by James Slater – Though the WBA heavyweight title fight that took place in Germany last night, between David Haye and Nikolai Valuev, has been getting most of today’s headlines on the net, there was also a very important light-heavyweight title fight going on last night. In a rematch of their controversial April 2008 thriller, Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson got it on in Hartford, Connecticut.
And this time there were no doubts at all about who deserved to go home the winner. Fast southpaw “Bad” Chad did more than enough to take his 117-111 and 115-113 (twice) unanimous decision, as he proved to be way too fast, way too clever, and way too good for the always gutsy “Road Warrior”.
Always one, or maybe even two steps ahead of the 40-year-old, the younger man by a whopping 13 years never let Johnson into the fight. This meant the action was no way near as good as it had been when the two 175-pounders met almost two years ago, but Dawson proved, once and for all, that he is not only the better fighter of the two, but that he is possibly THE best light-heavyweight in the world today..
For Johnson, who fell to 49-13-2(33), the time to think about retiring may have come. Though he wasn’t badly hurt in yesterday’s fight, it looked as though age has at last caught up with the man who has quite simply fought everyone. Post-fight, the 40-year-old Jamaican uttered nothing about calling it a day; although he did say he is unsure about who he will fight in the future. After such a long and hard career, if he’s in a financial position to be able to do so, Glen would surely take the best wishes of fight fans with him into retirement.
As for Dawson, who improved his record to 28-0(17), the future looks a whole lot brighter. Though he is never likely to become a genuine fan-favourite, who paying customers will flock to see in action, Dawson is a slick operator and it’s tough to see any current light-heavyweights beating him.
Good men like Johnson, Antonio Tarver, Tomasz Adamek and Eric Harding have been out-boxed and defeated, and the southpaw’s skills look sure to account for a good number of future opponents. A victorious Dawson said last night he’d like next to fight the legendary Bernard Hopkins, but that if he can’t get “The Executioner” he’d like to face the Jean Pascal-Adrian Diaconu II winner. With B-Hop busy already – first against Enrique Ornelas in December, and then, if victorious, against fellow legend Roy Jones Junior in a rematch next year – it seems Dawson’s chances of landing that fight are slim.
A Dawson-Pascal fight would be a good option, though, as would a Dawson-Diaconu showdown (the two were supposed to have met a while back of course). Also of interest to fans would be a Dawson-Tavoris Cloud match-up. So there are some good possible fights out there for the unbeaten 27-year-old who won the interim WBC 175-pound belt with last night’s rematch triumph.
Again, he’s not likely to be involved in too may fan-friendly wars – simply because, just like Floyd Mayweather Junior, that’s not Chad’s style or approach – but Dawson’s dominance looks set to go on for some time. It’s up to the likes of Pascal and Cloud to prove otherwise.