By Luke Furman

Back in 2013, Adonis Stevenson knocked out Chad Dawson in the first round to capture the WBC light heavyweight world title.

Dawson (34-4, 19 KOs) has not been impressed with Stevenson's reign as champion. Dawson explained that during his own reign he always fought the best available opponents and Stevenson is doing the complete opposite. During his two title runs, Dawson fought Antonio Tarver twice, Bernard Hopkins twice, and Glen Johnson twice.

"Stevenson is not a real world champion. He has only beaten category B boxers since he got his title," Dawson said to the Montreal Journal. "When I owned his belt, I had faced all of the top fighters at the time. I have never taken easy fights. This is what a champion must do. That has not been the case with Stevenson since he beat me."

Dawson is not expecting Stevenson to ever face former champion Sergey Kovalev or current IBF, WBO, WBA champ Andre Ward.

He does explain that Stevenson is not the only party to blame in this situation.

"I do not know what is going on in his head to accept all of this. On the other hand, I believe that the WBC also has some of the blame in this story," Dawson added. "This sanctioning body should have forced him to face his mandatory challengers within a reasonable time. Stevenson could have faced Kovalev, but we know that this fight will never take place. This will be the same for Ward."

Dawson is currently in Montreal, where he is helping Stevenson's mandatory challenger, Eleider Alvarez, prepare for his fight against Lucian Bute - which is scheduled for February 24th. Dawson is preparing for his own return on March 4 against Polish contender Andrzej Fonfara.

"He is very strong physically, he has an excellent jab," said Dawson to the Canadian paper. "To come here, it allows me to have good training partners and to be able to work with Alvarez who is part of the 175-pound elite."

"It also allows me to have a good indication to know where I am in my preparation, because I believe that Alvarez is far superior to Fonfara."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.