Chad Dawson

At age 24, on February 3, 2007, Dawson won the WBC light heavyweight title against the undefeated, top-ten ranked champion Tomasz Adamek. The judges gave Dawson a unanimous decision victory, with scores of 118-108, 117-109, and 116-110. In June 2007, Dawson defended the WBC title for the first time, in a fight with Jesus Ruiz (19-5-0), winning by technical knockout in round six. The fight was broadcast on Showtime as part of a card that featured former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver. On September 29, 2007, Dawson defeated Epifanio Mendoza by fourth-round TKO in his second title defense. In April 2008 as his third title defense, Dawson retained the belt by a controversial unanimous decision victory against challenger Glen Johnson. The three judges each had the fight scored 116-112 in favor of the champion Dawson. Again aired on Showtime, for Dawson the card marked the second occasion for which he and Tarver fought in separate bouts on the same card, with Tarver winning each featured bout.

After taking the rest of 2013 off Dawson accepted a fight with journeyman George Blades, which was televised as part of the preliminary bout undercard of a Showtime event on June 14, 2014. The fight was fought in the cruiserweight division, at a catchweight of 179 pounds. Dawson failed to make weight for the contest, weighing in at 182.8 pounds, and thus had to forfeit one-fifth of his $15,000 purse.

However Dawson's career took another hit when on October 4, 2014, he lost a split decision to Tommy Karpency. Dawson looked listless in the fight, displaying little of his once vaunted athleticism. After the fight Dawson maintained that he injured his left hand in the third round, stating that it prevented him from throwing combinations.

Dawson was born to Rick Dawson, a former boxer who compiled a 2–6–1 professional record, and Wanda Dawson. Chad has four brothers and two sisters. In search of work, Rick moved the family to New Haven, Connecticut in 1988. Chad attended James Hillhouse High School from 1996 to 2000.

On June 8, 2013, after his loss to Ward, Dawson returned to light heavyweight and defended his WBC, lineal, and The Ring titles against Haitian-Canadian Adonis Stevenson, a super middleweight contender who was fighting his first match at light heavyweight. The fight took place in Montreal, Stevenson's adopted hometown and where Dawson was fighting for the third time in the past two years.

Later in 2012, Dawson moved down to super middleweight, a division in which he had not competed since 2006, in order to challenge Andre Ward for the unified WBA (Super), WBC, Ring and lineal titles. In what would prove to be an ill-fated move, Ward handed him his second loss as it became clear that Dawson could no longer compete at a lower weight. In 2013, having returned to light heavyweight to defend his titles, Dawson was knocked out by Adonis Stevenson in one round.

Dawson and Bernard Hopkins met again on April 28, 2012 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The fight was slow-paced, with Dawson controlling most of the action and pace of the fight. Hopkins would throw and land an occasional punch, but Dawson would land the harder and more effective punches and outwork Hopkins for much of the fight. Noteworthy to mention is a period after a middle round where his trainer, former contender Iceman John Scully, caught Dawson mentally slipping and motivated him back into focus. The key moment in the fight was noted during the broadcast by HBO's Emanuel Steward and Jim Lampley. Dawson went on to win the fight by majority decision, with the judges scorecards reading 114-114, 117-111 and 117-111.

On September 8, 2012, Dawson stepped down a weight division (a rarity in the sport) to take on WBA, WBC, The Ring and lineal super middleweight champion, Super Six World Boxing Classic winner and one of the universally recognized top pound-for-pound fighters in the world Andre Ward.

Dawson returned to action on May 21, 2011 against Adrian Diaconu and defeated Diaconu by unanimous decision. His first bout under the guidance of Emanuel Steward.

Dawson initially won The Ring, WBC and lineal light heavyweight titles due to a controversial TKO win, when Hopkins was unable to continue after getting thrown from a clinch. However, on October 20, 2011, the TKO ruling was ruled a Technical Draw by the WBC and Hopkins remained the champion. On December 13, 2011, the California State Athletic Commission changed the official decision to a No Contest (NC). Two days later, the WBC ordered a rematch between Hopkins and Dawson.

Dawson's first career setback was a loss to Jean Pascal in 2010. He would rebound by winning the WBC title for a second time, as well as the Ring magazine and lineal titles, by defeating Bernard Hopkins in 2012. In the same year, The Ring ranked Dawson as the world's tenth best active boxer, pound for pound.

The next step in Dawson's career was a shot to regain the WBC title against Top 10 light heavyweight Jean Pascal on August 14, 2010 in Montreal and was for The Ring light heavyweight title. Pascal won the fight by technical decision in round 11 after an accidental head butt. All three judges had Pascal winning by a considerably wide margin at the time of the stoppage.

Reports surfaced that Dawson was knocked out by Edison Miranda in sparring for the Ward fight. The fight started quite cagey with both fighters feeling each other out and only exchanging single shots, with Dawson landing his jab on Ward comfortably. In the 3rd round, a clash of heads changed the entire landscape of the fight in Ward's favour, as he seemed to have found out his opponent and proceeded to catch Dawson with some telling shots, dropping him to one knee with a right to the body and short overhand left hook. Dawson quickly rose to an 8-count and appeared to be dazed but managed to see out the round and return to his corner. In round 4, Ward showed no sign of letting up, upping the tempo and again catching a sluggish Dawson with a close left hook, again causing him to drop to his knee and the ref gave Dawson another 8 count. Dawson showed great resilience to see out the round and went on for the next 4 rounds avoiding Wards' troublesome left hooks with little activity himself. In round 10, it all came to an end as Dawson looked to have tired from Wards' consistent battery and possibly because of the weight loss also, he was caught flush with 4 shots in a row appearing to voluntarily take a knee. The referee stepped in asking Dawson if he wanted the fight stopped, Dawson did not speak but had the body language of a defeated man. The fight was called off and Ward retained his titles.

Seven months after their first fight, Dawson and Tarver fought a rematch on May 9, 2009 in Las Vegas. The fight was similar to their first, with Dawson in control most of the fight, outworking Tarver much of the fight, and earning another unanimous decision win. The judges scorecards were 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112, all in favor of Dawson.

On May 27, 2009, Dawson vacated the IBF light heavyweight title to negotiate a rematch with Glen Johnson. On November 7, 2009 Dawson once again outpointed Glen Johnson. This time was more convincing but the judges scored it 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 all for Dawson.

On October 11, 2008, at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Dawson fought IBF light heavyweight title holder Antonio Tarver. Dawson, who controlled the pace and landed most of the significant punches for a majority of the fight, was more active in methodically wearing out his opponent. Tarver landed the occasional punch, but Dawson was in control for most of the fight. With 2:11 left in the final round, Dawson scored a knockdown against Tarver, the only knockdown in the fight. Dawson won the fight by unanimous decision with scores of 117–110 from two judges and 118–109 from the third judge. Dawson earned $800,000 for the fight and Tarver earned $1 million.

On June 2, 2006, in his bout with former title challenger and fellow southpaw Eric Harding, Dawson won a unanimous decision and claimed the regional NABF light heavyweight title. After suffering a flash knockdown in the opening seconds of the first round, Dawson dominated the fight and pulled away on the judges' scorecards by 117-110, 117-110, and 116-111.

Dawson, a southpaw, made his professional debut at middleweight, later moving up to super middleweight where defeated notable opponents such as Ian Gardner and Carl Daniels. His career took a temporary setback when he failed a post-fight drug test in 2004 for marijuana, which resulted in a six-month suspension from boxing. Dawson indicated that this proved to be a motivating factor in his rise as a light heavyweight. Because of this, Dawson's streak of fourteen consecutive wins came to end when his win over Aundalen Sloan on March 27, 2004 was changed to a no contest.

Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple light heavyweight world championships, and was one of the most highly regarded boxers in that division between 2006 and 2013. Dawson rose to prominence on the world stage in 2007, when he defeated Tomasz Adamek to become the WBC light heavyweight champion. After vacating that title, he defeated Antonio Tarver in 2008 to win the IBF and IBO titles, and defeated him in a rematch in 2009.