Super Six in Dawson's future? Probably not
Saturday, October 31, 2009 |
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Although
Jermain Taylor's status in Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic super middleweight tournament remains up in the air after he suffered a crushing 12th-round knockout loss to
Arthur Abraham on Oct. 17, most insiders believe the former middleweight champion will drop out of the six-man field. Taylor has been brutally knocked out in three of his last five fights and, if he does exit, former two-time light heavyweight titlist
Chad Dawson (28-0, 17 KOs) would love to join the party.
Just don't count on it. More on that in a minute.
Of course, for the remote possibility to become reality Dawson first must take care of business in his rematch against former champ
Glen Johnson on Nov. 7 (HBO) at the X-Cel Center in Hartford, Conn. Dawson won a highly competitive decision in their all-action first fight last year. Now, they're meeting again for a vacant interim 175-pound title. However, Dawson spent much of his career in the 168-pound super middleweight division and said he'd have no problem getting back down to the weight.
"[Making] 168 is no problem," he said. "I never had any problem making 175. Sometimes I came in at 172 or 173. Making 168 is not that difficult for me."
Obviously, Dawson's credentials are far superior to those of
Allan Green, who is the likely first alternate.
At light heavyweight, Dawson has little to look forward to in the way of a marquee match.
Jean Pascal, the exciting titleholder from Canada would be an excellent fight, but Pascal is not known in the United States. Titleholder
Tavoris Cloud remains a virtual unknown. The winner of a rematch between
Roy Jones and
Bernard Hopkins would obviously be a big deal, but couldn't happen until at least next summer.
At cruiserweight, there's not much for Dawson either, especially considering he already owns a clear victory against champion
Tomasz Adamek at light heavyweight.
The point is, Dawson is stuck without a notable dance partner in his own division or the next one up. So what about moving down for the tournament?
"I think it's a great idea," Dawson said. "If Jermain Taylor does happen to drop out, I'd love to take his spot. (But) I'm not really thinking about the tournament. I gotta worry about Glen Johnson."
This is all fun speculation but the reality is that even if Showtime wanted Dawson to fill a potential opening, it's not that simple.
HBO, which will televise the Dawson-Johnson rematch, has Dawson under contract for the fight and has a first/last option on his next fight.
"He is on HBO right now and Super Six is on Showtime," said
Gary Shaw, Dawson's promoter. "HBO has a first and last on Chad Dawson. I know he would be welcomed into the tournament and I believe he would win it convincingly, even though I also have
Andre Dirrell [in the six-man field], who is a young fighter. We have to wait until this fight is over. Then we'll sit down with HBO and hear their offer for 2010."
You can be sure HBO will come up with something for Dawson, which it signed with much fanfare. I would be stunned if HBO allowed him to walk away to go to rival Showtime, especially to join a tournament that has received so praise from fans and media while leaving HBO, which has much deeper pockets, with egg on its face for not being the network to come up with the exciting and innovative Super Six.