Hopkins wins right to choose location of rematch with Pascal
It will, more than likely, come down to which venue offers the largest site fee. But if the money is in any way comparable, Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins knows what his choice would be to stage his May 21 rematch with WBC light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal.
It will, more than likely, come down to which venue offers the largest site fee. But if the money is in any way comparable, Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins knows what his choice would be to stage his May 21 rematch with WBC light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal.
When the two first met, on Dec. 18 in Quebec City, the Haitian-born Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs), who resides in a Montreal suburb, retained his title on a controversial majority draw over Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KOs). Two judges had the bout even, with the third judge scoring it for the Philadelphian.
"If it were up to me, I'd drag Pascal's butt to Atlantic City, to Boardwalk Hall," Hopkins said. "Some of my greatest performances, my most historic performances, were in Atlantic City. And Atlantic City needs the CPR from a fight like this to bring its boxing life back. I think they'd be glad to have the fight there.
"I fought the last fight in Pascal's country. Let him come here this time. We won the purse bid, so we get to call the shots."
By virtue of its higher purse bid, Hopkins' promotional company, Golden Boy, won the right to select the site for the rematch. The first fight drew a very loud, very pro-Pascal crowd of 16,000-plus to the Pepsi Center. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer's sealed bid of $1,911,500 topped the bid of $1,752,000 submitted by Yvon Michel, who promotes Pascal.
According to WBC rules, the champion receives 55 percent of the winning purse bid, while the challenger gets 45 percent. That means that Pascal would be guaranteed no less than $1,051,321 to $860,175 for Hopkins. But because HBO, which will televise the fight, is putting more money into the pot than Golden Boy, Hopkins is assured of a significantly higher payday.
The only possible snag to the fight's happening is that Pascal is certain to seek financial concessions from Michel, besides what he is guaranteed, because Hopkins will get more than the purse bid. If he can't come to terms, he likely would be stripped of the championship, and Hopkins would face Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KOs) for the vacated title.
Besides Atlantic City, Schaefer said, Quebec City, Montreal, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia are being considered at this time.
"I think we should have a site finalized in the next couple of weeks," Schaefer said from Los Angeles, location of Golden Boy's headquarters. "I could see the fight happening in Los Angeles. I met with Bernard last week when he was here for the NBA All-Star Game. When he made his historic 20th middleweight title defense [a unanimous decision over England's Howard Eastman on Feb. 19, 2005], it was at the Staples Center, and it drew very well."
Hopkins, who turned 46 on Jan. 15, is seeking to supplant George Foreman as the oldest fighter to win a widely recognized world title in any weight class. Among his more notable victories are dominating points nods over Kelly Pavlik and Antonio Tarver in Boardwalk Hall. *