Dawson vs Diaconu Odds: 'Bad Chad' Expected to Come Back Strong

"Bad" Chad Dawson is, as expected, the fairly strong favorite for tomorrow night's HBO-televised co-feature from Montreal, as the Connecticut native goes on the road to face Adrian "The Shark" Diaconu.

Both fighters have only ever lost to main eventer and current light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. Diaconu dropped a pair to Pascal in entertaining fights back in 2009, and last year, Dawson was upset by Pascal in a less-entertaining contest. Dawson, now 28, had been rising up pound-for-pound lists despite providing few thrills, as his overall abilities had gained him respect if not fans. At one point, Floyd Mayweather Jr. called Dawson the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world (not counting Floyd himself, of course).

But that changed last year when a tentative and timid Dawson lost to Pascal. Now trained by Emanuel Steward, it's up in the air how Chad will respond to the loss and the new corner, but he's talking a good game this week at least.

Here are the odds:

About what should have been expected, and some of the odds on Diaconu just might be enticing enough for some to lay down a few bones on the Romanian-born, Canadian-based underdog. Or they're just steep enough to ward off bets on Diaconu, I'm not sure. If Dawson gets back to the form that saw him widely outpoint Glen Johnson in their 2009 rematch, or beat Tomasz Adamek in 2007, he should be way too much in this fight, but is he worth a bet at a minimum of -500?