Boxing’s Greats of the States | South Carolina: Chad Dawson

Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it.

***
Chad Dawson has made the Palmetto State proud in boxing circles. The Hartsville, South Carolina, native dominated the regional circuit, captured a handful of minor championships and then quickly rose to prominence as a professional, as he toppled Tomasz Adamek for the WBC light heavyweight title on Feb. 3, 2007.

Dawson soon emerged as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters, winning his first 25 fights before he edged Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver in 2008 to add the IBF championship to his collection. He dominated both men in rematches and eventually ran his record to 29-0. However, his reign ended in an August 2010 defeat to Jean Pascal in Montreal.

Wins over Adrian Diaconu and the great Bernard Hopkins followed, but back-to-back losses to Andre Ward and Adonis Stevenson derailed Dawson’s pursuit of reclaiming a world title. The 34-year-old later sandwiched victories against George Blades, Shujaa El Amin and Cornelius White around a split decision defeat to Tommy Karpency. Dawson last fought on March 4, when a 10th-round technical knockout loss to Andrzej Fonfara dropped his record to 34-5.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Paul Williams, Lonnie Bradley, Bob Montgomery