Cloud-Pascal? Not happening

Negotiations for an HBO-televised bout featuring IBF light heavyweight titleholder Tavoris Cloud and ex-beltholder Jean Pascal, originally targeted for Dec. 17 at a venue to be determined, have ended without a deal, Pascal's promoter, Yvon Michel, told RingTV.com on Thursday.

"Look, I went to Florida to discuss with [Cloud's promoter] Don King about that possibility, and he was supposed to call me back sometime this week, and I had had the impressions that things were going well, and that we were not too far apart on closing a deal," said Michel.

"But I spoke with [HBO's Senior Vice President of Sports] Kery Davis, who had said that he got a call from Don King, who said that he does not want to do a Pascal fight with Tavoris Cloud because I'm not giving him options on Pascal. And I'm not going to give options on Pascal."

Up until the recent development, Michel had said that negotiations had been going well with King, adding that there was "a great deal of interest" among King and HBO officials, and that the prospect of Cloud-Pascal coming to fruition looked "very promising."

Michel said that King had told him that he might first have Cloud (23-0, 19 knockouts) defend his title on the Oct. 15 Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson card on HBO pay per view, possibly as a split-site doubleheader.

Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KOs) dethroned Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs) in May after having battled to a draw against him in December of last year.

Prior to facing Hopkins, Pascal defeated Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs) by an 11th-round technical decision in August of last year.

"Jean Pascal's value is much higher than Cloud's. Pascal has got a market, and he already has a proven record," said Michel.

"So if he doesn't want to do a fight like a fight, like at 50-50, then we will go and do something else. We have an option, I will sit down and talk to Jean Pascal about it, and then, we will make a decision."

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