On this very website, Chad Dawson dismissed concerns that he was facing a dangerous puncher in Adonis Stevenson with his first fight since a suffering a knockout loss. He claimed his confidence was at an all-time high, and that he would deliver a memorable performance.
He lived up to his boost, but not in the way he originally planned, as Dawson was on the wrong side of a shocking first round knockout to lose his lineal and WBC light-heavyweight title in Montreal.
Dawson promised to come out aggressive and he did just that in the short time the fight lasted. Stevenson landed a solid left as his first scoring blow and Dawson appeared to take it well.
Stevenson came in with a southpaw right jab followed by a pinpoint straight left that dropped Dawson to his back. The champion remained inert for several seconds with just his head elevated before slowly rising on unbalanced legs. Although Dawson did put his hands up halfway during the count, he failed to answer referee Michael Griffin’s instructions, resulting in the contest being waved off.
Stevenson’s victory is his eighth consecutive knockout and first world title win.
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Looks like it might be time to say an RIP to Chad Dawson’s career as an elite fighter. That interview I did with him yesterday, complete with his quotes about putting on a great show for the fans, now reads like an article from The Onion. Turns out that Dawson’s biggest contribution to the fans tonight was getting himself KO’d in time enough for fans to watch the end of Anuglo-Lara and all of Maidana-Lopez on Showtime.
In all seriousness, Dawson looks to be done. It’s not a physical thing — he was in great shape and for the brief minute we saw him, looked to be moving well. It has always been a mental thing with Dawson and I don’t see how he’ll be able to put this behind him. In his whole words, this was the best camp he’s had and he went into this fight supreme confidence. And at his best, Dawson will have to rationalize how that wasn’t even good enough to survive a full round against a guy who previously never faced a Top 5 fighter in the division.
We’ve seen the best of Chad Dawson and it’ll be all downhill from here. We can probably bet on another trainer change, as well. If he fights on, a match against Tavoris Cloud makes sense from a marketability standpoint, but I think Dawson has had his fill of hard punchers for the time being. I honestly don’t know where he goes from here.
As for Stevenson, he has a bunch of options. Bernard Hopkins, Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute are among the names he can get. And he’s vulnerable enough where all those guys would probably jump at the chance to face him.
The light-heavyweight division just got a little more exciting.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 