By Edward Chaykovsky

Former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal is back in the hunt for fellow Canadian star Lucian Bute. Both boxers suffered big defeats in the last two years and both of them recently returned to the ring to secure wins. Pascal appears to be heading to rematch with WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson in March, and Bute is pushing to have a rematch with Carl Froch around the same time period.

Pascal (27-2-1, 16 KO) wants the Canadian boxing fans to apply the pressure on Bute (31-1, 24 KO) to make their fight happen in 2013. The fight has been discussed for several years but never comes close to happening. It would be a mega-match between the two most popular boxers in the country.

"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 Quebeckers. It's the least he can do to give them that. It would be an historic event."