Filed under: WBC, IBF, Golden Boy Promotions, Boxing Rumors, HBO, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive
Golden Boy Promotions' CEO Richard Schaefer has informed FanHouse that WBC President Jose Sulaiman will order an immediate rematch in response to Schaefer's pending protest of Saturday night's Showtime televised majority draw between WBC light heavyweight (175 pounds) king Jean Pascal (pictured above, at left) of Canada, and, Bernard Hopkins (pictured above, at right), of Philadelphia.
"I talked to Jose Sulaiman, and I talked to our attorney, Steven Espinoza, and we are filing a protest with the WBC. And Jose Sulaiman has told me that he will order an immediate rematch and that Pascal will have to fight Bernard Hopkins next," said Schaefer, during a call to FanHouse on Saturday night from Quebec, adding that he would request that the return bout take place somewhere other than in Canada.
"I'll tell you that we're not going to come back to Canada with Canadian judges and a Canadian referee because it's a no-win situation. We might as well not come here. It's unfortunate that it is like that, but it is like that," said Schaefer, who was not pleased with Michael Griffin's officiating. "As we were walking out and making our way up to the post-fight press conference, even the Canadian fans were telling Bernard Hopkins that he had won the fight."
Contested before Pascal's partisan fans at Pepsi Colesium in Quebec City, Quebec, Pascal-Hopkins ended in controversy, even as the 45-year-old Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 knockouts) appeared to have successfully negated knockdowns in the first and third rounds by thoroughly out-boxing the 28-year-old Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs).
American judge Steve Morrow had it for Hopkins, 114-112, but Canadian official Jean Claude Paquette and Belgian official Daniel Van de Wiele scored it even, respectively, at 113-113, and, 114-114.
FanHouse had it for Hopkins, 115-111.
Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins Round-by-Round
"That Belgian judge, you know, he's got a lot of explaining to do because that is the judge who scored the 10th round 10-to-10, even, while all of the other judges had it a 10-to-9 in favor of Bernard," said Schaefer. "So, you know, I think that there is a lot of explaining to do there from judge Van de Wiele."
Pascal was coming off of August's HBO-televised, 11th-round technical unanimous decision victory over previously unbeaten southpaw WBC interim titlist Chad Dawson of New Haven, Conn., that was staged at Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada.
The win over Dawson (29-1, 17 KOs) was the fifth straight for Pascal since losing a unanimous decision to England's Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KOs) in December 2008 for the WBC's vacant super middleweight (168 pounds) crown.
Hopkins, who turns 46 on January 15, was looking to dethrone Pascal and become the oldest fighter in the history of the sport to win a significant world title -- 38 days older than when 45-year-old George Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round on November 5, 1994, to become the eldest man to win a heavyweight crown.
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