Putting his hat in the ring
After judging Tyson-Jones, New Haven’s ‘Bad’ Chad dreams of his own legends bout
Chad Dawson has some Mike Tyson stories — oh boy, does he have some Mike Tyson stories he wasn’t sharing. What Bad Chad did share is the story of how he became a judge in the much-discussed, much-argued Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. exhibition bout draw Saturday night in Los Angeles.
You know, the one where Snoop Dogg came out the big winner.
And Nate Robinson took the biggest “L” possible.
“The call came out of the blue a month ago from from WBC president (Mauricio) Sulaiman,” Dawson said. “They wanted world champions to be judges. The WBC has a new scoring system they’re working on, Remote Scoring, the judges don’t have to actually be at the fight.”
So along with Vinny Paz and Christy Martin, Dawson did just that from his Connecticut home.
“They sent me a link to a fight and I watched it without any commentary,” Dawson said. “All I heard was the punching. I went to another link on my cellphone that pulled up the scoring system and I scored right on my phone.”
Over the years, the former multiple-time lightweight champion, still active at 38, obviously has had judges’ scoring that he loved, he hated and that left him ambivalent. All boxers have. You don’t go 35-5 and two no-contests, including that bizarre NC with Bernard Hopkins, without your own view of a subjective system.
The question, of course, is would Bad Chad, our New Haven-Hamden guy, be a good judge of one of the more discussed bouts in recent years?
“I thought it was cool, great to be able to judge a big fight like that,” Dawson said. “I’ll tell you one thing: It is harder than it looks. Definitely harder than it looks.
“After the call, I started studying, doing my research. Watching fights, practicing testing myself. I was kind of nervous. Those are two legends.”
The night turned out to be memorable — as most boxing nights do for many reasons — but not because of the actual eight rounds between Tyson and Jones that Dawson individually also scored as a draw.
There was the commentary of Snoop Dogg, which Dawson couldn’t enjoy until afterward. And there was former NBA slam-dunk champion Nate Robinson getting viciously slam-dunked by YouTuber Jake Paul in a California State Athletic Commission-sanctioned cruiserweight bout. Robinson got hit by eight punches in two rounds; three knocked him down and the third one knocked him out face-first.
This was Robinson’s first fight, and it was woefully apparent. Never has a man taken such a hideous beating — and we’re talking about the Twitter reaction.
“Hopefully, these other celebrities and stars will think twice before they get in the ring,” Dawson said. “Think about it, little gloves, 8- or 10-ounce gloves, this is different than being in the gym sparring, headgear, big gloves. I feel kind of bad for him, because I feel he really didn’t know what he is getting into.
“When you get in a real match, the lights go on. I tell everybody all the time it’s a totally different thing. All the energy can get sucked out of you. That’s what happened to Nate Robinson. You could see it in his eyes. You don’t play boxing. Boxing is dangerous.”
Dawson gave a knowing chuckle.
“After they saw that, I’m pretty sure none of (the NBA players) are willing to get in the ring right now.”
Former champion Antonio Tarver felt so bad for Nate that he said on Instagram, “I really want to kick Jake Paul’s ass for what he did to Nate Robinson and rid boxing of these clowns once and for all. He fought a complete novice so fighting me shouldn’t be a problem.”
While their ages (Tyson 54, Jones 51) were of some concern, matters were a little different with the exhibition. If they were not to wear headguards, the rounds would be two minutes instead of three. Any cuts would immediately stop the fight. They would use 12-ounce gloves. The boxers were not expected to go all-out headhunting. Without a California sanction there was no official winner, but there was a “Frontline Battle Belt” commissioned for the event that would go unclaimed.
The overwhelming number of people who watched the fight thought Tyson, who was in really good shape and said he smoked a little weed beforehand, won. Most thought he landed more the more powerful, impactful punches. (I did not watch it, although I did see the Paul-Robinson debacle.) And, of course, with so many folks invested in the, ah, remarkable life of Iron Mike, commentary and criticism on social media was unrestrained.
“In my opinion, it was a pretty boring fight,” Dawson said. “I don’t think anybody caused too much damage to each other. You saw glimpses of Roy at times with the combination punching the last few rounds. You saw glimpses of Mike with power punching and the body shots. It a was tough fight to judge. I couldn’t honestly say anyone won the fight.”
What did you see that others might not have?
“I think they missed the fact Roy made Mike miss a lot,” Dawson said. “I think they missed the fact Mike didn’t really land any good head shots. One good one, I think. When you watch boxing matches, when you hear someone hit with a good shot, you hear, “Ohh, ahh.’ You never really got that. You keep waiting for Mike to catch him with a good shot and he never really did. Roy also did a great job of holding Mike and not letting Mike hit him. It was so hard for me to call a winner because, honestly, nobody did anything.”
Martin scored it 79-73 in favor of Tyson. Vinny Paz had it 80-76 for Jones. Dawson had it 76-76.
“That was the crazy part for me, the way the other judges voted,” Dawson said. “I’m thinking, it’s so close, I can’t call the fight. I’m thinking maybe one or both would have it for Mike. I definitely didn’t expect it for Vinny Pazienza to have Roy winning seven rounds. I didn’t see that. That was crazy.”
Unprepared celebrities fighting is one matter. Dawson doesn’t care what the critics say about older boxing legends climbing back into the ring.
“I think it’s great for boxing,” Dawson said. “I actually think it’s good for those two guys’ legacy. Thinking about the kids who hear about Roy Jones Jr. and Mike Tyson and never got a chance to see them. They got a taste of that the other night. I got to watch with my kids and reminisce and tell them how dangerous Mike was and how good Roy was.
“And what about Snoop ‘Doggy’ Dog? He’s got to get a commentating gig.”
Dawson knows both Jones and Tyson. He knows Tyson better. He lived in Las Vegas for three years and his wife became good friends with Tyson’s wife. Don’t worry. This is the tame part of Tyson’s life.
“We hung out with them at kids’ birthday parties and things like that,” Dawson said. “We’d go to theirs, they’d come to ours. So I know Mike real good. But I didn’t have any favoritism. I looked at it as two legends putting it on line.”
Dawson figures he hung out with Tyson six, seven times.
“He really is an interesting guy,” Dawson said. “Every time we went out to eat, he had a story to tell. Some of the stories were so crazy … you got to know, Mike Tyson back in his day, he was a lunatic. You think about a superior athlete like that, how big and great he was, how he knocked everyone out, you wouldn’t think he’d be doing what he was doing.”
He was. And at 54, Tyson may fight again. Evander Holyfield wants him. Buster Douglas wants him. And Dawson, who last fought in a unanimous decision victory 14 months ago, ago wants in.
“Mike Tyson just started this league called ‘Legends Only,’ ” Dawson said. “If they’re going to continue to do events like this, I’d love to get in a card.”
And?
“I would love to fight Jean Pascal or Andre Ward,” said Dawson, who lost to both for world titles. “Oh yeah. Why not? Why not? Bring Ward (who retired undefeated in 2017) back and do it at like 180 pounds. And Pascal, you know I always wanted that rematch.”
Yes, the legends still have their dreams.