Bio
Chad Dawson was born to Wanda and Rick Dawson in Hartsville, South Carolina in 1982. He has 4 brothers and 2 sisters. His father was a boxer and the training in the northeast was believed to be much better. When Chad was 7 years old, he moved his father moved the family to New Haven, Connecticut.
Chad and his brothers and sisters attended grammar school like most children. But in their free time, the boys went to the gym and trained with their dad. At 11 years old, Chad was in the ring and training regularly at a small gym called Ring One Boxing. In addition to boxing, Chad worked on his other athletic skills. Chad was on the high school football team serving as both quarterback and wide receiver. He was point guard on the Varsity basketball team. He continued to box and play basketball, excelling in both. In 1999, he reached a split in his athletic career and had to choose. Chad gave up boxing to focus on basketball just before the 1998 Olympic trials. As with many athletes, Chad was challenged by outside distractions making it difficult to maintain the focus and keep his GPA at an acceptable level to continue with basketball. Eventually, he lost his spot on the basketball team.
Chad was then faced with two options: Continue to attend what is called University of Dixwell and head down the path of nowhere, or focus on what could become a life-changing career. Dixwell Avenue is an area where youth hang out and is called University of Dixwell which indicates the youth that choose to stay typically don’t make much of their lives. It’s a tough place to stay out of trouble. It’s easy to get sucked in, but Chad rose above it and began to focus on boxing full-time. Chad held the Junior Middleweight title and he fought in Hungry at the nationals in 2000. In 2001, at the age of 19, Chad went pro.
His first professional fight was against Steve Garrett in Uncasville, Connecticut. Chad won by TKO in the second round. His second professional fight against Antonio Barrett ended even faster with Dawson scoring a KO in the first round.
The rest as they say is history. Since that first fight in 2001, Chad has fought 19 fights with 13 KO’s.
In April of 2005, Chad officially signed with manager Mike Criscio. Now the game gets serious. Upon Mike’s recommendation, Dawson has moved to St Petersburg, Florida to train with one of the best in the business, Dan Birmingham.
Chad’s brothers, Jermaine, Ricky, Brian and Dominique still live in New Haven. Dominique works at Troops School and YMCA and mentors youth who are borderline delinquents. His brother Ricky also works at the YMCA. Like his brothers, Chad mentors the youth in his community by volunteering at the YMCA.
Chad has a two year old son, Prince Chadwick and is engaged to Prince’s mother, Crystal. Crystal works for the Department of Children and Family Services for the city of New Haven.
Favorite food: Cheese Pizza
Favorite memory as a kid: Ohio state fair boxing torney
Most Challenging Fight: Dec 10, 2004 against Carl Daniels… because he had fought Benard Hopkins… I knocked him out sooner than they (other guys) were able to….
Most Memorable Fight: New Haven, CT on April 1st It was billed as my homecoming in my hometown. I fought in the arena that stands where my old school once stood. The fight sold out and many fans were left standing outside the building.
Favorite Movie: Boyz in the Hood
Favorite Sports Moment: Buster Douglas KO’d Mike Tyson
Favorite Boxing Match of All Time: Sugar Ray vs. Marvin Hagler
Match Would Most LIke to See: Mike Tyson vs. Joe Frazier
Who I Look Up To: Kevin Garnett (NBA Forward)
Person I look up to the most: Mike Criscio
Father of 1 child…little boy… 2 years old…. Prince Chadwick…
Engaged to Crystal …. From New Haven…works for dept of children and families….
