Don King Wants Cloud vs Pascal, But Pascal Could Face Erdei

Promoter Don King would love to match his fighter, IBF light heavyweight titleholder Tavoris Cloud, with former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, and says he's willing to go to Quebec to do it. From Ryan Burton:

King said that he has no problem with the fight taking place in Pascal's backyard but that the fight deserved main event treatment.  King said, "Cloud and Pascal is not an undercard fight.  They deserve to be the main event.  Cloud is a champion and Pascal is a former champion.  They should be the main event.  We have no issues in bringing the fight to Canada. That is where we can bring a good gate."

There was reportedly a lot of interest in promoting a Cloud vs Pascal fight on the October 15 HBO pay-per-view card headlined by Bernard Hopkins vs Chad Dawson, but as that fight is taking place in New Jersey, having Pascal in the co-feature is no longer a necessity to guarantee a decent house. They'll still have trouble drawing big, probably, but in this case, Pascal wouldn't particularly help, and that would be a card where the four main fighters are all under different promoters, which is never easy.

But before you get excited about a Cloud vs Pascal fight, you probably shouldn't expect that next. Pascal looks more likely to take on Zsolt Erdei, and Corey Erdman reports that that fight could be picked up by Epix, as HBO and Showtime have very few remaining dates for 2011. Epix has made a nice little push into boxing this year, picking up notable fights that HBO and Showtime have no interest in, and this could be another area where they can excel: Fights HBO and Showtime just can't fit into the schedule.