DAN RAFAEL: MONTREAL -- When I hit the town Thursday to cover Saturday night's rematch between light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and former champ Bernard Hopkins, I had a chance to chat at length with promoters Richard Schaefer and Gary Shaw, both of whom are involved in the show. In addition to Pascal-Hopkins, Schaefer and Shaw are involved in trying to finalize a deal between junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan (with Schaefer's Golden Boy Promotions) and Timothy Bradley Jr. (with Shaw -- until his contract runs out this summer). They have so far been unable to close a deal for the July 23 HBO fight because Bradley has balked at Shaw's minimum guarantee of $1.3 million against 80 percent of their side's profits, so Schaefer has been talking to other opponents. However, Khan apparently really, really, really wants the fight. Schaefer told me Khan authorized him to make it a straight 50-50 deal. Under the original proposal (which was fair), they would split everything 50-50, except Khan would keep his British pay-per-view money. This week, Schaefer said Khan told him to give Bradley's side 50 percent of the U.K. TV money, too -- even though we all know Bradley is no draw whatsoever and adds little to the pay-per-view in terms of real money. That's how badly Khan wants the fight. Shaw told me Schaefer had indeed made him that offer. Shaw also said he raised his minimum guarantee to Bradley to $1.4 million (a career high by $200,000) against 80 percent of the profits his side would receive. Yet according to both promoters, the Bradley camp has not yet accepted -- and Shaw and Schaefer are somewhat stunned. If what they say is accurate, I am, too. The alternative opponents Schaefer is discussing are Marcos Maidana (in a rematch), Robert Guerrero, Zab Judah and Erik Morales. HBO would accept all of them in place of Bradley if it had no other choice, and frankly, any would likely do better ratings and generate better gates than Bradley. I think all four are probably better fights inside the ring. Khan would also make more money against any of them because he would have to pay them less than the incredible offer on the table for Bradley. But Khan wants to prove he is the best at 140 pounds, so he is putting his money where his mouth is. Will Bradley, the one who called out Khan in the first place, do the same? It's always fun to hang at the fight hotel bar. Late Thursday, I sat with Shaw and Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz. They were talking about a possible lightweight fight between Antonio DeMarco, who Shaw promotes, and Jorge Linares, who is with Golden Boy. That's a pretty nice fight. Schaefer mentioned he'd talked to Showtime's Ken Hershman and that the target date to reschedule the final of the network's four-man bantamweight tournament between titleholder Joseph Agbeko, whose case of sciatica caused the fight to be postponed in April, and Abner Mares is Aug. 13. Cross your fingers. Schaefer also told me Erislandy Lara, who is with Golden Boy, could be the one to get the call to fight Paul Williams on July 9 after HBO rescinded its approval of Nobuhiro Ishida as his opponent after the match was crushed by fans and media alike. Williams-Lara ain't much better, folks. Lara looked awful in his last fight in a March draw with Carlos Molina on ESPN2. Hopkins mentioned to a few writers at the gym for his final workout on Thursday that his wife is pregnant and due with their second child in about a month. I have a feeling that if it's a boy, he won't be named Donovan
