By Dan Ambrose: If 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins wants a rematch with WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, Hopkins is going to have to wait in line behind former two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, who’s next in line for a fight against Pascal.

Dawson was defeated by an 11th round technical decision in August by Pascal. Dawson, however, had a rematch clause for that fight. Since it doesn’t look like the WBC is going to force Pascal to give Hopkins an immediate rematch, it means that Hopkins is going to have to wait for Pascal to fight Dawson before he gets his 2nd shot against Dawson.

And as bad as Pascal looked in the 2nd part of the fight against Hopkins, I can see Dawson beating Pascal. This would mean that Hopkins would have to make a decision whether he wants to take on Dawson or move on and look for someone else like Lucian Bute, Andre Ward or even David Haye.

Hopkins would likely have big problems with the hand speed, movement and defensive skills of Dawson. He’s a lot different type of fighter than Pascal. I can see Hopkins being reduced to taking shots on the outside and not being able to brawl with Dawson.

If I’m Hopkins, I’d forget all about trying to get a rematch with Pascal, because too much time will have transpired by the time Hopkins gets his shot and the chances are too high that it won’t be Pascal who will be the World Boxing Council champion after next year, it will be Dawson. Like I said, that’s a bad match-up for the aging Hopkins, who turned 46 on January 15th next month.

Hopkins is better off just claiming victory for his 12 round draw with Pascal and then moving on. It can only get worse the second time around, and there probably won’t be a second time unless Hopkins wants to fight Pascal after he loses to Dawson. In that case, Hopkins would be getting sloppy seconds.