Perturbed Pascal calls Dawson "a champion by accident"

Former WBC lightheavyweight titleholder Jean Pascal was fighting mad during this Q&A interview moments after he had left Saturday night's post-fight press conference at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Pascal had been at ringside earlier in the evening as Chad Dawson  won the RING and WBC belts by technical knockout over 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KOs), this after referee Pat Russell ruled that Hopkins could no longer continue after having been slammed to the canvas by Dawson (31-1, 17 KOs) and claiming an injury that was later diagnosed to be a left shoulder separation.

Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs), of Canada, already had endured a rough 24 rounds with Hopkins, battling through a disputed draw in December of last year before being dethroned by Hopkins in May following a unanimous decision loss that made Hopkins the oldest man to win a significant title belt.

Pascal still was WBC titleholder in August of last year, when he vanquished Dawson by 11th-round technical decision after an accidental clash of heads caused a cut over Pascal's eye and forced the verdict to be determined by the judges' cards.

During Saturday night's post-fight press conference, however, Pascal had to listen to Dawson not only bragging about having beaten Hopkins, but also, claiming that Pascal "lost twice to a 46-year-old man."

Dawson further insisted that he was on the way to scoring a knockout againts Pascal before their fight ended. Dawson ruled out a rematch with Hopkins and demanded one of Pascal, even saying he would finish the job he started by stopping Pascal the second time around.

Dawson rebounded from the loss to Pascal with May's unanimous decision over former titleholder Adrian Diaconu, whom Pascal had twice vanquished by unanimous decision in June and December of 2009.

Dawson's questioning of his heart was particularly troublesome to Pascal, considering the fact that he overcame Dianconu in their second meeting by scores of 117-111, on two judges cards and 118-110 on that of the third despite having severely damaged his right shoulder during the fight.

Pascal's injury required surgery to repair it a couple days after the bout, which forced three separate reschedulings of the original date for Pascal's defense against Dawson.

A steamed Pascal spoke to RingTV.com from Los Angeles via the the cellular phone of his promoter, Yvon Michel, in Los Angeles.