By Dan Ambrose: WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) will be facing 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KO’s) in an important rematch on May 21st at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The two fighters previously fought last year in December in a fight that ended in a unsatisfying 12 round draw where neither fighter proved to be the better than the other.

Oh, of course, Hopkins felt that he should have won the fight but his argument for victory was taken away from him by him getting dropped twice in the fight. This time Hopkins has got to stay on his feet if he wants to be able to win the fight and not bellyache about it afterwards. Also on the same chard will be a fight between former WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO’s) going up against 32-year-old Romanian and light heavyweight contender Adrian Diaconu (27-2, 15 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout.

The fight is important for a number of reasons. First of all, if Dawson beats Diaconu, he gets to face the winner of the Hopkins-Pascal fight. And secondly, Dawson may be the best fighter of the bunch despite getting beaten recently by Pascal. Dawson has the best physical tools of the bunch and he’s got a new trainer in Emanuel Steward, who has made a number of changes to the 6’1″ Dawson’s fighting style making him use his height, reach and jab much more than he did before.

Dawson is reportedly throwing more combinations and is looking very impressive. He already had amazing skills before Steward but had problems with his work rate and in his ability to use the tools that he had going for him like his fast hands and excellent jab. Steward has made changes to Dawson’s game the same way that Steward changed IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s game to make him use his height and reach more. Dawson should easily beat the shorter 5’9″ Diaconu and then be waiting for the winner for the Hopkins vs. Pascal fight to take him on.

Hopkins was able to get the better of Pascal in much of their last fight by simply out-working Pascal. Hopkins stayed aggressive throughout and put a lot of pressure on Pascal, forcing him to work harder than he was used to. Pascal hurt himself in the fight by trying to beat Hopkins by pot-shotting him. That kind of approach was doomed for failure because Hopkins was able to rest his weary 46-year-old bones with Pascal’s lack of activity and was able to dictate the pace of the fight. If Pascal has any hopes of beating Hopkins on May 21st, he’s going to have to make Hopkins work harder than he wants to and tire him out.