Chad Dawson

Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019.

In search of work, Rick moved the family to New Haven, Connecticut in 1988.

Chad attended James Hillhouse High School from 1996 to 2000.

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.

He held multiple world championships in the light heavyweight division, and was one of that division's most highly regarded boxers between 2006 and 2013.

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 rose to prominence on the world stage in 2007, when he defeated Tomasz Adamek to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight title.

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.

After vacating that title, he defeated Antonio Tarver in 2008 to win the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) titles, and defeated him in a rematch in 2009.

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.

Dawson then vacated the WBC title in mid-2008.

Dawson, who is married and has three sons, still lives and trains in New Haven, Connecticut.

His trainer is "Iceman" John Scully.

He was formerly trained by Dan Birmingham, Floyd Mayweather Sr.. and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

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 November 9, the day after Joe Calzaghe's win over Roy Jones Jr., Dawson issued a press release challenging Calzaghe and offered to fight him on his home turf in Wales.

Dawson stated "I'm ready to give Joe the opportunity to draw the curtain on his great career in front of his family and friends and 70,000 fans," and "It's the best fight in the light heavyweight division between two undefeated champions."

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.

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 his unified 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 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.