by David P. Greisman

Light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson will have a rematch on March 23 with Jean Pascal on HBO, according to Gary Shaw, Dawson’s promoter.

“My agreement’s done. The agreement’s done with Pascal. Yvon Michel [Pascal’s promoter] and I have talked. We haven’t formally exchanged the contract. We haven’t formally exchanged the contract with HBO, but at this stage those are strictly formalities,” Shaw told BoxingScene.com.

Dawson lost the lineal light heavyweight championship to Pascal in August 2010, dropping a unanimous technical decision after a clash of heads opened a bad cut on Dawson in the 11th round.

“Chad feels he has unfinished business,” Shaw said. “He feels that he was going to knock Pascal out, and the doctor stopped him.”

Pascal would go on to defend the championship twice against Bernard Hopkins, fighting to a draw in December 2010 and then losing a unanimous decision in May 2011.

Hopkins would then complete the triangle by facing Dawson twice, suffering an injury in their October 2011 bout (which would eventually be ruled a “no contest”), and then losing the championship to Dawson via majority decision in April 2012.

Dawson is now 31-2 with 17 knockouts and 2 “No contests.” He is coming off a September stoppage loss at super middleweight against that division’s champion, Andre Ward.

Pascal is now 26-2-1 with 16 knockouts. He is scheduled to face Aleksy Kuziemski on Dec. 14 in Montreal, his first fight since the Hopkins loss. Pascal was to have faced Tavoris Cloud this past August, but he had to pull out of that fight after suffering an injury.

Shaw would not disclose where Dawson-Pascal 2 will be taking place.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com