BoxRec

I would like to know how good is former lightweight & welterweight contender Freddie Dawson who fought Ike Williams for the world lightweight title? What was his style?

Did anyone watch his fight films if anyone know if he was a slugger?

..i don't remember ever seeing freddie dawson fight.....but i did talk about him a bit with george "sugar" costner. they fought to a draw, which most obervers thought costner had won. george told me he was mostly a boxer, good speed . the funniest stories were his about dawson and ike williams. dawson had given ike some close fights...one might have been a draw...another a majority decision. (boxrec should have the full record). costner said dawson was sure that williams had carried him those fights, for some reason wanting him to be a challenger for ike's title. there may have been "connections" here who really wanted that match, anyway, costner said "freddie was so afraid of ike he almost turned as white as you are (meaning me). the first time they fought ike beat the hell out of him and knocked him out. so....the others might have been 'business'. ike was really mean. he scared damn near everybody but me." when dawson got the title shot, he mostly ran, but he was clever so he could make it look competitive by moving in and out. again, there was talk that williams had the handcuffs on just a bit in that one.

again, while i don't think i saw him fight, i read a lot about him...he was busy, fought in both lightweight and welter divisions and he was mostly a boxer, and a pretty good one. his kayo numbers are low, but from time to time he showed power and hurt and knocked out some good opposition. my own opinion was that he was a safety first fighter who was content to outbox his opponents and not take chances if he could avoid. costner said he could be hard to hit .

damn....now i've got myself interested and i'll check out boxrec myself.

anyway, i hope the second hand report from one who knew and fought him provides some answer to your questions.

Dawson was one of the top lightweights of the 40s and 50s. Unfortunately he peaked around the same time that Ike Williams peaked and as good as Dawson was, Williams was better! Dawson really made his mark in Australian boxing as he defeated the best that Australia had to offer, which was a very good crop of fighters...especially Vic Patrick. Boxing had a slew of top-notch lightweights and welterweights during the time that Dawson fought and Freddie beat a lot of those fighters, but Williams had his number, much the same way that he had other fighters' number. In a different era Dawson would have been lightweight champ.