In the much anticipated rematch of the top names in the 175-pound division, the undefeated Dawson carried the Jamaican on a merry chase around the ring, the southpaw steadily picking up points by picking off Johnson with jabs occasionally combined with straight right hands. It mattered little that the strategy drained much of the drama from the bout, and drew occasional boos from the half-filled XL Center which contained mostly Dawson's home state supporters.

"I don't let that bother me," he said of the jeers. "I wanted to outbox him."

But Dawson proved once again that boxing is all about hitting and not getting hit, and while Johnson suffered no major visible damage to his body, except a small cut above his left eye, the three judges' assessment offered enough incriminating evidence to prove the 40-year-old veteran of 49 wins and two draws had suffered his 13th defeat.

Two scored the fight 115 to 113 for Dawson. The third had the American ahead by 117 to 111.

CompuBox, which tallies punches, also showed Johnson had not done enough - not with jabs crucial to building up points, nor landed power shots which cause the most damage. Dawson had proved too elusive.

"He was moving a lot," Johnson said in his dressing room shortly after the fight. "keeping me off balance a little bit, and when I get on the inside he was slipping me very good."

His handlers also admitted Dawson's execution was nearly flawless. While they knew the American would try to stay away from Johnson's power, which earned him 33 career knockouts, they believed the challenger could counter effectively. That plan hardly left the drawing board, due to the 27-year-old Dawson's speed - in hands and feet - and Johnson's inability to match it.

"We know he was gonna run, actually run, and you see it, he was running," said Hamlet McKenzie, Johnson's Jamaican-born assistant trainer. "But then you need to use your legs to get up and bang into the body and slow him down. But Johnson wasn't doing that."