Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He has held multiple light heavyweight world championships, and was one of the most highly regarded boxers in that division between 2006 and 2013. Dawson rose to prominence on the world stage in 2007, when he defeated Tomasz Adamek to become the WBC light heavyweight champion. After vacating that title, he defeated Antonio Tarver in 2008 to win the IBF and IBO titles, and defeated him in a rematch in 2009. Dawson's first career setback was a loss to Jean Pascal in 2010. He would rebound by winning the WBC title for a second time, as well as the Ring magazine and lineal titles, by defeating Bernard Hopkins in 2012. In the same year, The Ring ranked Dawson as the world's tenth best active boxer, pound for pound. Later in 2012, Dawson moved down to super middleweight, a division in which he had not competed since 2006, in order to challenge Andre Ward for the unified WBA (Super), WBC, Ring and lineal titles. In what would prove to be an ill-fated move, Ward handed him his second loss as it became clear that Dawson could no longer compete at a lower weight. In 2013, having returned to light heavyweight to defend his titles, Dawson was knocked out by Adonis Stevenson in one round. Early life Dawson was born to Rick Dawson, a former boxer who compiled a 2–6–1 professional record, and Wanda Dawson. Chad has four brothers and two sisters. In search of work, Rick moved the family to New Haven, Connecticut in 1988. Chad attended James Hillhouse High School from 1996 to 2000. Professional career Middleweight Dawson, a southpaw, made his professional debut at middleweight, later moving up to super middleweight where defeated notable opponents such as Ian Gardner and Carl Daniels. His career took a temporary setback when he failed a post-fight drug test in 2004 for marijuana, which resulted in a six-month suspension from boxing. Dawson indicated that this proved to be a motivating factor in his rise as a light heavyweight. Because of this, Dawson's streak of fourteen consecutive wins came to end when his win over Aundalen Sloan on March 27, 2004, was changed to a no contest. Light heavyweight On June 2, 2006, in his bout with former title challenger and fellow southpaw Eric Harding, Dawson