Chad Dawson vs Andre Ward

According to the latest boxing news, WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) will be moving down in weight to 168 to face WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) on September 8th in a venue still to be decided later.

This is a big, big fight between two of the best fighters in their weight classes. Although Ward still hasn’t proven that he’s the best fighter in the super middleweight division as of yet, he’s still considered as the main guy as of now until the outcome of this Saturday’s fight between IBF champ Lucian Bute and Carl Froch. Ward already beat Froch, so if Bute loses to Froch, then it gives you a clear picture of who the top guy is. Dawson, 29, is looking to make a name for himself as well, as he recently defeated 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins by a 12 round majority decision on April 28th in a fight that should have been a 12 round unanimous decision for Dawson. The fight wasn’t so close that Hopkins should have been given a draw on one of the judges’ scorecards. It was too one-sided for me to give Hopkins more than four rounds under the best of circumstances.  Ward, 28, recently was crowned as the Super Six tournament finals winner after sweeping his four opponents Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch to capture the Super Six tournament trophy.

Strangely enough it wasn’t any of those fighters who gave Ward his toughest fight of late, it was Sakio Bika, who Ward opted to fight outside of the tournament that gave him fits. Ward likes to fight on the inside and that’s Bika’s strong point. Instead of it being an easy fight, Ward made it a lot tougher than it should have been by fighting Bika in close where he’s at his best.  Dawson has problems against fast fighters with explosive combinations. He was beaten by Jean Pascal by a 11th round technical decision in August 2010. Ward doesn’t have Pascal’s power, speed or the same explosive style of throwing his shots. If Dawson can see Ward’s punches coming, he’ll make it tough on him by avoiding his shots and jabbing him from the outside with his longer reach. Ward’s only chance of winning may be if he can take it to the inside and try to fight Dawson in close. Dawson won’t let Ward fight this strategy, so Ward will have to adapt if he wants to win.