Lucian Bute keeps the Bell Centre rocking

Lucian Bute TKO 9 Jesse Brinkley TIME: 2:48

Jesse Brinkley strung 9 straight impressive wins together, and seemed to be turning his career to around. He was becoming a legitimate fighter since his appearance on the Contender series. Well, that was all destroyed when the he faced the best super middleweight in the world, Lucian Bute. People say carefully what you wish, and Brinley certainly should have. Lucian Bute is a great fighter that is only getting better. He can do many things in the ring, but his counter punching skills are great. He was beating Brinkley to the punch and doing it in a dominating fashion. He was systematical breaking down Brinkley before he ended the fight in dramatic fashion. Brinkley was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He was over aggressive and he got caught coming in. Bute saw the opening, timed Brinkley perfectly, and landed a perfect counter hook. Bute is proving to be the biggest draws Montreal has ever seen. He consistently sells out the Bell Centre, which is not easy to do. He has plenty of options for his next bout, which is slated for March 2011. He may be able to cokes the winner of the Paul Williams, and Sergio Martinez fight into the ring. Or, he could face Kelly Pavlik, but that wouldn't really be fun. He could also make a huge match up with the winner of the Bernard Hopkins, Jean Pascal fight. A match up with Pascal would be an absolute blockbuster, because of his Montreal background. Anyway you look at it Bute has a bright future.

CHAD DAWSON CUT DOWN BY JEAN PASCAL

Jean Pascal W 11 Chad Dawson SCORES: 108-101, 106-103, 106-103
Dawson unable to continue after accidental headbutt

There is nothing more frustrating then watching a fighter lose a fight you know they could win. That is what happened last night on HBO between Chad Dawson, and Jean Pascal. Chad Dawson just couldn't, wouldn't pull the trigger. Jean Pascal was the underdog, but it seemed that he didn't care. He took the fight to Chad Dawson all night long, scoring when Dawson was doing nothing. Jean Pascal has speed, and explosiveness that he used against Dawson. They both only fought in spots the entire fight. Every time Pascal landed, or even threw a punch the crowd went wild. Pascal would be losing most of the round but then pull it out with a wild fury of power punches. Because of the crowd, and his exciting style Pascal was able to persuade the judges. Chad Dawson was hurt a few times as his knees buckled and he went backwards. The same could be said about Jean Pascal. Pascal was dazed, and confused also but Dawson didn't capitalize. Every time Dawson did anything offensive he would sit back and admire his work, as opposed to following it up with more offense. I'm not taking anything away from Jean Pascal because he took advantage of Dawson's passiveness. In the 11Th round Dawson had Jean Pascal hurt very bad, but let him off the hook. If he would have kept pushing the pace he could have won the fight by knock out. He allowed Pascal to get his legs back instead of finishing the fight. Pascal was able to mount a little offense himself in the 11Th before the accidental headbutt occurred. This happens a lot when you have a conventional fighter in the ring with a southpaw. The cut over Chad Dawson's eye was so severe the fight was stopped. Who knows what would have happened if the fight went the extra round. Pascal was winning, but he was really hurt in the 11Th round. That is why you have to finish a hurt fighter because you never know what is going to happen. Pascal gets the well deserved victory, and Dawson gets to fly back to Connecticut with out the belts. This fight is huge for the Canadian, because it opens many doors for him. Lucian Bute wanted to fight Dawson, but now he can fight Pascal in the biggest Canadian fight ever. The rematch clause that Dawson has allows Pascal to fight someone else before he gives him a rematch, if he so chooses. This could be the best thing to happen to Dawson. If he can learn from this loss, and get more aggressive he can be unstoppable. All I know is the people of Montreal are very happy because they have to great champions that could possibly face each other.

Combat Canadiens de Montréal

Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KO) vs. Jean Pascal (25-1, 16 KO)

Montreal Canada is famous for producing some of the most best fighters in the world. Here is just a few of them, Lucian Bute, Jean Pascal, George St-Pierre, David Lemieux, Adonis Stevenson, and Patrick Cote. It is not surprising that the very diverse city has spawned all these great fighters. However people are surprised to see that the fight fans are even more rabid then their toughest fighters. If you have ever been in the Bell Centre on fight night then you know that the electricity in the air is second to none. Anytime they have a fight of any kind from boxing to mma they sell out the arenas. Montreal's own George St-Pierre is one of the biggest draws that the UFC has. It doesn't matter if it selling a gate, or tuning in on PPV they generate huge numbers. Every foreign fighter that comes to fight in Montreal talks about how awesome the energy in the building, and how great the fans are. American fight fans should learn from our neighbors from the north, and do the same. The reason that Chad Dawson is fighting in Montreal is because he can't generate the crowds, or money in Connecticut, that Pascal can in Canada. They support their fighters to the very end, and they will do that tonight with Jean Pascal. Jean Pascal is facing Chad Dawson his toughest challenge as a professional boxer. The WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal has a stellar record at (25-1, 16KO). The problem is he is going against the best fighter in the light heavyweight division Chad Dawson. Pascal is coming off a good win against Silvio Branco, sandwiched between 2 great wins over the tough Adrian Diaconu. He will be putting his WBC light heavyweight strap up against Dawson's IBO title. He will need to bring his "A" game if he has any chance to win in this one. In order to win he will have to tap into the legendary energy of the Montreal fans that so many fighters have done before him. If you can't make it to the Bell Centre in Montreal Canada, then you must tune in to HBO and watch this great match up. I know that the crowd will be in this fight. If you have never felt, or witnessed the energy you will not want to miss the fight tonight.