Scully has been hidden away in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, preparing Chad Dawson for his light heavyweight title bout against Bernard Hopkins on Oct. 15 on HBO Pay-Per-View at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Hopkins s, himself, is one of the sport?s legends and is trained by Naazim Richardson, who is widely acknowledged as one of the game?s finest.
Dawson was trained his last time out by Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward, who was brought in following Dawson?s surprising Aug. 14, 2010, loss in Montreal to Jean Pascal. Dawson is clearly a major talent, but he hadn?t looked like himself since drubbing Antonio Tarver in Las Vegas on May 9, 2009.
And while he?s not going to get elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame solely on the basis of his performance against Adrian Diaconu in May, Steward?s influence was clearly seen. Dawson was in better shape, more motivated to fight and seemed to adapt easily to Steward?s teaching.
Dawson, though, can be mercurial, which is probably why he?s been through a string of top trainers, including Floyd Mayweather Sr., Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Steward, among others.
Scully, who trained Dawson for three fights in 2004 and 2005, had heard all the stories about how Dawson was recalcitrant and how he was indifferent in training. He never saw that side of Dawson before, and swears he hasn?t seen it since he was rehired.
?I?ve never seen that side of him, ever,? Scully said. ?Is it there? Who knows? People talk about that, but I haven?t seen it. Whatever problems he had with anyone else, being hard to deal with, not training, not working, I didn?t see it. The first day, I was curious. He became a big star after he left me and became famous and all that and I kind of wondered whether he?d think he was above me in a sense, and not listen.?
