win gives Ward his first knockout win since 2009 and keeps him undefeated. While not completely blaming the loss on having to drop seven pounds to make the 168 pound super-middleweight limit, Dawson acknowledged that his body did not adjust as well as he anticipated.
“I thought I felt good at 168 but I couldn’t get off,” admitted Dawson. “He was a lot stronger and faster than I thought he was.”
What was supposed to be a potential classic brawl turned out to be one of year’s biggest disappointments when Antonio DeMarco knocked out fellow puncher John Molina Jr. in less than one minute. Molina was caught cold by a straight left and DeMarco pounced with a series of power shots on his cornered opponent. Molina simply bent over and cowered in a corner, giving the referee little choice but to call off the bout.
Overseas in Moscow, Vitali Klitschko notched another easy defense with a fourth round cuts stoppage over Manuel Charr. Klitschko controlled every round behind his long jab and patented overhand right. Charr suffered his first knockdown in the second off a counter overhand right and was cut badly over his right eye in the fourth. Charr was incensed with the stoppage and attempted to goad Vitali to continue fighting after the final bell.
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What a performance from Ward. Most people expected him to win, but not via the annihilation we saw last night. While I do think the weight made Dawson a little weaker, the only difference I see if the fight had taken place at 175 is that Dawson may have been sturdy enough to see the final bell. You can see how disheartened Dawson was as early as the fourth when Ward decked in the round’s opening 10 seconds. At that point, Bad Chad had mentally checked out.
So who beats Ward? Unless you have access to a DeLorean to bring back a prime Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones or possibly Joe Calzaghe, Ward will continue to have his way at super-middleweight.
If you would have told me that Ward-Dawson would turn out to be a more exciting fight that DeMarco-Molina, I would’ve scoffed. What a horrible conclusion. But don’t blame the ref; Molina’s turtle-shell capitulation gave the ref little choice but to call off the bout. You’ll notice that Molina didn’t offer much protest either.
I understand Charr being upset. He could have a gone another round or two, but that flowing cut ensured the writing was on the wall. Haye fans can take heart in the fact Vitali is looking much easier to hit with each passing fight.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 