Hopkins vs Dawson: 'Bad Chad' Proves Himself with Victory over the Executioner

Chad Dawson is a great fighter, and he proved that with his victory over Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins.

Now, the only question that remains is this: If you beat a legend, do you become a legend?

That remains to be seen, but there is one thing for certain, and that's that this win will go down as a major milestone in Dawson's still very young career.

There aren't many better than Hopkins, and even at 47, he was able to hang with his younger, more athletic opponent and push him to a 12-round majority decision.

The thing is, that can be looked at in two ways...

The first: The 47-year-old was able to hold his own against an up-and-coming star, 18 years his junior. The fact that he could even fight is impressive, so even in a loss, Hopkins deserves much respect.

The second scenario, though, is that Dawson was able to hang in the ring for 12-rounds against one of the greatest boxers of his time, which, according to quotes from him via the Associated Press on SI.com, is a tough task:

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Dawson held the belt high over his head and slung it over his shoulder in celebration.

"My head is hurting from all the head-butts," Dawson said. "I've got to give him a lot of credit. He's a future Hall of Famer, he's a hell of a fighter. But he's a dirty fighter. But if you can get through 12 rounds with him, you can get through anything."

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Dawson beat the best, and now he is the best. The title belt is the greatest accomplishment a professional fighter can get, and now "Bad Chad" gets to walk around with it as the WBC light heavyweight champion.

That alone is impressive, but he took the title from The Executioner, which may be even more impressive.

Dawson is a tremendous fighter with a long and successful career ahead of him. It's fitting that his win came over a legend that we can already say that about.