By Rick Reeno

Promoter Gary Shaw is questioning the willingness of HBO to televise a fight between WBC/IBO light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and former champion Bernard Hopkins. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer advised BoxingScene.com's Lem Satterfield that Pascal-Hopkins could possibly take place on December 18.

Shaw, and two other promoters who spoke to BoxingScene, were advised that HBO yanked the date of December 18 from boxing and reserved it for an upcoming concert.

According to Shaw, he presented HBO with a possible fight between Chad Dawson and Hopkins [prior to Dawson losing to Pascal] and the network turned it down because there was little interest in showcasing Hopkins after his performance against Roy Jones Jr. in April. The possibility of HBO providing preferential treatment to another promoter has Shaw a little uptight.

"I offered HBO a fight between Dawson and Hopkins, and they turned it down because they said they weren't interested in televising Hopkins. And you can ask Richard Schaefer because I told him what HBO had said. I don't know how Schaefer is talking about a date of December 18 when HBO is telling everyone they plan to go dark [no boxing] on that date," Shaw told BoxingScene.com.

BoxingScene spoke to Don Majeski, the agent for Pascal, who said a Pascal-Hopkins deal was not dependent on the availability of an HBO date or the network's involvement.

"A deal for Pascal and Hopkins doesn't depend on HBO. Pascal is going to fight before the end of the year, with or without HBO," Majeski told BoxingScene.com.