Random Thoughts on Pascal/Dawson

by Andrew Schweitzer

-Archie Moore after knocking out Yvon Durelle in the 11th round in Montreal, Quebec (1958)

 

     I would like to say that I sat down last Saturday night to watch the light-heavyweight title fight between Canadian Jean Pascal and American Chad Dawson, however, I was on vacation at the time and most likely enjoying a beautiful turkey dinner. However I did catch a copy of it on Youtube before HBO had it pulled.

     Normally I would bombard you, dear reader, with facts, observations and all that stuff in Quebec but instead I think I'll give you just some random observations I took away from this fight.

- Floyd Mayweather really said that Dawson was the best pure boxer in the sport after him?

- In the post fight interview Dawson kept insisting that Pascal fought a great technical fight and that he "can't take nothing away from him; I'm not making excuses" yet kept following up with the constant complaints of holding and headbutting. Thank God Larry Merchant was there to tell him, "You are making excuses!"

- If you watched Pascal's losing effort to Carl Froch almost two years ago, would you have guessed that he would be the man to hand Chad Dawson his first loss?

- There was speculation between members of HBO's commentary team that Dawson had complained to Eddie Mustapha Muhammad that he had hurt his shoulder yet Dawson denies that he hurt it. So why the hell wasn't he throwing punches when he had so many good chances?

- Will this loss make Dawson change up his safety-first approach and use a more fan-friendly style like he did in the 11th?

- Will this loss make other safety-first fighters realize that the 'safety-first' approach doesn't always win fights?

- Knowing he was behind on points, Eddie Mustapha Muhammad told his fighter, "I need these last two rounds" and Dawson came out almost to the point where it looked like he would have Pascal down. For his next fight Muhammad should say before the bell, "I need these next 12 rounds."

 

- Pascal's cutman is Russ Anber, the trainer of middleweight prospect David Lemieux. He hosted a boxing talk show called In This Corner on TSN (Canada's boring version of ESPN). Look for it to come back around winter, it's a good show.

- I didn't really approve of Pascal's turquoise trunks but in the end, the colour doesn't matter if you can fight.

- Speaking of trunks, I noticed that Dawson's had a logo for Condom Depot on the back of his. I'd have them on the front of the trunks myself, seems the right place for a condom ad...

- Bernard Hopkins must feel really stupid for not challenging Chad Dawson when everyone said he should have. Look for him to call out Pascal if he doesn't get the fight with David Haye (Which I'm hoping he doesn't)

- Naturally there is going to be talks about whether IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute will move up to challenge Pascal. I think he should. He's still going to be waiting a while for the winner of Showtime's Super Six tournament and unless Kelly Pavlik moves up in weight, there's nothing going for him where he's at.

- While the rest of my country may give Quebec a hard time, at least they know how to appreciate a good fight.

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