Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
Chad, it's been a while since fight fans have seen you, but I know you have a fight scheduled against Adonis Stevenson, a big, powerful guy, a lot of KOs. Talk to me about your expectations of this matchup, and what you want to prove to people.
Chad Dawson
I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm looking forward to going out and being back on the big stage. Looking forward to proving to everybody that this guy doesn't deserve to be on my level, doesn't deserve to be in the spotlight. He's just a stepping stone for me, just a fight created to make me look good. Look for bigger things. Not saying that he's not coming to win. I'm coming to win, he's coming to win. He thinks he can beat me. He thinks he can knock me out. We'll see on June 8th.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
You're coming once again into the lion's den, you fought Andre Ward in his hometown, you fought a lot of fighters in their hometown. Were you a little hesitant to go to Quebec?
Chad Dawson
At the end of the day, you gotta believe in your talent. As long as I'm alive and breathing, I'm gonna believe in my skill and I'm gonna believe in my talent. I'm gonna believe I'm still the best light heavyweight in the world, which I am. The loss to Ward didn't change anything. I kept my titles and I'm still light heavyweight champion of the world. I wanna go out and make Adonis Stevenson respect that.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
Do you feel the competition he's faced--
Chad Dawson
There's no comparison. No comparison. Adonis Stevenson is no Glen Johnson, he's no Antonio Tarver, he's no Bernard Hopkins, he's no Tomasz Adamek. I've beat great fighters. I just don't see it. I don't see it.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
You're here at the SMS gym, we see (Jean) Pascal behind us working out. You guys fought. What's that like? Is that awkward? Are you guys friends?
Chad Dawson
Far from friends. I tell you this much, I hope he can get by (Lucian) Bute and we can get that rematch. I hope he can do that.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
When you walked in here, did you guys at least say what's up to each other, were you cordial?
Chad Dawson
He said what's up from a distance. I don't want people to think that we're friends. We're not. We're both boxers, we're competitive. He's a rival of mine, I'm a rival of his. I don't want people to get misconstrued or get it confused. We're not friends at all. Maybe after the rematch when I knock him out, but until then? Nah.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
Looking at him here, are you doing a little bit of scouting?
Chad Dawson
The only scouting I'm doing is of Adonis Stevenson.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
From the scouting you have done, how do you think you're gonna fight this guy, and what do you think he can't do, or what hasn't he shown you yet?
Chad Dawson
I've watched one fight of his. One fight. He's a big puncher, he can punch. He's moving up to light heavyweight. I don't think that power will carry over into the light heavyweight division. He's knocking out smaller guys. I'm a big 175 pounder. Big. My physique is outstanding and it's crazy, but trust me, he'll look very tiny the night of the fight.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
You're saying that you're big at 175 pounds, and you had to drop to 168 pounds. Looking at you now you look like you're 205, 210, somewhere around there. (Dawson: I'm 180 pounds.) The loss to Ward, how long did it take you to recoup from that mentally?
Chad Dawson
No time at all. When you know what you did wrong, you can deal with it. When you don't know what you did wrong is when you can't deal with it. It's like, ah, I went out there, I did everything my trainer asked me to do, but I lost the fight. But in my case, I knew what I did wrong. The weight loss, I went to his backyard, and it was just tragedy from there. I lost nine pounds the night before the weigh-in. I went into the ring that night at, like, 196 pounds, which is not normal for me. I usually weigh in at 175 and I'm in the ring at 182, 184. That night I was about 192 pounds, so that shows you right there that I wasn't myself. The weight loss took a toll on me, and when I went to go eat after the weigh-in, the weight just, it took everything in. I didn't feel good the morning of the fight when I woke up, but it was too late to tell anybody, look, I don't feel good. I couldn't just jump out of the fight and say I don't feel good. But I didn't feel good when I woke up that morning. I went ahead with the fight anyway, and Andre Ward got the victory.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
Looking back with hindsight now, would you take a fight back at super middleweight?
Chad Dawson
Hell no! Hell no! That's the last thing on my mind. People gotta understand something, I hadn't fought at that weight in over seven years before I took the fight with Ward. I fought maybe two or three times at super middleweight, then I moved right to light heavyweight because I couldn't make the weight no more. I never really made a big impact in the 168-pound division because I went straight to light heavyweight. But when you know what you did wrong, and you know there's nobody to blame but yourself, you can deal with it. I was able to leave California and get right back in the gym. I've been in the gym since November. Everything is great. I'm already in shape, I'm on my weight. It's all about being ready for this fight, going out and executing, and showing everybody why I'm still the light heavyweight division and why I deserve to be on the pound-for-pound list again.