By William Mackay: Two time WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) is hoping to get a rematch against WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s) after the California Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Council overturned his 2nd round TKO win over Hopkins and ruled the fight a no-contest.

The result is as if the fight never took place in the first place, leaving Hopkins the champion. He was recently ordered by the WBC to give Dawson an immediate rematch, but he’s not likely to do that. His promoter Richard Schaefer doesn’t want the 46-year-old Hopkins to take the rematch, and we’ll likely see Hopkins stripped of his WBC title in the near future if he doesn’t vacate it first.

Dawson would rather pick up the belt in the ring rather than claiming the vacant title with a win over the top contender. It might work out in Dawson’s favor if he’s willing to face the number #2 contender Ismayl Sillakh for the vacant belt. But it remains unclear whether Dawson would want to do that or if Sillakh’s people would want to put him in with such an advanced fighter as Dawson.

Sillakh has been facing 2nd tier opposition his entire short career and Dawson would be a big move up in class. I think Dawson would beat him because he’s a lot better fighter defensively and just too hard hit on a consistent basis.

As for Hopkins, he’s hoping to fight IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in 2012. That’s probably a pipe dream for Hopkins, as he’s not a compelling opponent for Bute, who is looking for bigger names such as Andre Ward, Carl Froch or Mikkel Kessler. Hopkins may need to scout out some of the softer targets at super middleweight or maybe agree to fight WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly, who has strong interest in facing the soon to be 47-year-old Hopkins.