Dawson-Pascal II eyed for March 23 on HBO

THE RING and WBC lightheavyweight champion Chad Dawson could get his rematch with former champ Jean Pascal on March 23 on HBO at a site to be determined, according to Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw.

"Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal will be fighting on March 23 on HBO. It's all done," said Shaw, confirming an earlier report by BoxingScene.com.

"Our deal is done with HBO. Our deal is done between [Pascal's promoter] Yvon Michel and myself. We just haven't signed the papers, but it's all done and finished."

Dawson (31-2, 17 KOs) is coming off September's 10th-round knockout loss to RING, WBA and WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward, which followed Dawson's majority decision dethroning the legendary Bernard Hopkins as RING and WBC light heavyweight champ in April.

Dawson lost to Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs) by an 11th-round technical decision in August of 2010 when the fight's result went to the cards after a ringside doctor determined that a cut over one of Dawson's eyes caused by an accidental clash of heads was too severe for the bout to continue.

"Chad's got to redeem himself. This is Chad's chance to come back on HBO and redeem himself at 175," said Shaw of Dawson, who dropped to 168 to face Ward.

"Chad's got some unfinished business with Pascal, because he believes that if the doctor wouldn't have stopped the fight, he would have knocked Pascal out."

Pascal must first get beyond a Dec. 14 clash with Aleksy Kuziemski (23-4, 7 KOs).

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com