Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson fought in April 2008 with a questionable decision win going to Dawson. The 40-year-old Johnson believed he was robbed the first time around and last weekend they fought a rematch, with Johnson hoping to avenge that defeat.
Since that meeting in 2008 Dawson had two wins over Antonio Tarver while Johnson also added two more wins to his record, so this was going to be an interesting match-up.
Dawson had given up his IBF belt to take on Johnson, but disappointingly only around 5,200 fans turned up to see the fight in an arena that held approximately 16,500.
Chad Dawson put on an impressive southpaw display
The first fight was close, although all three judges gave it to Dawson on scores of eight rounds to four or 116-112.
Dawson's hand speed must have caught the judges' eyes, though Johnson's rights to the head of his southpaw opponent didn't get the credit they deserved.
The rematch was for the interim WBC light heavyweight belt in Dawson's home state of Connecticut, but this time the venue didn't influence the result because Dawson pulled out a unanimous decision win.
Comfortable win
On the night the scorecards read 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 but, in truth, it was pretty much all Dawson."If either of the judges who scored the fight 115-113 for Dawson had given Johnson one more round they would have scored the fight as a ridiculous draw when, in fact, Dawson stayed with his game plan and won easily, and looked good in doing so."
Wayne McCullough
Quotes of the week
The 115-113 cards were scored closer than in the first fight but this one left no controversy.
When Dawson is on form he is very hard to land a punch on and in this fight he didn't get himself mixed up in a toe-to-toe battle, like he did the first time around.
Johnson only knows one way to fight and that is to push forward but Dawson used his superior southpaw footwork and good speedy combinations to hit Johnson and get out of the way before he could come back with anything else.
This fight was practically one sided for Dawson, but two of the judges seemed to favour Johnson's pressure, which made the scores closer than they should have been.
Dawson's right jabs were landing and his straight lefts, when he threw them, were hurtful and scored. His trainer, former Champ Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, told Dawson to stick to his right jab and although the fight wasn't particularly exciting, Dawson stuck to the plan of jabbing and moving.
Johnson's corner must have known after a few rounds what was going on but like in many of his fights he doesn't adapt to different styles and continues to march forward hoping to break his opponent's heart.
Box smart
Dawson, however, despite previously being put on the deck against Tomasz Adamek and Eric Harding, is able to box smart and upped himself to a different level to win.If either of the judges who scored the fight 115-113 for Dawson had given Johnson one more round they would have scored the fight as a ridiculous draw when, in fact, Dawson stayed with his game plan and won easily, and looked good in doing so.
So, what is next for Dawson? Maybe he can fight the winner of the rematch between WBC champ Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconus or the winner from the fight between Roy Jones Jnr and Bernard Hopkins. A bout with Tavoris Cloud would also make for an interesting fight for Dawson's old IBF belt.
Dawson looked great in this fight and in this mode he is going to be hard to beat.
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