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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Lucas Is Choosing Pascal
Against Bute
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL - A fight between the Montrealers Lucian Bute and
Jean Pascal seems inevitable for this year. The only thing
questionable at this point is to know if this great local
match up will happen May 25th or next September. Pascal is
scheduled to give a rematch to Chad Dawson (31-2-0) May 25th
at Bell Centre in Montréal, but the GYM Group and HBO cannot
confirm at this point if this WBC light heavyweight
championship of the world will be cancelled or not.
Last week end, the promoter of the InterBox Group, Jean
Bédard, meet Yvon Michel in Atlantic City. He suggested to
the promoter of the GYM Group to cancel the fight
Pascal-Dawson, and help him to organize a match up between
Pascal (27-2-1) and Bute (31-1-0) as soon as possible. Yvon
Michel is supposed to confirm in the next hours or the next
days if a fight Bute-Pascal will be presented May 25th or
next September.
Michel knows he has to obtain the approval of HBO and the
promoter of Dawson, Gary Shaw, to cancel the fight
Pascal-Dawson. Shaw, apparently, does not like the idea at
all. Two months ago, GYM, Shaw and HBO made an agreement to
present this rematch Pascal-Dawson May 25th in Montréal.
If Shaw or HBO is rejecting the cancellation of the fight
Pascal-Dawson, a fight Pascal-Bute will be scheduled for
next fall. “No matter if the fight Pascal-Bute is organized
In May or in September, I think
Pascal will win,” said Eric Lucas, the former president of
InterBox and a former WBC super middleweight champion of the
world. “I seriously believe Bute has the speed, the stamina
and the technique to beat Pascal, but when these two local
stars will be nose to nose in the ring, I think Pascal will
be the strongest mentally. Pascal is clearly confident to
beat Lucian. And Lucian still affected by his terrible lost
(TKO in less than five rounds) against Carl Froch in
Nottingham. When Lucian fought the Russian Denis Grachev
last November in Montréal, everybody could see that his
confidence was shaky. Lucian was hesitant to react against a
fighter less talented than him (according most of the
Canadian boxing writers, Bute won by only two points). A
Lucian hesitant against Pascal, has no chance to leave the
ring in the winning shoes.”
s training actually in believing he will face Dawson May
25th. It is what he said to a Montreal journalist Thursday.
However, Pascal will respect the decision of the GYM
Group. If Bute is becoming his next opponent, he will be
ready to face him. Several times in three years, Pascal has
challenged publically Bute.
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