Jean Pascal calls out Lucian Bute, says Quebec fans deserve the fight in 2013

Jean Pascal is back in business, following a win over Aleksy Kuziemski on December 14, and though he suffered a shoulder injury in that bout, he's setting his sights on a big 2013 fight with Lucian Bute, saying that the Quebec fans deserve to see that fight:

"The fans should put pressure on Bute, since he and (his promoter) InterBox owe it to them," Pascal told QMI Agency this week. "He's a Romanian who came to Quebec to make money and he did it because of Quebecers. It's the least he can do to give them that. It would be an historic event."

Pascal (27-2-1, 16 KO) was reportedly set for a March 2013 rematch with Chad Dawson, while Bute (31-1, 24 KO) says he will exercise his rematch clause to face Carl Froch again in the spring, though Froch really wants to face Mikkel Kessler before that fight -- if he even really wants to fight Bute again at all.

A fight between Pascal, 30, and Bute, 32, would indeed be big business at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Both fighters draw crowds, but a rivalry between Interbox (Bute's promoter) and GYM (Pascal's promoter) has prevented it from happening thus far, and could do the same for the foreseeable future.

However, if their previously reported rematches with Dawson and Froch aren't or can't be made, it's a great money option if the promoters can see eye-to-eye. Bute struggled with Denis Grachev in his last fight, and with Froch clearly trying to go a different path, Bute may need to look in a new direction.