By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 15 KO’s) says he wants to fight next in December, according to an interview by Greg Leon at boxingtalk.com. We don’t know who Pascal’s next opponent will be right now, because he doesn’t seem eager to fight a rematch with American Chad Dawson, whom he beat by an 11 round technical decision last Saturday night in Montreal, Canada. Pascal controlled much of the fight due to Dawson’s strange reluctance to let his hands go. However, Dawson showed his worth in the 11th round when he suddenly started pounding Pascal, and had him in bad trouble. Pascal was able to save the day when his head collided with Dawson’s right eyelid, opening up a huge gash that gushed blood everywhere.

The referee stopped the action and walked Dawson over to the ringside doctor and the fight was stopped. We’ll never know whether Dawson would have stopped Pascal in that round or the next one because of the cut and the quick stoppage. It was great that Pascal was able to win many of the other rounds of the fight, but he looked like he was about to be stopped in the 11th by Dawson. That beautiful head butt saved the day, as did the quick stoppage by the ringside doctor.

Pascal will have to fight Dawson again because Chad had a rematch clause in his contract. But Pascal will get one fight before then. HBO and most boxing fans want to see Pascal fight Bute next, but for some reason Pascal doesn’t seem really psyched about the prospects of fighting Bute. Instead, Pascal has mentioned Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe as fighters he’d like to mix it up with. The chances of either of those fights happening are slim, and even if Pascal could fight someone like Hopkins, it probably wouldn’t make the same kind of money he could make in a fight against Bute. Pascal needs to show some interest in that fight and try to make it happen.

He probably won’t win, but it would still be a good fight for Pascal to take. There’s no shame in getting beaten by a fighter like Bute. Pascal can always hang around and try to pick off one of the light heavyweight champions afterwards like Jurgen Brahmer, the WBO light heavyweight champion or WBA champion Beibut Shumenov. There’s a good chance that Pascal can beat one of those guys unless he runs out of gas or gets tapped on the chin like he was by Dawson in the 11th.