Will the Real Chad Dawson Please Stand Up?

Saturday's rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver was better than the first one, even if that's not saying too much. It was also a perfect example of why I call my Monday posts on BoxingWatchers.com "20-20 Hindsight," because people seem to be jumping off the Chad Dawson bandwagon in a hurry.

You may recall that after the first Dawson-Tarver bout, just about everyone was breathless in their praise for Bad Chad. Floyd Mayweather Jr. gushed that he was the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, and HBO decided they had to have him on their network.

Now? Well, let's just say the enthusiasm has been dampened a bit.

Failing to excite tends to do that. Dawson obviously has some physical gifts and definitely looks the part. That only makes what we just saw so puzzling.

He clearly had much faster hands and seemed to have more pop on his punches, especially with jabs, than Tarver. He mixed up his body and head work well and showed his usual defensive savvy most of the time.

But even though he looks like he could fight all night, Dawson took some rounds off when he seemed tired. He also didn't show much sense for when to go for the kill on occasions when he stunned Tarver, and on the rare times he came out of his defensive shell, he got tagged by some pretty good shots by an older, slower foe.

The HBO crew (and Emanuel Steward in particular) did a nice job framing Dawson's performance in the context of a more determined effort by Tarver. And admittedly, no one except the Magic Man and his crew had any doubts that Chad won the fight.

Still, the questions are valid. Is Dawson really the next big thing, as observers were claiming after the first fight? Or is he, as one of the announcers (I believe Max Kellerman) put it this time, "a B-plus fighter in a C division?"

My brother Uatu text messaged me after the fight with these negatives: fights scared, lacks some power, lacks chin and stamina. It's hard to argue with those, though Dawson is only 26 and has time to improve.

The lack of KO power and a killer instinct are what worry me the most. Add in that Dawson is soft-spoken, isn't a self-promoter and doesn't have an especially compelling personal story and there's a lot of work left to be done to turn him into a big star.

Nick Tylwalk is the co-founder and editor of BoxingWatchers.com.