Andre Ward knocks out Chad Dawson – Boxing News
The epic battle between Andre Ward and Chad Dawson went beyond expectations, when WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward knocked out ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson in the tenth round, defending his title successfully and grabbing Dawson’s light heavyweight title.
The HBO Championship Boxing match ended at 2:45 of the tenth round, with Ward escalating to 26 wins, 14 knockouts and 0 losses, while Dawson came down to 2 losses, 31 wins and 17 knockouts. Contrary to the usual, in this fight, the stoppage was not made
by the referee but by Dawson himself, when he told referee Steve Smoger that he is not willing to continue.
The victory is a major one in Ward’s portfolio, as Dawson is considered among the all time best.
“These kind of fights you have to take risks,” said Ward, who was in his complete attack mode in the ring, dropping his guard several times throughout the fight.
“You have to take risks to take the prize. I feel like against better competition I rise to the occasion. It might have looked easy, but Chad Dawson was a monster,” he added.
For Ward, this was a huge victory, following his streak of wins in the Super-Six super middleweight tournament. For many analysts, this was Ward’s best ever performance in the ring.
Ward, who is mainly an attacking fighter, found it hard to get to Dawson in the initial two rounds but he kept trying. Dawson countered well initially by big rights to Ward. By round three, Ward finally got his shot at Dawson with a huge right to the body
followed by a sudden left hook to the chin of Dawson. This was the first time Dawson hit the canvas.
Round four was again unfortunate for Dawson, as he faced yet another huge left hook from Ward to the chin, landing on the canvas once again. By this time, Ward was in control and the remaining rounds were punishment for Dawson. However, ‘Bad’ Dawson did
his best to entertain his fans by defending and putting in all he could.
Ward could have ended the show earlier but for some reason he kept punishing Dawson until the tenth.
Tags: