HBO Boxing – Chad Dawson Vs. Jean Pascal

They are in Montreal tonight, which is a hometown fight for Jean Pascal, who is defending his share of the light heavyweight title tonight. Even though he’s the champ, Chad Dawson is considered the main man in the division.

Emanuel Steward says that Pascal tries to mimic Roy Jones, but doesn’t have Jones’ speed.

Dawson has about a 3 inch height advantage.

Michael Buffer led a 10 bell salute in memory of Showtime Boxing’s Jay Larkin.

What is it with MMA fighters, boxers, and baseball players using Eminem’s Not Afraid as their entrance music? Are they all recovering drug addicts too? The song isn’t athletically inspiring in any way.

Chad Dawson vs. Jean Pascal

R1
Close round. Dawson is controlling the pace and landing his jab. He’s almost punching downward, even with his normal boxing crouch. Pascal is a bit unconventional, but he’s doing a lot of lunging, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for him. But he did score the bigger shots and the crowd is behind him.

R2
Pascal’s style has Dawson uncomfortable. Pascal won that round easily and Dawson just seems frustrated. When Dawson thinks he’s zigging, he zags and Dawson is caught in bad spots and getting hit.

R3
It’s a bit of an odd fight as Dawson is stalking Pascal and walking him down, yet Pascal is the one who is throwing the power shots. If Dawson were to be more active with his jab, it’s probably slow Pascal down, but so far, I have Pascal up 3-0.

R4
Just as Dawson had a pretty controlling round, Pascal hit him flush with a right-hand against the ropes and got the crowd behind him again. He might’ve stolen the round, but I’d still give it to Chad for the 2 1/2 minutes of good work.

R5
Chad’s starting to time to him. This is his second round in a row where he’s directing the fight and landing the better shots. Pascal hasn’t been as active, or landing the surprising shots. Dawson is blocking a lot of those now.

R6
Pascal landed some nice shots against the ropes, but Chad landed the best shot with a check right hook that made Pascal shake his head as if to say, “You got me.” Pascal also is starting to look tired. If Chad lets his hands go a bit, he might be able to hurt Pascal, but he’s content to be so strategic. After Pascal won the first three on my card, I have it back to even.

R7
And just like that, Pascal threw some shots that shook Dawson. Dawson pretended like he wasn’t hurt and then was hit again. After getting his bearings back, he looked upset and threw an angry combination, but then just went back to stalking him. Pascal’s round. I would love to see Chad throw more of those angry combos.

R8
Lampley said that Dawson’s shoulder is possibly injured, per a conversation off camera that we didn’t hear between Dawson and his trainer. Pascal nearly dropped Dawson. Dawson went down low and latched onto Pascal and nearly picked him up. Pascal started to throw again and Chad immediately held on.

R9
Dawson has amazing balance. Pascal rocked him again and it looked like Dawson was hurt but he was able to stay upright and told Pascal to bring it. Dawson caught a tired Pascal with a barrage of hooks and uppercuts and then let him rest. Dawson is landing more punches, but Pascal rocked him early. Hardest round to score.

R10
Chad may have to win out here to have a chance to make this close. As I have it, Pascal is up two rounds. Dawson is rotating his right arm so it could be that his right shoulder is injured. Pascal won the round with flurries. He does seem tired but because Chad doesn’t really push the pace like he could, he is able to rest and then just throw punches in bunches.

R11
Dawson threw his hardest punches of the night to start the round. Pascal is just taking them all. Dawson backed off and Pascal was able to catch his breath a little. He stopped Pascal frozen with a left hook, but Chad didn’t follow up. They butted heads and Dawson has a nasty cut over the right eye. They both clashed into each other. The doctor stopped the fight. I think I saw rapper Foxy Brown clapping for Pascal. That was odd. Looks like you have to score the round like it was an entire round even though the fight was stopped midway. Pascal is going to get this decision.

Winner: Jean Pascal

108-101, 106-103, and 106-103 were the scores.

Pascal says he wasn’t tired, that it was strategic. I’m not sure I buy that, but maybe the guy is a good actor. He says that he thinks Dawson was the one who was tired. Hmm. He says if Lucian Bute wants him, he has to challenge him.

He had a great quote to end his interview; “Jean Pascal is about to invade America.”

Chad says he was headbutting all night and he was holding and hitting. He says he has a rematch coming and wants to do it again. He’s looking pretty bad here. He keeps saying that he’s not making excuses and that Pascal fought a great fight, but that he was headbutting. He did say that his shoulder wasn’t bothering him.

Chad Dawson has no one to blame but himself. If he simply pressed more, I think he wins the fight. Pascal was tired, but Dawson allowed him to catch his breath. If he only fought more like he did in the 11th, he probably stops the guy. Maybe this will be a lesson for him because he is clearly the better fighter. Respect for Pascal though. He brought it tonight.

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