Dawson to fight Pascal, then Bute?

Gary Shaw says this is a possibility, and he's not afraid to put his guys in tough.

Just a blurb from Dan Rafael today, no mention of date or weights, just that Dawson/Bute could happen in Montreal after Dawson/Pascal, provided Chad wins.


________
"The Jean Pascal-Chad Dawson fight has been delayed for the third time. Dawson promoter Gary Shaw said it's also the last time. The light heavyweight title bout was slated for April but delayed to June, then July and now to Aug. 14 in Montreal.

The reason: to allow Pascal ample time to recover from shoulder surgery following an injury suffered Dec. 11 in a rematch against Adrian Diaconu. Shaw said the deal was agreed to this week. "HBO made it very clear to Yvon Michel [Pascal's promoter] that there were no other cancellations," Shaw said.

"Aug. 14 is the date. It's in stone. According to Yvon, Pascal wants Dawson badly and doesn't want to duck him and wants to be on the pound-for-pound list, and doesn't believe he can be if he doesn't beat Dawson. Yvon said he's going to start training in May, but we agreed to move the fight to August just to make sure he has enough time.

So Chad will wait. He wants the biggest fights he can get and Pascal is a big fight. If he beats Pascal, maybe we'll come back [to Montreal] and fight [super middleweight titlist and Montreal star] Lucian Bute."

[url]http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/notebook/_/id/4966812/devon-alexander-not-letting-praise-get-head[/url]

 

I have the same concern, but HBO is heavily invested in Dawson and has a relationship with Bute as well, and truly there don't appear to be many big non-PPV fights for HBO to deliver this year.

The network has backed off heavies, is out of the picture for the time being at 168, has Pavlik at 160 and then Berto and the younger guys who can't yet command big purses. Cotto is a guy they've spent money on, but Dawson/Bute probably makes more sense than Cotto/Foreman as an investment vehicle given Cotto's decline and Foreman's inability to become a star.

All this assumes Chad can beat Pascal, and he may need to beat him in impressive and exciting fashion for the interest to build appropriately. Wish we didn't have to wait until August to get the ball rolling.