Bute-Pascal signed for May 25

Former light heavyweight champ Jean Pascal will face ex-super middleweight titleholder Lucian Bute in an all-Canadian clash at a venue and on a network to be determined, but likely on HBO.

The announcement was made by Pascal's promoter, Yvon Michel, and Bute's representative Jean Bedard, of Interbox, on Friday.

Their deal has apparently trumped a proposed HBO-televised rematch between Pascal (27-2-1, 16 knockouts) and RING and WBC 175-pound champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KOs) that was slated for the same date at Bell Centre in Montreal.

"This fight will mark an historic moment for boxing in Canada," said Michel. "Emotions will be high, and the memories will be engraved in the collective memory forever."

Bute (31-1, 24 KOs) is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over previously unbeaten Denis Grachev last November, which helped him to rebound from last May's fifth-round knockout loss to Froch that dethroned him as IBF titleholder. 

Pascal is coming off a unanimous-decision triumph over Aleksy Kuziemski last December that helped him to rebound from the unanimous-decision loss to Bernard Hopkins in May of 2011.

"This is the fight that everyone has been waiting for, even the casual fan. It was an honor to help finalize it," said Bedard.

"All parties were anxious to reach an agreement and now boxing fans across the World can expect a spectacular show on May 25."

Bute-Pascal is likely to be part of a split-site double-header on HBO that would include a rematch between IBF super middleweight titleholder Carl Froch Froch (30-2, 22 KOs) and Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KOs) in Britain.

Kessler dethroned Froch as WBC beltholder by unanimous decision in a bloody battle that was part of Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic in April of 2010.

Meanwhile, Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, informed RingTV.com that he is working with Michel to match his fighter against hard-hitting super middleweight contender Adonis Stevenson (19-1, 16 KOs) on June 8 on HBO.

In August of 2010, Pascal defeated Dawson by unanimous technical decision after the fight went to the scorecards as a result of an accidental clash of heads that caused a cut over Dawson's eye.

Dawson is coming off September's 10th-round stoppage loss to RING super middleweight champ Andre Ward, who floored Dawson three times.

"I'm not done working out my arrangements with Yvon Michel," said Shaw. "I'm trying to do a contract with him to fight on HBO on June 8 againest Stevenson. But we're still working on it. The WBC has to approve it."

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