"He does so much talking, it starts to aggravate me a little bit. We had some words at the press conference the other day, but nothing serious; nothing that is going to throw me off of my gameplan. Me and Eddie got a gameplan and I'm going to stick to it. The gameplan we got is pretty much set and it can't fail," stated light heavyweight Chad Dawson as he talked about his upcoming October 11th clash with Antonio Tarver. Check out what he had to say about Tarver, the fight and much more.
PC: How is everything going my man?
CD: Everything is going good. It's excellent, it's great and right on schedule.
PC: How has this training camp been for your fight with Antonio Tarver?
CD: Everything is going great; excellent. By far, this is the best training camp I've ever had since I've been out in Las Vegas. I came into the camp already in good shape; not in good shape, but I was pretty much in better shape than I was when I came into my last camp.
PC: You walk around at about what you fight at. Would you ever consider a move down to 168?
CD: I mean, it's a possibility. Last night, I left the gym at 173. It's a possibility, you know what I mean? If the money is right, I could go down there.
PC: You're a pretty mellow dude and Tarver is known for giving his opponents bulletin board material. Has any of his talk gotten under your skin yet?
CD: He does so much talking, it starts to aggravate me a little bit. We had some words at the press conference the other day, but nothing serious; nothing that is going to throw me off of my gameplan. Me and Eddie got a gameplan and I'm going to stick to it. The gameplan we got is pretty much set and it can't fail.
PC: A lot of people feel Tarver has a huge advantage in the experience department over you, but he only has 5 more fights than you and he's 13 years older. Do you feel like his experience won't matter?
CD: He's been in there with Roy Jones Jr., but I think that's the only experience he has over me. He fought and beat Roy Jones Jr. Okay. He fought Glen Johnson and I fought Glen Johnson and h fought Eric Harding and so did I. Frankly, we've fought the same people, he's just older. Like I told him, we'll see what happens on the 11th.
PC: You've been saying he hasn't been looking good in his last 3 fights or so. When was the last time you've been impressed by Tarver?
CD: ShhheeeÂ…the last time I was impressed with Antonio Tarver is when he knocked out Roy Jones Jr. and that was a haymaker that he didn't expect to land. He had his eyes closed. I can't even really say he impressed me in that fight. It was a one-punch knockout. He's never really impressed me. Like 2 or 3 years ago, I was a middleweight. I never thought I would be at light heavyweight getting ready to be in a major fight like this, especially back then, but the time is here and I have to make the best of it.
PC: For the people that don't think 2 southpaws can make for an exciting fight, what type of fight are you expecting?
CD: I'm expecting a great fight. Honestly, I'm expecting Tarver to die out after about 3 or 4 rounds. I don't think he's going to be able to keep up with the pace that I'm going to be fighting at. We watched his last 3 performances and he just lays on the ropes. He's not really exciting. He just looks for that one big punch. Like I said, after 3 or 4 rounds, I think he will die down.
PC: Tarver is used to looking down on opponents, but on the 11th, that's not going to be the case. How much do you think just being eye to eye with Tarver will make a difference in the fight?
CD: That's definitely going to play a big role too. I think, come fight night, he's definitely going to be surprised by my size. I've been training hard and my strength and conditioning coach has been out here for 2 months. I've been working real hard and it's a lot of things that are going to come into play the night of the fight that he's not going to be expecting.
PC: I look forward to speaking with you after the fight. Good luck! Is there anything you want to say in closing?
CD: I just want to thank all of my fans and all of the critics; all of the guys who doubted me and thought that I wouldn't be in this position and all of the people who are doubting me now. They give me the motivation to do what I do and on October 11th, I'm going to put Antonio Tarver away!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]