It’s no secret that Adonis “Superman” Stevenson has great knockout power. Still, the vast majority of boxing fans have been assuming “Bad” Chad Dawson would outclass the vastly more inexperienced fighter. (Note: Our now Scott Levinson picked Stevenson to win).
However, in Montreal on Saturday evening, Stevenson wasn’t to be denied. It took him just about a minute of action until he put Dawson down for the count, grabbing the light heavyweight championship of the world in the process, leaving Dawson with a stunning and devastating knockout defeat, and instantly inserting himself into further big fight discussions.
Stevenson just has different level power and athleticism, and it’s not something that can be easily accounted for. Dawson and his team were adamant that the loss to Andre Ward was solely due to Dawson cutting weight, but that now he was healthy, strong and back where he belonged. But he never got a chance to display the condition and form he was in.
All it took was one shot from Stevenson to close the show, and it didn’t even appear to be a devastating blow. Nevertheless, it landed with enough force to put Dawson down, and seriously hurt him. He made it up with more than enough time, and appeared to be on extremely shaky legs. His eyes were clear and he said he wanted to continue, but the referee waved off the action.
The HBO announcing team concurred with the call… while I believe it was actually a bit early, and Dawson, the defending champion, should have at least been given a chance to recover and continue the fight. But ultimately that’s a moot point now.
Dawson could have been facing Jean Pascal in a rematch instead of Stevenson. However, that fight was scuttled, Pascal was set to face Lucian Bute — which has since been delayed due to injury — and Dawson instead opted to stay in Montreal and face Stevenson.
It was a dangerous fight from the get-go, despite the fact that Stevenson was coming up from super middleweight. It was really a fight that Dawson didn’t need to take, and it wasn’t the most lucrative opportunity in front of him. But, that’s the way that the cards shake out sometimes.
In earlier action, Yuriorkis Gamboa maintained his undefeated record by defeating Darley Perez, handing Perez the first loss of his career. Perez acquitted himself well in the performance, but Gamboa’s athleticism were at times too much for him to handle. Gamboa took home a 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112 unanimous decision in a fight which at times wowed, and at times left the audience booing a lack of action.
A fantastic performance and punch from Stevenson, and a crushing defeat for Dawson. Stay tuned for more aftermath and analysis from the shocking Dawson vs. Stevenson results.
