By Dan Ambrose: 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KO’s) may think he’s getting an immediate rematch with WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) after the World Boxing Council voted for Pascal to fight Hopkins next, but Pascal’s promoter Yvon Michel is saying that Pascal’s next opponent with be former two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO’s). If so, the WBC will likely strip Pascal of his title because they want him to fight Hopkins in the worst way. It has something to do with bettering the sport or something to that effect.
The winner of the Hopkins-Pascal II fight would then be required to fight Dawson. However, it’s potentially a bad deal for Dawson, because Hopkins has been talking about wanting to fight super middleweight Lucian Bute, and there’s a chance that Hopkins would just vacate the title if he beats Pascal. This would leave Dawson with the less than appealing option of fighting the beaten Pascal for the vacant WBC title.
Few people would likely be excited about that fight. Dawson’s better off fighting Pascal now rather than waiting for Hopkins and Pascal to fight again. It’s strange that the WBC decided to step in and put there two cents in this situation because there’s been plenty of fights that haven’t received immediate rematches that have been much more controversial than the Hopkins-Pascal fight. Hopkins hardly deserved to get the win by being knocked down two times in the fight.
In an article at the Monteal Gazette, Michel said this on the subject of the WBC stripping Pascal if he decides to fight Dawson first instead of Hopkins: “That’s not impossible, although we would appeal. And he would at least still be considered the linear champion along with the Ring Magazine’s champion. We’re waiting on HBO to call the shot. We have a signed agreement with Dawson. Although we would prefer Hopkins, our integrity is at play. I’m not denying that we have a signed contract.”
The problem that Pascal has is that he’s tied into the rematch with Dawson because of his contract with him that they made last year when they fought in August. Dawson wants the rematch as long as HBO is willing to pay the same fee that they did last time Dawson and Pascal fought, which was $2 million. It’s unclear if HBO will do that.
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