Evan Korn has written for Ring Magazine and is an editor for the boxing blog www.newyork.fighthype.com.
Chad Dawson was destined to be the rare boxer who escaped obscurity.
At 29-0, with a choirboy reputation and rarified natural skills, the Connecticut kid had all the makings of a superstar.
Somebody, though, forgot to alert the public.
Once a blue-chip prospect, Dawson came of age on Showtime, which televised many of his earlier bouts. Once he established himself as the world’s preeminent light heavyweight with wins over Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver in 2008, HBO snapped him up.
In his two bouts on HBO, rematches against Tarver and Johnson, he has received seven-figure paydays while the crowds have been sparse. His last bout, against Johnson in November 2009, received the lowest rating in the history of HBO’s World Championship Boxing. There wasn’t much of a crowd to cheer on Dawson at Hartford’s XL Center, which is only a stone’s throw from Dawson’s New Haven hometown.
Unable to entice even his hometown fans, Johnson will go on the road to face top contender Jean Pascal from the Bell Centre in Pascal’s adopted hometown, Montreal, Saturday. Pascal’s last three bouts have been at the Bell, where he has established a rabid local following. Economically, this is where the bout had to happen.
Economics aside, Dawson-Pascal is a compelling stylistic match featuring the two best light heavyweights in the world. The Ring Magazine light heavyweight title will be up for grabs, which in the sanctioning mob era, has emerged as boxing’s most democratic ratings barometer.
Pascal does not fit the mold of Dawson’s recent opponents, who were closer to rocking chairs and retirement than their physical peaks. The Haitian-born contender is at his physical apex, a bundle of shoulder-rolls, odd-angled punches and hands-down maneuvers.
Its Pascal’s athletic awkwardness that will give Dawson fits in the early rounds. Whether Dawson can adjust and pull away down the stretch will tell the tale of this championship clash. Dawson, a roughly 4-to-1 favorite, is expected to do so.
Beating Pascal won’t automatically make Dawson a mega-star. Stardom, however, is often a deliberate process cultivated in the shadows of anonymity.
On Saturday, Dawson will have the opportunity to take a step out of the shadows.
Judgment calls
With Pascal enjoying the home-field advantage, the question must be asked: If the bout is somewhat close, will Pascal be the beneficiary of hometown judging?
The judges, Jack Woodburn, John Keane and Gerald Ritter, are all experienced on the world-class level. Woodburn, the sole Canadian judge, has the most questionable track record.
He scored Dawson’s first victory over Johnson, 116-112, and somehow had Carl Froch up four points against Jermain Taylor after 11 rounds of their April 2009 fight. Keane is unafraid to score against hometown fighters in competitive fights. Most recently, he scored the Selcuk Aydin-Ionut Dan Ion bout (a controversial split-decision win for Aydin in his home country) for Ion.
Ritter, an Oklahoma-based judge, has been a consistently fair scorer throughout the years. Although Dawson is entering hostile territory, he should receive a fair shake.
Dog days of summer
The end-of-summer boxing schedule is something I typically call the “Labor Day Malaise.”
After Saturday’s Dawson-Pascal bout, HBO won’t air another card until September 11, while Showtime’s next card is September 10. While the pay-cable giants are on hiatus, there are bouts to keep a tab on.
On August 21, cruiserweight title-holder Marco Huck (-1400) takes on American challenger Matt Godfrey (+750) from the Messenhalle in Erfurt, Germany. That same night, top heavyweight contender Tomasz Adakek (-900) takes a stay-busy assignment against the faded Michael Grant (+600) from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Weekend Picks
Dawson over Pascal by decision or technical decision (-145).
Ji-Hoon Kim (-145) is the pick against Miguel Vazquez.
