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Bernard Hopkins has said,“If you don’t know how to control your emotions , that’s a signed death warrant in boxing.” Chad Dawson controlled his emotions when it mattered most—in the ring against Hopkins. Hopkins-Dawson II:The Champion Drama is keyed to the personal lives of the participants. Regardless of what the rest of the world thought, the April 28, 2012, rematch between Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City was high drama for Dawson and everyone who cares about him. Dawson, age twenty-nine, was born in South Carolina and grew up in Connecticut. He’s soft-spoken and laid-back with a gentle demeanor; a bit on the shy side with strangers, but talkative when he feels comfortable with someone. “My father had seven children by the time he was twenty-one,” Chad recounts.“I have four brothers and two sisters. None of us has ever been in jail.We might not be the smartest people you’ll ever meet, but none of us has a criminal record. Our parents taught us to be good.” Chad and his wife, Crystal, have four sons ranging in age from eight to eight months. “I enjoy being a father,” he says.“I’m most happy when I’m in my house with my kids.When I was little, my father never took me to school. I take the three oldest to school every morning; pick them up after school too. Having kids made me grow up a lot. I’m a lot more responsible now than I was before. My brothers and sisters and I grew up poor. I don’t want my kids not to have the things they need to live right, but there’s a line you have to draw. I’m still learning how to say ‘no’ to them.” “It’s hard to get me mad,” Dawson continues.“I’m not an angry person . But some of the stuff that goes on in the world; I watch the news a lot and I hate it when I see people hurting other people, especially kids. I don’t understand how a father and mother can hurt their own kids, but they do. I’m a boxer and a father, and I always separate Bad Chad Dawson from Daddy.” 10 THOMAS HAUSER Dawson got into boxing at a young age. His father, Rick Dawson, fought professionally from 1982 through 1984 and compiled a 1-6-1 record.The guy he beat finished his career with 3 wins against 48 losses and 30 KOs by. “My father took me to the gym when I was eight and put me in the ring with my older brother, Ricky,” Chad remembers.“Ricky gave me a bloody nose, but it was no big thing. He did that at home all the time.” “This is just my opinion,” Dawson says, choosing his words carefully. “But my father didn’t have a good career and the truth is, I don’t think he expected me to make it. He looks at me now, and I think he’s saying,‘I was there; I could have done it.’All the things he wanted to do in boxing, I’m doing them now.And he says to himself.‘That should have been me.’ He doesn’t get as much joy out of what I’ve done in boxing as I’d like him to.” Prior to facing Hopkins, Dawson had beaten some good fighters; most notably Eric Harding,Tomasz Adamek, Glen Johnson (twice), and AntonioTarver (twice). His one loss was a technical-decision defeat at the hands of Jean Pascal in a fight cut short by an ugly gash caused by a head butt above Chad’s left eye.At various time, he has held theWBC and IBF 175-pound titles. The knock against Dawson has been that he lacks the fire inside that makes a fighter great; that he fights like he’d rather be doing something else; and that he’s as happy out-boxing opponents as he is blowing them away. “I hear the criticism from the media,” Chad says, “But most of it comes from guys who never put on a pair of gloves in their life, so I brush it off.You need the media.The media gives us publicity.The media pays our salaries. But except for that, why should I care what they say?” Still, Dawson is prone to adding to the conventional...

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