By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) is hoping that 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) agrees to fight him next after hearing news that Hopkins’ promoter Richard Schaefer is looking for a way out of the Dawson fight. In an ESPN interview, Schaefer said that he will “look for contract loopholes” for Hopkins to fight someone else other than Dawson.

The thing of it was that Dawson was supposed to have fought Jean Pascal in a rematch. Dawson had a clause in his contract for his first fight with Pascal stating that he gets a rematch if he loses. But the WBC ordered Pascal to fight a rematch with Hopkins after the two fought to a draw. Dawson was then put on the undercard with the understanding that he would be getting the winner of the Hopkins-Pascal II fight.

But now that Hopkins has beaten Pascal, we’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen next. Hopkins hasn’t said anything about who he’ll be fighting next, but Schaefer’s comments to ESPN seems to suggest that he’s looking to match Hopkins with someone else rather than Dawson.

Dawson said this about the situation: “You’re also a person of your word, so I look forward to facing you later this year.”

It would be a huge disappointment if Hopkins were to fight someone else and leave Dawson out in the cold. Dawson is one of the best fighters in the light heavyweight division right now, and he’s perhaps even the top guy. For Hopkins to bypass that fight for a fight against IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute or against someone else, it seems kind of unfair to Dawson if he was supposed to be the one that Hopkins was supposed to be fighting next.