By Dan Ambrose: Instead of fighting an immediate rematch with 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins, World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KO’s) will go ahead and face former two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO’s) in his next fight.

Pascal defeated Dawson in August 2010, beating him by an 11th round technical decision after Dawson was cut from a head butt while rallying to try and score a knockout. Dawson had a rematch clause with Pascal, and he intends on using it.

The question about whether the Pascal-Dawson rematch would occur boiled down to whether HBO would be interested in showing the fight, and how much money the two fighters would get. According to boxingtalk.com, the fight will be happening next so presumably those questions have been answered.

Pascal looked less than impressive in his recent fight against Hopkins on December 18th last month. Pascal started off well, knocking the older Hopkins down twice in the first three rounds. However, Pascal then grew cautious and stopped letting his hands go. This allowed Hopkins to get back in the fight and take control of the bout during the home stretch.

However, the two knockdowns were ultimately too much for Hopkins to overcome and he had to settle for the 12 round majority draw. Pascal did just enough to keep the fight even during the second half of the fight. Both Pascal and Hopkins want a rematch, but the rematch with Dawson will have to come first. As long as Pascal defeats Dawson, which isn’t a sure thing, boxing fans could be seeing a rematch between Pascal and Hopkins.

It will be interesting to see if Hopkins is eager to face Dawson if he winds up beating Pascal. Dawson is a much different type of fighter than Pascal, and the things that worked for Hopkins against Pascal might not work against the more defensively skilled Dawson. I would be surprised if Hopkins were to agree to fight Dawson. He’s bigger, faster, better skilled on defense than Hopkins. And with his new trainer Emanuel Steward, Dawson might be too much for Hopkins to handle at his ripe age.