Hopkins vs Dawson: Lucian Bute and Super Middleweights Should Be Next for Chad

Chad Dawson will receive some bad press from Saturday night's title fight with the ancient Bernard Hopkins. Many will perceive the shoulder dump as dirty and an even larger group will say the fight should have ended in a no contest. Even with that in decision, almost no one wants to watch those two in a rematch.

It is a shame, Dawson is a very good fighter. He isn't flashy, flamboyant or a KO artist, so he'll be neglected by the casual fan. Unfortunately, those fans' dollars are the difference between mega appeal and well...Chad Dawson.

One of the up and coming divisions in the sport, thanks to the Super Six tournament is the Super Middleweight class. The finale of the tournament is set for December 17th, when Andre Ward will battle Carl Froch for the WBA and WBC super middleweight crown.

Meanwhile, Lucian Bute will battle veteran Glen Johnson on November 5th for the IBF crown. It sounds like unification is setup for the super-middleweights, with the winner of the two fights, battling the middle of 2012.

Dawson, has called out Jean Pascal, the fighter responsible for the only loss on his record. If he can avenge that loss, he will sit atop the division. He could elect to give Pascal a rematch to complete their trilogy, but it would be a better career move to challenge the king of the super middleweights.

Their tournament has garnered a lot of attention and the last man standing will receive plenty of respect throughout the sport. Dawson could benefit greatly from getting on that action.

Defeating Lucian Bute, Carl Froch or Andre Ward will go a lot further than beating up on Bernard Hopkins and besting Jean Pascal.