Montreal, Thursday June 17 2010 – Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) and Gary Shaw Productions are particularly proud to officially announce that WBC light heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal (25-1-0, 16KO) will make a third defense of his title against undefeated American light heavyweight superstar Chad “Bad” Dawson (29-0-0, 17KO) on Saturday, August 14th at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The highly anticipated event will be broadcast live on HBO as part of their World Championship Boxing series, and will mark the first time ever that the main event of the prestigious series will be aired live from Canada .
This night of championship boxing will be co-promoted by GYM and GSP: “After several discussions we agreed that the best place for this historic fight to take place would be Montreal . Thanks to Gary Shaw we were able to count on HBO’s participation, as they have broadcast all of Chad Dawson’s matches since 2008.. This will be without a doubt the most important boxing event in history in which a fighter from Quebec has participated in the main event” said Yvon Michel, president of GYM.
After Jean Pascal defeated Adrian Diaconu in June 2009, the newly crowned champion stated that the victory was merely the first step towards his ambitious goals. “I will become a unified champion, be considered among the best pound for pound fighters in the world, and get myself a major US television contract!” Today, the flashy puncher from Laval , Quebec is one victory closer to achieving a good number of those very goals. But before he can begin to checking off items from his to-do list, he must first defeat the ultra-talented Chad Dawson, a feat that no one else has yet to accomplish.
Dawson seems to have everything that his new rival has been after for so long. He is ranked the number 6 pound for pound fighter in the world according to “The Bible of Boxing” The Ring magazine, he is a superstar in the United States , holds an HBO contract, and he is an undefeated 2 time world champion. He abandoned his WBC and IBF world titles, choosing to take on adversaries and match ups brought to him by HBO rather than his mandatory challengers at the time, Adrian Diaconu and Tavoris Cloud. At 27 years Old, the same age as Pascal, he is at his physical peak as a fighter, and he has no qualms about taking on the champion in his home town.
Bernard Barré, vice-president of GYM has seen a number of the Connecticut native’s fights. ” Dawson boxes with exceptional speed, intelligence, and technique, and he is always in superb physical condition. He knows his strengths and no one has ever been able to come up with a solution for his style”.
Jean Pascal knows that this time he is the underdog, but he is comfortable in that position: “Things keep moving forward, this is already my third fight as World Champion in under a year. I’m in excellent Health, my shoulder is 100% rehabilitated, and I have unwavering confidence in my abilities and my team. Trust me when I say: I will be ready on August 14th”.
Tickets go on sale this Saturday, June 19th at noon, and will be available at the Bell Centre Box Office (514) 790-2525, 1-877-668-8269, at www.evenko.ca