Ward vs Dawson Results: Andre Ward Dominates, Stops Chad Dawson in Oakland

There is nothing more to ask of Andre Ward. After tonight's thoroughly dominant performance against Chad Dawson, Ward has established himself as one of the game's truly elite fighters, certainly its best young fighter, and someone who has taken the best opponents and beaten them into shells of the fighter that began the bout.

Ward (26-0, 14 KO) stopped Dawson (31-2, 17 KO) in the 10th round tonight, putting a true country ass whippin' down after the second round. Dawson did start well in the fight, and his size advantage early looked to be a legit problem for Ward. But in the third, Ward evened things up with a crushing left hook that put Dawson on the canvas. Early in the fourth, he knocked him down again.

Saturday Boxing Results
Matthysse TKO-10 Ajose / Klitschko TKO-4 Charr
Adamek TKO-5 Walker / Bellew TKO-9 Miranda
Love DQ-8 Valenzuela / Smith UD-10 Garcia / Arnett TKO-4 Tavera

After that, the rout was on. In the 10th round, Dawson took a knee, rose to his feet, and was asked by referee Steve Smoger if he wanted to continue.

He said he wanted to finish. But when Smoger asked again, he said, "I'm done." Smoger asked, "Stop it?" Dawson replied, "Yeah."

This doesn't make Chad Dawson a quitter. It makes Andre Ward a conqueror.

Since 2009, Ward has dominated top fighters like Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, and now Dawson. He manhandled Allan Green, and survived one of the toughest, scrappiest fighters in the game, Sakio Bika, wining a clear decision in the only fight over that time where he's been challenged at all.

This is a fighter who is making his argument as the best in the world right now. This is no longer the Mayweather-Pacquiao Era. That's coming to an end. And the man stepping up as the heir to the throne is Andre Ward, who has already inserted himself into the mix and into that discussion.

At 28, it's hard to even figure what Ward's next step would be. He's emptied out the contenders at super middleweight. And now he just beat the best light heavyweight in the world. Who can he fight that makes for an interesting matchup? He's Klitschko'd himself a little bit, because he's trounced everyone who will step up to the plate, because he's good enough to do it.

Someone will come along, I'm sure. Someone will make some headway, start emerging, or just plain come from left field.

But right now, after tonight, it's tough to imagine Andre Ward being in a fight where he's legitimately challenged again. He's proven that he's on another level.

Undercard

Antonio DeMarco destroyed John Molina in under a minute. That's about all there is to say. DeMarco 28-2-1 (22), Molina 24-2 (19).

Franklin Lawrence (18-2-2, 13 KO) and Malik Scott (35-0, 12 KO) won heavyweight bouts off television, and Ricardo Williams Jr (20-3, 10 KO) won a fight, too.