Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal have agreed to fight Aug. 14 in Montreal on HBO, said Gary Shaw, Dawson's promoter.
The fight, for Pascal's light heavyweight belt, was expected to take place June 19 but Pascal reportedly needs more time to recover from a shoulder injury he suffered in his last fight against Adrian Diaconu.
Dawson, No. 8 in THE RING magazine's pound-for-pound ratings and No. 1 at 175 poundsis coming of an impressive one-sided decision over veteran Glen Johnson in November for an interim title.
The two-time 175-pound titleholder from New Haven, Conn., might be facing his biggest test. Pascal, a Haitian-born Canadian, is at his peak and fighting in his home country.
Pascal(25-1, 16 knockouts) has won four straight since he lost a decision to Carl Froch in 2008. THE RING's No. 4 light heavyweight outpointed Diaconu last June to win his belt, stopped Silvio Branco and then outpointed Diaconu again with a dislocated shoulder.
Shaw thinks Pascal will bring out the best in Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs).
"It's a spectacular fight," he said. "And a tough fight. We're really going into enemy territory. There'll be, what, 16,000, 17,000 Canadians there rooting against us. I think Pascal will make Chad fight, like Glen Johnson did."
http://www.ringtv.com/blog/1683/dawsonpascal_set_for_aug_14/
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