Chad Dawson-Ronald Johnson: Seriously, Maybe
Ryan Burton at BoxingScene.com has been covering a really weird beef, as it were, between light heavyweight titlist Chad Dawson and American Dreams promoter/fighter Ronald Johnson. In short summary:
- Johnson (11-1, 3 KO) called out Dawson. This might seem strange enough, but then he said he had millions of dollars to offer.
- Dawson basically responded, "Yeah. Sure. For millions of dollars, sure." And rightfully so, obviously.
Now, Johnson says he's offering $3 million, and Dawson's manager Mike Criscio is telling him to put the money up and they'll fight.
This is really a weird story overall, because you just don't get this sort of out-of-nowhere bluster and have it taken at all seriously too often. Johnson may be best known as The Other Guy on that November PPV show, where he was a promoter who fought Dumont Welliver, and put himself on the poster with Zab Judah and Joel Casamayor. Casamayor, for the record, says Johnson still owes him $10,000. Johnson disputes said claim.
This reminds me a lot of the Benzino-Eminem beef, where one guy is clearly trying to rally a career off of another guy's star. I've seen so little of Johnson in the ring that I don't feel comfortable assessing his skills, but he's 24 and has 12 pro fights with three stoppage wins. Generally speaking, that's not the stuff of a contender. The best fighter he's faced has been Darnell Boone (by far), and Boone won a six-round majority decision in 2005. Johnson turned pro in 2004 and has just those 12 fights to his name.
He's also listed at 5'9 1/2" which means he'd have a huge height disadvantage against Dawson, listed at 6'1" and maybe a smidge taller than that.
Even Googling articles about Johnson turned up a bit difficult. Here's one where he was supposedly fighting Bill Bailey for "the WBC light heavyweight championship," which was in actuality a fight for the WBC USNBC title, whatever that is. Bailey was 9-4 entering that contest.
I'm not trying to take any shots at Johnson. Again, I have barely seen him fight and it's certainly not been against the type of opposition where you can draw a real conclusion. And hell, if he really has this kind of money to throw out there, Dawson should probably fight him. But what a strange story. In a world where Chad Dawson is considered one of the best in the game, his options might be so limited that this totally bizarre turn of events might actually lead to his next fight.
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If he has $3M to throw at the fight
He might as well call out Hopkins instead. He’d be a bigger draw than Dawson, and the fights he’s looking at with Green or Bute would probably come in around that range. Plus Hopkins seems pretty hell bent on facing the easiest opponent for the most money.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
If he’s hurting that bad to get knocked out and is willing to pay millions for it to happen, than fuck it. Let him get knocked out
by Violent Demise on Dec 22, 2009 10:30 AM EST reply actions
That’s kinda my stance. Hell, do it. Draw 37 people at The Palms (incl. Erik Estrada) and let’s make it happen.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by Scott Christ on Dec 22, 2009 11:59 AM EST up reply actions
BTW, isn't this the same clown who claimed he got 100k buys for the Zudah and Casamayor card?
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
yeah
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by Scott Christ on Dec 22, 2009 12:50 PM EST up reply actions
honestly this dude seems a bit strange
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by Scott Christ on Dec 22, 2009 12:50 PM EST up reply actions

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!["Tavoris Cloud is just nothing. Does he really want to fight Chad next? ... I think Chad will win [against Jean Pascal]. I expect him to win. And I would like to fight Lucian Bute next."
--Gary Shaw on where he wants to go next with Chad Dawson. Dawson faces Jean Pascal this Saturday for the vacant Ring Magazine world light heavyweight championship. (Lem Satterfield)
(Photo by Dwight McCann)](http://cdn0.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/137144/dawson_harding136_small.jpg)













