Prediction: There won’t be a Dawson vs. Pascal rematch, because Jean will lose his next fight

By Eric Thomas: A disappointed Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO’s) spoke to Larry Merchant after Saturday’s 11 round technical decision loss to World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KO’s) at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada. Dawson, 28, said he has a rematch clause for his fight with Pascal and is under the impression that he’ll be back in the ring to try and avenge his controversial loss. I don’t see that happening. Pascal, 27, will be allowed to fight one fight before the rematch with Dawson, and there’s little question that Pascal will take a big money fight against IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, who like Pascal, is another Canadian based fighter. I wish I could see Pascal beating Bute, but I can’t.

Pascal looked horrible in the one round (the 11th) where Dawson let his hands go and looked to be in deep, deep trouble until the magical head butt occurred. Even then, Dawson still had a chance to finish off the hurt Pascal but the ringside doctor made a quick stoppage of the fight for some reason. With Pascal badly hurt, looking like he was about to get knocked out, the ringside doctor put a stop to the fight. Those are things that saved Pascal from what appeared to be almost certain knockout.

Had the head butt not occurred and had the ringside not compounded the problem by stopping the fight, Pascal would have been incredibly lucky to make it out of the round. I’m not even talking about the 12th. I don’t think Pascal would have made it out of the 11th. As things are, if Pascal faces Bute, who has even better offensive skills than Dawson, I see it as an easy fight for Bute. He won’t let up once he starts pounding Pascal and that rope-a-dope strategy that Pascal was using against Dawson, would be his downfall against Bute. With Pascal likely getting knocked out by Bute, I doubt Gary Shaw, Dawson’s promoter, will see any point in Dawson fighting Pascal again. Why would he? Without a title and coming off a stoppage loss to Bute, there would be no point in fighting Pascal.