Lets be clear, in the next couple of weeks you'll watch a lot of stuff that you wont admit to in the sports bar come this fall. And why? dog days of summer? your girlfriend or wife laying in bed watching Lithuanian pixies going for the gold at 1AM?. The Olympics can do that to a man; especially an American male who is instinctively wired to be jingoistic and patriotic ohhh maybe twice a year. For those of us only interested in the US Olympic Boxing teams performance theres the hope that 2012 will provide us with youngsters we can look forward to following ; talent we all hope to fill the coming void of Floyd Mayweather and contemporaries. If you love Boxing the Olympic games allow you to flex your recall muscles and tell people "you remember when" you recognized a certain fighter showed flashes of greatness. I was in Atlanta in 1996 and passed up free Boxing tickets to try and "get with" this fly honey (thats what we called em back then) from Florida which cost me first sightings of Mayweather and Fernando Vargas. Back then i didn't "care" about the Health of American Boxing; because i believed our system would be cranking out Sugar Ray Leonards every 4 years. In 2012 i'm more appreciative of American talent ( 2 left standing in London) and when i see two YOUNG Americans at the highest level of Pro Boxing bucking the trend of mugging seniors to battle one another i Care. But this isn't about me caring about Andre Ward vs. Chad Dawson, this is about why you should care.. No Really you should and here's why.
This is the Biggest Showdown of American Super Middleweights since Jones vs. Toney
Back in 1994 we kinda had an idea Roy was on a different level; just free from his old man the sky was the limit and James Toney controlled the skies. Toney was already being hailed as a throwback to a time when cats had a deeper skill set and fought EVERYBODY and this is 4 years before we started to question if Roy had that desire. Andre Ward went into the "Super Six" Chinese water torture tournament as the little kid who was in too deep and came out of it THE MAN in the division. My homies over at Boxing Truth may knock his style but the Oakland Native is a blend of the Book of Floyd and Bernard; in other words he can use his considerable athleticism to outbox you or her can rough you up. What he did to Carl Froch was no small feat especially in light of how easily the Cobra destroyed Lucian Bute. Like Toney Ward is a throwback who can do it anyway you want to do it and get the job done without "playin" himself as a person or a personality after the fight. Tougher and stronger than he looks the last American Gold Medalist (Come on 2012!!) reminds of Ray Leonard because he can get "grimey in the trenches as easily as he can saddle up next to Al Bernstien and call a fight on Showtime. Chad Dawson may be enigmatic but he's cleaned the Division of all of the old timbre that can be genetically traced to the the Roy Jones 175 lb. Dynasty. Against Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins and "borderline" candidates Glenn Johnson and Antonio Tarver the tall southpaw is 5-0-1NC, all 3 men have beaten Roy Jones 4 times since 2004. Chad Dawson's temperament may be in question but you cant argue with the results; you just cant beat these mean (even at advanced stages) without a requisite hardness. Ward cant outbox Dawson, he'll have to get inside and we all know what he did to Allan Green back in 2010; theres a reason he was "endorsed" (see avoided) by Hopkins, because the old master knows that "Oaktown" is just like "Philly". Dawson is going in with confidence that comes with size, he's made it clear that as the "bigger man" he wont relinquish the jab that brought him to the dance. It feels like 94' all over again, a decorated Olympian, a clear feeling of "legacy positioning", youth and the obvious sidebar of weight.
Dawson is coming Down to Super Middleweight
Cathweights are all the craze now; I'm not a fan but some fights are so legit it makes sense to implement the practice to put both titles on the line. This isn't Pacquiao forcing Welterweights to cut off a leg to fight for a "Welterweight" strap nor is it the "Mayweather like" BS Adrian Broner just pulled vs. Vicente Escobedo. This is a Champion in his prime telling you THE CONSUMER that he is a competitor and yes, he's in "that" kind of shape. You should care because Dawson exposed a dirty little secret about the sport, there isn't that much difference in 7 lbs. no matter what they tell you. The old school trainers hate the newer jr. divisions because it allows for fighters to be sloths and for promoters to use the "he's too big or small for my guy" excuse when they don't want to make a fight we want to see. Lucian Bute clearly wanted no part of Andre Ward and he wasn't called out enough for how blatant he was about it, Froch let him off the Public Perception hook by whoopin that ass but you shouldn't forget the "duck job". Dawson and Ward made the fight in about the same amount of time it took Froch to get Bute "out of there" and they should be commended for it. As an American fight fan you should care about the fact that Dawson and Ward have seized control over two Divisions ( Super Middleweight specifically) that we've conceded to Europeans for the better part of a generation. Even Roy Jones had to answer questions about Darius Michalczewski and like it or not Joe Calzaghe clowned him and clipped Hopkins when they both had a little more left. At 6'0 (Ward) and 6'3 (Dawson) are both bigger naturally than Jones and Toney; we should consider ourselves lucky we've been able to watch two skilled American Boxers of this size.
Boxing is Losing African American Athletes of this Caliber to other Sports
Roy Jones played a little bush league hoops during his time as "Worlds Greatest Athlete" but in the end he was ours. Basketball and Football continue to explode in African American communities to the point where I'm not sure we haven't lost a ton of world champions to NBA D-League or the Arena Football League. Boxing is HARD and the chances of getting paid are slim and off in the distance; many basketball players that NEVER make it past Division 2 have been receiving money and gifts since they were 12. Andre Ward was a High School Football player (Strong Safety) and Chad Dawson a Basketball Player, both chose the Sweet Science. In the 1940's and 50's Boxing and Baseball were bigger sports for African Americans while football and basketball were novelties, in 1950 maybe Floyd Mayweather is a shortstop instead of a Welterweight. Right now African American kids of any kind of size ( 5'11-6'4 175 lbs. and up) either want to be Jordan or Cam Newton and what Boxing usually gets are pigskin leftovers. Look at the Olympic performance of Super Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale who understandably did poorly in the games due to lack of experience. After only 3 1/2 years Boxing he's still being drooled over by the likes of Emmanuel Steward because the kid is 6'6 255 lbs.!. But if you listen to his interviews its clear he would much rather be playing Football which is why we will NEVER produce a challenger to the dominance of the Klitschko's. With the kind of size and youth these two possess we could very easily see them rematch at 175 lbs. and above; Ward has already hinted at a run at Heavyweight in the future. Remember he was a Light Heavyweight in the 2004 Olympic Games so the chances of him carrying the weight well are extremely high.
Both Fighters Live Outside of Boxings Oligarchy
If you believe in shadow Governments that exploit consumers (like i do) then you know that Top Rank, Golden Boy and possibly TMT have this thing on lock; and that stark reality impacts EVERYTHING. Dan Goosen and Gary Shaw are no shrinking violets but even they know how special these young men are to get the HBO 24/7 roll out despite being outside of the loop. And here's what you'll see: two young brotha's that are family men who carry themselves like gentlemen, something IMPORTANT to see in this age of mainstreaming the image of young black males as insolent, craven anti-hero's. Ward and Dawson prove that there are more ways to be successful as an African American Fighter-they deserve your attention for being classy gentlemen as well as tough customers. If your sensing a theme with me your right, i will always find it troubling that Adrien Broner believes the only way to get noticed is to act like a jack-ass, its a form of buffoonery and unfortunately a lot of our athletes and rappers are rewarded for it. Ward and Dawson didn't have to embarrass themselves nor degrade one another to let it be known they want to get it on, which may be a good sign considering all of the tough talk that promotes & rarely deliver good fights. Being outside of the power players in Boxing put both men in a situation where they don't have the "luxury" of posturing ( see driving up the PPV for consumers) until they are past their primes like Mayweather and Pacquiao~and for that they deserve your support. Strengthening Boxings "middle class" is the only way out of this mess that may get worse with the arrival of TMT Promotions; so don't look for Andre Dirrell (another classy kid) to challenge the winner anytime soon. So enjoy the thoughtful, big picture approach by Dawson and Ward because YOUNG Champions challenging one another at the peak of their powers is WORTH caring about- i just don't want you to figure it out too late. They don't deserve your YOUTUBE love 10 years from now, and they don't deserve revisionist history, pay the proper Respect when it's due... and thats Today.
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