According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBC/Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will take on former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight king Bernard Hopkins on December 18th in Quebec City, Canada
“We agreed on everything,” Hopkins said. “There is no issue. There is no problem with my side or Pascal’s side. The contracts have been drafted. It’s a done deal. All I gotta do is sign.”
Hopkins said he is reviewing the contract, but “I’ll probably sign it before Friday because the [Labor Day] holiday is coming up and I’m going away for a few days.”
Said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, Hopkins’ promoter, “The fact is that both sides have agreed to the terms. Now we have to get it signed, but I don’t anticipate any problems.
“Both fighters really wanted the fight. If you have two fighters who really want to fight each other then I think the promoters just have to cross the T’s and dot the I’s. I am excited to work with [Pascal promoter] Yvon Michel. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“It’s a big fight for Pascal and a big fight in Quebec,” Said Don Majeski who is the agent for Pascal. “Hopkins is one of the biggest stars in boxing and those are the kind of fights Pascal wants.”
“It could be live on Showtime. We’re having discussions,” Schaefer said. “Or it could be pay-per-view.”
“It’s a crossroads fight. It doesn’t get more crossroads than this one,” Schaefer said. “You have the young guy coming off the biggest win of his career and he’s at an all-time high. Can he beat another star like he did with Dawson? Then you have Hopkins, the experienced veteran wanting to again turn back the clock. Can he do it again and beat an emerging star like he’s done before? It’s a fascinating fight.”
Hopkins, who made a record 20 middleweight title defenses, won the lineal light heavyweight title against Tarver and lost it on a split decision to Joe Calzaghe in 2008. Regaining it is important to Hopkins.
“I need it around my waist,” Hopkins said. “This fight will prove to the world that I am not done.
“I hold no malice or bad feelings to those who are concerned about me, but I’ve always been a son of a bitch when it comes to rising up to the occasion. This for me is the type of fight where I have to top what I’ve done before. I want to keep giving them something where they can’t understand how I’m doing it.”
“I was going through my memory and I had a conversation with [trainer] Naazim [Richardson] and we got stuck on just [two] guys,” Hopkins said of heavyweight George Foreman and light heavyweight Archie Moore.
“It’s a very short list of the guys who’ve done that, so that’s one of my motivations,” Hopkins said. “To make that happen and to add it on top of all the other unusual things I have done in my career, it’s very motivating to me.”
“I have no problem going to Canada,” he said. “I suggested we go to Canada based on the fans that Pascal has up there. And the Canadians have been making a lot of noise lately with [super middleweight titlist Lucian] Bute and Pascal.”
Hopkins, of Philadelphia, has not fought outside the United States since 1994, when he received a draw against hometown fighter Segundo Mercado in a vacant middleweight title bout in Quito, Ecuador.
“I’d rather be fighting in Canada than Ecuador,” Hopkins said.
