By Eric Thomas: Gary Shaw, the promoter for light heavyweight Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KO’s) says that Dawson could possibly fight International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (25-0, 20 KO’s) after Dawson gets through with his August 15th bout against WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. In an article from Dan Rafael of ESPN, he quotes Shaw as saying “He [Dawson] wants the biggest fights he can get and Pascal is a big fight. If he beats Pascal, maybe we’ll come back and fight Lucian Bute.” That sounds like great news if things turn out to be like that.

However, Dawson first has to get by Pascal on August 14th, at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dawson, 27, will be traveling to Canada to fight in the adopted country of Pascal. Fighting in Canada isn’t easy thing for visiting fighters, and often they complain about being shafted as far as trying to get a decision. One would hope that Dawson doesn’t end up losing for the first time by winding up on the wrong side of the score.

However, if he can get by Pascal, then a fight against Bute, another fighter from another country who fights out of Canada, it would be a huge bout. Beyond Pascal, Tavoris Cloud and Bernard Hopkins, Dawson doesn’t have any competition in the light heavyweight division. Hopkins hasn’t shown any interest in fighting Dawson., Cloud is someone that could potentially be a good opponent for Dawson in the future if Cloud can build up his name a little before to make it interesting by attracting a lot of fans.

The super middleweight has a much higher number of talented fighters than the light heavyweight division. Bute is the first of many top super middleweights that Dawson needs to go after in the future if he wants to ensure that he can keep finding good fights. There’s no point in wasting time defending titles against the mostly obscure fighters in the light heavyweight division when the super middleweight division has a number of fighters that have become well known due to the Super Six tournament.

Bute, 30, is a good fighter and has looked good for the most part since capturing the IBF title in 2007. If Dawson can get by Pascal, and Bute beats his next opponent Edison Miranda, then a Dawson-Bute fight could be huge in Canada and in the United States. HBO would likely show the fight, and by the time they do end up fighting each other both Bute and Dawson will be better known to boxing fans.

I see Dawson totally dominating Bute and eventually stopping him by the 10th or 11th rounds. Bute is a hit and run fighter with decent hand speed. However, Dawson is taller, much faster in terms of hand speed and better on defense. I see this as an easy fight for Dawson. My only question is whether Bute and his people would take this fight. I doubt they would because Dawson would be a huge threat to Bute.