By Jake Donovan
FightBeat.com President
Photo by Tom Casino

Nothing beats home cooking during the holiday season.

“Bad” Chad Dawson, unbeaten super middleweight prospect, should be stuffed by year’s end. 

“When an opportunity is in front of me, I have to grab it,” insists Dawson (19-0, 13KO), who’s training for the first of two bouts in Connecticut, within the next three weeks.  

This Friday he boxes Ian Gardner in a main event aired by Showtime’s popular ShoBox: The New Generation series (November 18, 11PM ET/PT). 

If he bests Gardner, Dawson will be back on December 10 as the co-feature at the Mohegan Sun. Stable mate and top-rated middleweight contender Winky Wright headlines.  

Along with Foxwoods Casino, Mohegan Sun’s served as Dawson’s home away from home since he turned pro four years ago. 

His actual home is New Haven, CT, so he should have plenty of local and vocal support against Gardner. He can use it; it’s the biggest fight of his young career.  But, many wonder if it’s undue pressure. 

Dawson’s not lacking confidence; his next bout’s scheduled only three weeks later. 

 “I want to be busy as possible, he explains, “and there’s no better way to stay busy than by fighting on major cards at or close to home.”  

His last fight was the only one outside of the New England area. “I admit, he went on, “it’s a little bit of a distraction, but only because everyone wants to see me every day, knowing that I’m fighting here. But at the same time, they respect the fact that I’m here to fight, now-and-again -- very soon -- as long as everything goes right with this one.” 

The key is to get past Gardner, who’s proven to be one tough out for any fighter. Dawson’s well aware, but he’s a multi-tasker.  

“That’s”… not to say that I’m looking past Gardner, not at all. I know that he’s better than most of the cats I’ve seen so far. But I’m not like most fighters; knowing what’s ahead of me helps keep me more focused on what’s in front of me. For me, it’s motivation rather than a distraction.” 

For most boxers, fighting in your hometown is distraction enough. Ask Cory Spinks, who suffered an embarrassingly one-sided stoppage to Zab Judah in front of 22,000 St. Lunatics earlier this year on Showtime. For Dawson, it’s energy. The crowd charges-him-up, and he sends everyone home happy. The proof’s on his resume: eighteen straight in the New England area, twelve inside the distance. 

His last fight in the Northeast was his true hometown debut. After having fought) multiple times in Foxwoods and Mohegan, Chad made the most of his homecoming with a fourth-round blitz of Efrain Garcia.  

It caught promoter Gary Shaw’s attention, who signed Dawson prior to his last fight, a non-televised affair beneath Jeff Lacy’s Tampa homecoming this past August. Lacy proved to Shaw that a fighter with the right mindset can handle the pressure of fighting at home. The New Jersey-based promoter predicts more of the same this weekend, only this time, not on the blind. 

“Fortunately, Chad’s already done this before, so there’s no speculating whether or not he’ll be able to handle it,” Shaw said of promoting the card in New Haven. “Jeff kept insisting to me that everything would be alright in August, and proved to be right in the end. I had faith in Jeff, but at the same time had nothing to gauge it by. With Chad, I already know how he’ll deal with the home cooking – he’ll devour it and then we can move on to plans for December 10.” 

In order for that to happen, Dawson needs to not only win, but escape unscathed. Neither is guaranteed. What’s also not guaranteed is Dawson delivering his usual thriller.  Gardner opponents rarely, if ever, look good from bell to bell. Ian’s been in a stinker or two – or twenty. The Brockton (MA)-based southpaw hasn’t been stopped inside the distance since mid-’03 (7-1 during that stretch). 

“I admit, dude is a weird, awkward fighter,” Dawson underlines, “in fact, the ugliest fighter I’ve ever seen. He’s not normally the type of guy I’d want to face knowing another fight is following right after that. But most guys usually just accept what’s in front of them, and hope for the best. I can adjust. You don’t train with (2004 Trainer of the Year) Dan Birmingham and world-class fighters like Jeff and Wink and not come out a better fighter. 

“I’ve always been able to adapt, but just training with those two alone, I’ve seen just about every scenario that can possibly play out in the ring. Believe me, Gardner’s not bringing nothing I can’t adapt to. If anything, I’m the one bringing the game he has never before experienced in the ring.” 

What Gardner has yet to experience in the ring is a win in Connecticut. His lone appearance in The Constitution State was his eighth pro fight. The result was a split decision loss to Peter Manfredo Jr., one of only two losses suffered by Gardner (19-2, 7KO overall). 

The second loss came two fights ago, where he dropped a decision to power-punching Arthur Abraham in Arthur’s homeland, Germany. Gardner hit the deck for the first time – in fact, three times – in his career, in a fight that would otherwise have resulted in a split decision draw. 

Dawson worked out the math as well, but isn’t interested in “what ifs”. All that concerns him is adding another “L” to Gardner’s record and keeping his schedule intact. 

“(Abraham) won with power because that’s his game and the only way he knew how to win against someone like Gardner,” says Dawson. “Now, I INTEND to win by knockout, but that doesn’t mean I can just go in there, stick my hand out and expect him to fall. I’ll have to make adjustments within this fight, no doubt. But in the end, I’ll be the first to stop him. After that, I’ll sit down with Gary Shaw and my manager (Mike Criscio) to talk about December 10, getting my next meal.”

  ****