“BAD” CHAD HITS THE LOTTO

By Michael Swann

Last Saturday night on Showtime Championship Boxing, Chad Dawson took a giant leap toward superstardom with a convincing unanimous decision over Tomasz Adamek, 116-110, 117-109, and 118-108. The southpaw Dawson took the WBC light heavyweight title from Adamek with the victory, held in Kissimmee, Florida, at the Silver Spurs Arena before a reported 5,270 fans.

Adamek is by no means a tomato can, but he fought most of the fight as if he was stuck in mud. Dawson picked up momentum as the rounds went on, fighting a brilliant tactical fight, using uppercuts, hooks and straight lefts, and spreading his shots to the head and body to pound Adamek with stinging shots. His defense nullified Adamek’s pressure offense, and had Tomasz eating right jabs all night. Most impressive in his performance was Dawson’s hand speed, delivering those right jabs to set the table for the straight left, and by the middle rounds Chad was putting together good combinations.

Dawson scored a knockdown in the eighth with a blow to the body aided by an accidental trip that was missed by referee Jorge Alonso. In the 10th, just when Adamek’s trainer, Buddy McGirt, was ready to stop the fight to protect Adamek from further damage, Dawson hit the deck from an Adamek straight right. Rather than hang on and coast to victory, Dawson continued to be aggressive and maintained his poise as Adamek tried desperately to close in after the knockdown. In the 11th and 12th rounds the two men had some good back and forth action, but Adamek was catching as many as he threw, and not getting the best of it on the whole.

Dawson claimed after the fight that it was just a flash knockdown, but he did appear to be legitimately hurt in that 10th round. To his credit, he shook the cobwebs and landed significant punches in the 11th round.

Dawson improves his record to 23-0 (15). Adamek falls to 31-1, (20).

A middleweight just two years ago, Dawson was noticeably the bigger man in the ring. Despite the fact that Adamek had a chiseled body showing no visible body fat, he looked like a featherweight compared to the muscular Dawson. Showtime listed Dawson as being 6’1” and Adamek 6’2½” but as anyone who saw the fight could see, that was an error. Various reports leading up to the fight listed Dawson as 6’1”, 6’2”, and 6’3”. Mike Criscio, Dawson’s manager, said that Chad is 6’3”.

“I’m 6’1½”,” Criscio said. “ How could Chad, who towers over me be 6’1”? If Adamek is 6’2½”, then Chad Dawson is 6’5”.”

Criscio, one of boxing’s good guys, was ecstatic when we spoke to him this week. Dawson is his only fighter and Criscio is devoted to Chad and his career.

“I’ve put Chad ahead of my family, my friends, I’ve put him ahead of everybody,” Criscio said.

One unique feature to Criscio’s relationship with Dawson is that he had never collected a dime from Dawson for his services.

“I finally did,” he corrected. “I just did now. I don’t believe in taking money from kids who haven’t made it yet. I’m not one of those guys who if you make $1000, I’m taking $400 from you or if you make $15,000, I’m not taking $4000 from you. I’ll wait until you make the real money and you pay me what I’m due.”

Criscio said that he and Chad are wide open on selecting future opponents.

“Like I told Chad after the fight, you just hit the Lotto,” Criscio began. “It’s his turn to shine. Bernard Hopkins has that date that everyone’s turning down. We’ll take the $5 million. Who wants to see Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright at 170? Don’t get me wrong. I love Winky but he’s such a defensive fighter that who wants to see that fight?

“These guys who are true champions who want to prove they’re true champions should fight a guy who now is a true champion. We’ll fight anybody - (Antonio) Tarver, Roy Jones Jr., anybody.”

One slight concern at the post fight interview came when Gary Shaw, Dawson’s promoter, made the comment that, “Don and I will put on the next fight together.” Criscio was asked if that meant that King obtained options on Dawson.

“There are no options whatsoever on Chad,” Criscio replied firmly.

We would be remiss if we didn’t analyze the impact of Floyd Mayweather Sr. in Dawson’s performance. Senior replaced two-time Trainer of the Year Dan Birmingham, with little over five weeks to go in training. Prior to the fight Dawson said that Birmingham spent too much time with Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy and Chad wanted a more hands-on trainer.

“I’m throwing quicker and faster combinations and even though he’s [Mayweather] a master of defense, I’m a better offensive fighter now,” Dawson said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Hmm, quicker and faster combinations, master of defense…that has Senior’s prints all over it and was the formula used to defeat Adamek.

After the fight, Adamek was quoted as saying, “ It was a difficult fight because he was fast. He was the fastest I have ever seen.”

Could it be that Mayweather Sr. is everything that he says he is? Was it his influence that changed “Bad Chad” into “Awesome Dawson?” Could Oscar De La Hoya have made a mistake by letting Mayweather go?

Dawson thought it made a difference, saying, “ When I switched trainers I knew it would be for the best. It paid off…Floyd Mayweather is the best trainer of all time.”

Criscio said, “I think Floyd Sr. made a world of difference. I think he’s the real, true Trainer of the Year. He took a guy, and he’s never, ever worked with a southpaw in his life, and he turned him into a champion.

“Did you see the different combinations? We wanted him [Dawson] to use his left hand a lot more. I went to Mayweather and said this is what we’d like to see, use the left hand a lot more and closing down a fighter when he has him hurt, which he still hasn’t gotten yet, but he’s getting there. He could really hurt a guy bad if he threw more punches.”

If Mayweather Sr. felt that he needed redemption after last week’s De La Hoya dismissal, he has it today. Maybe Dawson would have beaten Adamek with Birmingham in his corner, and maybe not. But this was a breakout performance against a rugged titlist in his prime that catapults Dawson from a promising contender to a belt holder on the cusp of superstar status. Dawson has the talent to do the job; Mayweather molded it in just five weeks. With Mayweather in his corner, Dawson might well be knocking down the door to the pound for pound lists soon.

Floyd Sr. was asked how he felt about his part in the victory. Did he feel any sense of redemption?

“I’m not about getting even,” Senior said. “I’m not about redemption. You saw the fight. He [Oscar] saw the fight. And my work showed right there, and I only had him five weeks.”

Criscio had a final word for those who thought that Dawson was over his head and in too soon with a rough, veteran belt holder.

“This kid has speed and strength and he wants a better life,” he said. “I told [the critics] you’ll see, you’ll all open your eyes. The only thing wrong with my prediction was he [Adamek] didn’t bleed. His corner must have done a really good job. I told everyone that his face was going to look like the inside of a watermelon on Sunday morning and guess what his face looked like on Sunday morning - the inside of a watermelon.”

NOTES: …It is being reported that 40 year old Mike Tyson has checked into the Wonderland Center for rehab. The center recently has received considerable publicity for being the location of another rehabber, Lindsey Lohan. Last April Tyson checked into the Meadows Rehab Clinic in Arizona, but lasted only five days.

…Ricardo Mayorga has been arrested on fraud charges in his native Nicaragua, according to the AP. It was not for impersonating a boxer, but for failing to pay a used car dealer $56,000 for four cars in 2005. Mayorga was scheduled to fight Fernando Vargas in a PPV event this summer.

…This column will now be seen here twice a week on 15 Rounds. We’ll have our regular Thursday column and we’ll be here on Tuesdays too! If you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions, drop me a line at mswann4@aol.com .