By Dan Ambrose” The WBC recently decided to force WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) to fight an immediate rematch with 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KO’s) rather than allowing Pascal to fight Chad Dawson, who Pascal was supposed to be fighting next due to the rematch clause they have in their contract from their fight on August 14th in 2010. The World Boxing Council decided to push that fight to the side by forcing Pascal to fight Hopkins immediately rather than making him wait his turn.

Hopkins failed to beat Pascal in their fight on December 18th, getting knocked down twice by Pascal and having to settle for a 12 round draw. Although many people saw Hopkins as the winner of the fight, it’s pretty clear that anytime a challenger is knocked down twice by a champion, he’s going to have problems trying to win a decision. That’s Hopkins’ fault and it seems wrong that the WBC is getting involved and saying that Pascal has to give Hopkins an immediate rematch.

Dawson has a contract with Pascal and because of that, it’s going to open Pascal up to a lawsuit if he follows the directions by the WBC and fights Hopkins. It’s pretty much forcing Pascal to vacate the title or else having it stripped from him when Pascal fights Dawson, unless Dawson and his team decide not to push the fight and hope to take on the winner of the Pascal-Hopkins II fight. However, that probably won’t fly because Hopkins is already talking about fighting Lucian Bute if he beats Pascal in the rematch instead of moving on to face Dawson. T

hat leaves Dawson out in the cold with a poor option of fighting Pascal after he gets beaten by Hopkins. Who would want to watch a fight between Pascal and Dawson then? It wouldn’t be worth it for Dawson, because he would no longer have the opportunity to fight for the WBC title because Hopkins would now have the title, and Hopkins is probably not going to fight him.