Light Heavyweight kingpin Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KOs) is ready to go on the road once again and defend his WBC title against top contender and dangerous power puncher Adonis Stevenson (20-1, 17 KOs) in Stevenson’s backyard of Canada at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Dawson is a throwback fighter who is willing to give advantages to his opponents in order to make the best fights possible. This will be his third time going to Canada to meet an opponent on his home turf, the first time was back in August of 2010 against Jean Pascal and then again in May of 2011 against Adrian Diaconu. Now Dawson will fight Stevenson, who’s originally from Haiti, and makes no excuses for traveling to hostile territory.
“I expect the crowd to be against me, but I’m not worried about that because I know that I can win them over with my performance,” said Dawson. “Stevenson is a worthy opponent but he’s not on my level. I’ve fought and won over there before so I hope he’s not banking on home field advantage because it’s going to take a whole lot more to beat me. Once again I’m going to fight in someone’s backyard and I’m fully confident I’ll come out victorious.”
“I’m grateful to my promoter Gary Shaw and HBO for giving me this opportunity. Now that I’m back at Light Heavyweight I’m going to get back to dominating the division.” Dawson continued.
The Andre Ward fight in Oakland was Dawson’s last outing and he not only fought in Ward’s home town, but he also came down in weight. He fought Ward at Ward’s weight class of 168 lbs, a move that proved to be Dawson’s downfall. However, Dawson is back at his natural weight of 175 lbs, the weight class in which Dawson reigns as the lineal champion.
With Dawson back at his real weight, he insists that he feels stronger and his training camp is operating on a much higher efficiency level.
“No excuses in my last fight, we’ll just say that I’m a different fighter when I’m at 175 lbs. I can say with absolute confidence that my power is back, and not just my power but my strength as well. It’s like I’m stronger in every aspect and it is playing a huge roll in training camp. I’m strong enough to push myself more miles, strong enough to go more rounds, and I’m stronger at the end of my workouts.” Dawson said.
Gary Shaw Productions knows Dawson-Stevenson is a top quality main event and the fans will be witnessing a great night of boxing.
“This is Chad’s return to his rightful thrown at 175 lbs and he is fighting the most dangerous opponent available. Stevenson has been avoided by all the top guys and he is more dangerous with one punch than most guys throwing ten. On top of it all, he’s going to Canada because he is a true warrior willing to prove time and time again why he is top dog at light heavyweight. HBO has been doing a great job televising meaningful fights in boxing, of course the lineal light heavyweight title falls under that umbrella. Everyone watching will get to see two warriors giving it their all to come out on top. This makes for a great night of boxing.” Shaw said.
The 12-round championship showdown is scheduled to take place Saturday, June 8th on HBO Boxing After Dark as part of a doubleheader featuring Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Darley Perez as the co-main event. The HBO telecast will begin at 10:00 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT).
