ANDRE WARD A 3.5 TO 1 FAVORITE OVER CHAD DAWSON
By Matt Goldstein

Undisputed Champions Set to Face Off Saturday Night

On the eve of the supermiddleweight mega fight between the undefeated Super Six champion and world super middleweight champion Andre “S.O.G.” Ward and world light heavyweight champion “Bad” Chad Dawson, the Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward has opened up as a -350 favorite over Dawson.  On the road to becoming the Super Six Supermiddleweight champion, Andre Ward defeated Mikkel Kessler, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, and he did so with ease.  After defeating Tomasz Adamek for the WBC Lightheavyweight title in 2007, Dawson went on to beat Glen Johnson twice and Antonio Tarver twice for the IBF Lightheavyweight title.   After losing a technical decision to Jean Pascal in 2010, Dawson then went on to defeat Adrian Diaconu and Bernard Hopkins to become the WBC and Ring Magazine Lightheavyweight champion.  The two undisputed and lineal champions will now face each other at Ward’s 168 lbs.  Many believe Dawson coming down in weight is a huge advantage for Ward, but Dawson is a natural supermiddleweight, as he only moved up to lightheavyweight to get the big fights and fight for a title.  Granted, Dawson hasn’t had to make the 168-lb. limit in about 6 years, but the lightheavyweight champ shouldn’t have too many issues making weight today.  The -350 in favor of Ward might seem steep, especially when considering that Chad Dawson’s boxing style might be the best style to deal with Ward’s slick defensive counter punching style.  However, the undefeated Ward won the Super Six championship against Carl Froch with a broken hand, and did it in convincing fashion.  Although we like Ward in this fight, the -350 line seems right on the money.