Chad Dawson

Chad Dawson
Statistics
Real name	Chad Dawson
Nickname(s)	Bad
Rated at	Light Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Nationality	American
Born	July 13, 1982 (1982-07-13) (age 29) Hartsville, South Carolina, USA
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	33
Wins	31
Wins by KO	17
Losses	1
Draws	0
No contests	1

Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American boxer from Hartsville, South Carolina, USA, and the former WBC, IBF & IBO light heavyweight champion. Dawson is currently rated by The Ring Magazine as the number 4 Light Heavyweight boxer in the world.

Early life

Dawson was born to Wanda and Rick Dawson, a former boxer who compiled a (1-4-1) record.^[1] He has 4 brothers and 2 sisters. In search of work, Rick Dawson moved the family to New Haven, Connecticut in 1988.^[2] Dawson attended James Hillhouse High School from 1996 to 2000.

Career

Middleweight

Dawson, a southpaw, made his professional debut after finishing 58-13 as an amateur and winning an under 19 national championship, then finishing for the silver in the world championships on August 18, 2001. He started at middleweight, moving up to super middleweight where he earned victories over notable opponents such as Ian Gardner and Carl Daniels.

Dawson's career was temporarily derailed when he failed a post-fight drug test in 2004 for marijuana. He was suspended from fighting for 6 months. Dawson indicated that this proved to be a motivating factor in his rise as a light heavyweight.^[3] Because of this, Dawson's streak of 14 consecutive wins ended when a March 27, 2004 bout against Aundalen Sloan resulted in a no-contest.^[4]

Light Heavyweight

On June 2, 2006, in his bout with former title challenger and fellow southpaw Eric Harding (23-3-1), Dawson scored a unanimous decision victory, becoming the new NABF light heavyweight title holder. After suffering a flash knockdown in the opening seconds of the first round, Dawson dominated the fight and came away with judges scores of 117-110, 116-111, and 117-110.^[5]

World Title

At age 24, Chad Dawson won the WBC light heavyweight title against undefeated Pole Tomasz Adamek on February 3, 2007. The judges gave Chad Dawson a unanimous decision victory, with scores of 116-110, 117-109, and 118-108.^[6]

In June 2007, Dawson defended the WBC belt for the first time, in a fight with Jesus Ruiz (19-5-0), winning by technical knockout in round six. The fight was broadcast on Showtime as part of a card that featured former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver. On September 29, 2007, Dawson defeated Epifanio Mendoza by fourth round TKO in his second title defense. In April 2008 as his third title defense, Dawson retained the belt by a controversial unanimous decision victory against challenger Glen Johnson. The three judges each had the fight scored 116-112 in favor of the champion Dawson.^[7] Again aired on Showtime, for Dawson the card marked the second occasion for which he and Tarver fought in separate bouts on the same card, with Tarver winning each featured bout.^[8]

Dawson then vacated the WBC title in mid 2008.

Dawson, who is married and has two sons,^[9] still lives and trains in New Haven, Connecticut. He was formerly trained by "Iceman" John Scully, Dan Birmingham, Floyd Mayweather Sr., and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

On October 11, 2008, at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Dawson fought IBF and IBO Light Heavyweight Champion Antonio Tarver. Dawson, who controlled the pace and landed most of the significant punches for a majority of the fight, was more active in methodically wearing out his opponent. Tarver landed the occasional punch, but Dawson was in control for most of the fight. With 2:11 left in the final round, Dawson scored a knockdown against Tarver, the only knockdown in the fight. Dawson won the fight by unanimous decision with scores of 117–110 from two judges and 118–109 from the third judge.^[10] Dawson earned $800,000 for the fight and Tarver earned $1 million.^[11]

On November 9, the day after Joe Calzaghe's win over Roy Jones Jr, Dawson issued a press release challenging Calzaghe and offering to fight him on his home turf in Wales. Dawson stated "I'm ready to give Joe the opportunity to draw the curtain on his great career in front of his family and friends and 70,000 fans," and "It's the best fight in the light heavyweight division between two undefeated champions." Calzaghe was to retire weeks later, as had been expected prior to the Jones Jr bout. Dawson himself was complimentary about the departing Welsh champion stating "I applaud Joe's decision. It's obvious he and his family gave it a lot of thought. Timing is everything, and to leave center stage at his peak is rare and certainly comparable to the retirements of Rocky Marciano and Jim Brown.".^[12]

On May 27, 2009, Dawson vacated the IBF light heavyweight title to negotiate a rematch with Glen Johnson.^[13] On 7 November 2009 Dawson once again outpointed Glen Johnson. This time was more convincing but the judges scored it 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 all for Dawson.^[14]

First Loss

The next step in Chad's career was shot at the WBC title against Jean Pascal on August 14, 2010 in Montreal and was for the The Ring Light Heavyweight Title.^[15] Pascal won the fight by technical decision in round 11 after an accidental headbutt. All three judges had Pascal winning by a considerably wide margin at the time of the stoppage.

Chad Dawson returned to action on May 21, 2011 against Adrian Diaconu and defeated Diaconu by unanimous decision. His first bout under the guidance of Emanuel Steward.

Chad Dawson vs. Bernard Hopkins

Main article: Chad Dawson vs. Bernard Hopkins

Dawson initially won the The Ring and WBC Light Heavyweight titles due to controversial TKO win after Hopkins was unable to continue after getting thrown from a clinch.^[16] However, on October 20, 2011, the TKO ruling was ruled a Technical Draw by the WBC and Hopkins remained the champion.^[17] The win however remains on Hopkins record unless the California Athletic Commission votes to overturn the decision.

Professional boxing record

31 Wins (18 knockouts, 13 decisions), 1 Losses, 1 Draws, 1 No Contest[18]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	31-1 1 NC	Bernard Hopkins	TKO	2 (12), 2:48	2011-10-15	Los Angeles, California, USA	Initially won The Ring and WBC Light Heavyweight World titles; officially ruled a TKO win for Dawson but ruled a Technical Draw by WBC. Official stands pending review, however the WBC still considers Hopkins their champion.[19]
Win	30–1 1 NC	Adrian Diaconu	UD	12	2011-05-21	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Loss	29–1 1 NC	Jean Pascal	TD	11	2010-08-14	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	The fight was for the WBC, IBO, and the vacant Ring Magazine light heavyweight titles. Pascal was defending his WBC light heavyweight belt for a third time. Dawson was also going for his third defense of his IBO light heavyweight title. Fight was stopped early in 11th round due to accidental headbutt
Win	29–0 1 NC	Glen Johnson	Decision	12	2009-11-07	Hartford, Connecticut, USA	Before this fight Dawson was stripped of his IBF light heavyweight title. However Dawson won the interim WBC light heavyweight title and retained his IBO light heavyweight title for a second time.
Win	28–0 1 NC	Antonio Tarver	Decision	12	2009-05-09	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	This was Dawson's first successful defense of his newly awarded IBF and IBO light heavyweight titles. The fight was aired on HBO World Championship Boxing. After HBO reportedly paid $3.2 million for the television rights to the fight.
Win	27–0 1 NC	Antonio Tarver	Decision	12	2008-10-11	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	This fight was for Tarver's IBF and IBO light heavyweight titles. Tarver was knocked down midway in the 12th round from a right. The fight was aired on Showtime PPV.
Win	26–0 1 NC	Glen Johnson	Decision	12	2008-04-12	Tampa, Florida, USA	This was Dawson's third successful defense of his WBC light heavyweight title. The fight airded on Showtime Championship Boxing. Shortly following this fight Dawson was relinquished of his title.
Win	25–0 1 NC	Epifanio Mendoza	TKO	4 (12), 2:30	2007-09-29	Sacramento, California, USA	This was Dawson's second successful defense of his WBC light heavyweight title. He was originally going to fight mandatory challenger, Adrian Diaconu. However Diaconu hurt his hand before the fight.
Win	24–0 1 NC	Jesus Ruiz	TKO	6 (12), 2:00	2007-06-09	Hartford, Connecticut, USA	This was Dawson's first successful defense of his newly awarded WBC light heavyweight title.
Win	23–0 1 NC	Tomasz Adamek	UD	12 (12)	2007-02-03	Kissimmee, Florida, USA	This fight was Adamek's third defense of his WBC light heavyweight title. Dawson knocked Adamek down in the seventh round from a left to the body. It was later reviewed on replay as Adamek tripping on Dawson's foot after the body shot. Adamek knocked Dawson down in the tenth round from a straight right hand. Dawson trained with Floyd Mayweather Sr. for this fight rather than Dan Birmingham. The fight was aired on Showtime Championship Boxing.
Win	22–0 1 NC	Eric Harding	UD	12 (12)	2006-06-02	Santa Ynez, California, USA	This fight was Harding's first defense of his newly awarded NABF light heavyweight title. Harding scored a flash-knockdown of Dawson in the opening seconds of round one. During the fight Dawson's corner argued that the bad cut over Dawson's right eye was caused by a headbutt, however the referee ruled it a clean punch. The fight was aired on ShoBox: The New Generation.
Win	21–0 1 NC	Jamie Hearn	TKO	3 (8), 2:07	2006-03-04	Manchester, England
Win	20–0 1 NC	Jason Naugler	UD	8 (8)	2006-02-04	El Paso, Texas, USA
Win	19–0 1 NC	Ian Gardner	TKO	11 (12), 1:12	2005-11-18	New Haven, Connecticut, USA	For the vacant WBO NABO super middleweight title. After the title had been vacated by Librado Andrade. Dawson scored a knockdown in round eight, and three in round eleven.
Win	18–0 1 NC	Ronald Boddie	TKO	3 (8), ?:??	2005-08-06	Tampa, Florida, USA
Win	17–0 1 NC	Efrain Garcia	RTD	4 (10), 3:00	2005-04-01	New Haven, Connecticut, USA	Third defense of the WBC Youth World middleweight title.
Win	16–0 1 NC	Carl Daniels	TKO	7 (10), 3:00	2004-12-10	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA	Second defense of the WBC Youth World middleweight title.
Win	15–0 1 NC	Darnell Wilson	UD	10 (10)	2004-10-29	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA	First defense of the WBC Youth World middleweight title.
NC	14–0 1 NC	Aundalen Sloan	No contest	6 (6)	2004-03-27	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA	Dawson initially won by a decision of 60-54, however failed his post fight drug test. So the fight was changed to no contest.
Win	14–0	Dumont Welliver	RTD	8 (10), 3:00	2003-10-31	Providence, Rhode Island, USA	For the vacant WBC Youth World middleweight title.
Win	13–0	Brett Lally	TKO	4 (8), ?:??	2003-08-01	Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, USA	Lally forfeits on his stool with a cut eye. The fight was set up on short notice.
Win	12–0	Earl Allen	TKO	3 (6), 2:59	2003-05-02	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA
Win	11–0	Willie Lee	KO	3 (6), 2:38	2003-03-21	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA
Win	10–0	Shannon Miller	UD	6 (6)	2003-02-01	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA	Dawson was ruled knocked down in the first round.
Win	9–0	John Romans William	TKO	4 (6), ?:??	2002-10-25	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA	Fight was stopped due to a cut on Williams.
Win	8–0	Faustino Gonzalez	UD	6 (6)	2002-08-03	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA
Win	7–0	Gary Grant	TKO	1 (4), 1:36	2002-05-18	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Win	6–0	Chad Sawyer	UD	4 (4)	2002-04-27	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Win	5–0	Martin Desjardins	UD	4 (4)	2002-03-01	Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA
Win	4–0	Jerald Lowe	TKO	1 (4), 2:56	2002-02-16	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Win	3–0	James Orso	KO	1 (4), 1:58	2001-12-13	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Win	2–0	Antonio Baker	KO	1 (4), ?:??	2001-09-21	Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Win	1–0	Steve Garrett	TKO	2 (4), 1:46	2001-08-18	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA	Professional debut for Dawson.

References

1. ^ "Rick Dawson - Boxer". Boxrec.com. http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=160234&cat=boxer. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
2. ^ "Dawson determined to improve on dad's footsteps - boxing - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2007-02-01. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2748263. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
3. ^ "Interview: Bad Chad Dawson goes back to school". Doghouseboxing.com. 2005-03-28. http://www.doghouseboxing.com/A_Pierpaoli/Alex032805.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
4. ^ "BoxRec Boxing Records". Boxrec.com. 2004-03-27. http://www.boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=373709. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
5. ^ "BoxRec Boxing Records". Boxrec.com. 2006-06-02. http://www.boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=492858. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
6. ^ "BoxRec Boxing Records". Boxrec.com. 2007-02-03. http://www.boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=515359. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
7. ^ "BoxRec Boxing Records". Boxrec.com. 2008-04-12. http://www.boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=543753. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
8. ^ "Dawson vacates 175-pound title to gird for possible showdown with Tarver - boxing - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2008-07-16. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3483704. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
9. ^ "Chad Dawson looks to stand out April 12th | Chris Robinson". Fightbeat.com. http://fightbeat.com/article_detail.php?AT=619. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
10. ^ "Dawson beats Tarver to take IBF, IBO titles". Associated Press. 2008-10-11. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j5qI4J6SiQ2aBrwra517cqHVxyaAD93OOGJ00. Retrieved 2008-10-20. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ Rafael, Dan (2008-10-11). "Dawson thrashes Tarver to wrest light heavyweight title". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=rafael_dan&id=3638833. Retrieved 2008-10-20. 
12. ^ 7:37. "Chad Dawson, Jermain Taylor not bitter about Calzaghe's retirement - ESPN". Espn.go.com. http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blog/_/name/rafael_dan/id/3890692/dawson-taylor-not-bitter-calzag-retirement. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
13. ^ Rafael, Dan (2009-05-27). "Dawson vacates title". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4209652. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
14. ^ "Dawson Outpoints Johnson Again". BoxingNews365. http://www.boxingnews365.com/dawson-outpoints-johnson-again.html. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
15. ^ Vester, Mark (August 14, 2010). "Jean Pascal Upsets Chad Dawson, Unifies WBC/IBO Title". BoxingScene.com. http://www.boxingscene.com/jean-pascal-upsets-chad-dawson-unifies-wbc-ibo-titles--30073. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
16. ^ "Chad Dawson - Boxer". Boxrec.com. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=60393&cat=boxer. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
17. ^ "WBC declares Hopkins vs. Dawson a Technical Draw; Hopkins remains champion". fighthype.com. 2011-10-20. http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content11029.html. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
18. ^ "Carl Froch - Boxer". Boxrec.com. http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?cat=boxer&human_id=97570. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
19. ^ http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/7128840/bernard-hopkins-gets-title-back-decision-overturned-technical-draw

External links

• Official website "Bad" Chad Dawson
• Professional boxing record for Chad Dawson from BoxRec

Preceded by Tomasz Adamek	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion February 3, 2007 – July 11, 2008 Vacated	Succeeded by Adrian Diaconu Interim Champion promoted
Preceded by Antonio Tarver	IBF Light Heavyweight Champion October 11, 2008 – May 27, 2009 Vacated	Vacant Title next held by Tavoris Cloud
	IBO Light Heavyweight Champion October 11, 2008 – August 14, 2010	Succeeded by Jean Pascal
Vacant Title last held by Adrian Diaconu	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Interim Title November 7, 2009 – August 14, 2010	Unified by Jean Pascal

Persondata
Name	Dawson, Chad
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 13, 1982
Place of birth	Hartsville, South Carolina
Date of death
Place of death