NEW YORK (Oct. 14, 2010)—Showtime Networks Inc. is proud to announce that the World Light Heavyweight Championship fight between future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins and young upstart WBC World Champion Jean Pascal will be televised live on SHOWTIME.

The 12-round world championship bout, originally proposed as a pay-per-view event in the United States, will be held in Pascal’s home of Quebec, Canada—at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City—on Saturday, Dec. 18, and be televised live on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET. The event is co-promoted by Group Yvon Michel Inc. and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Casino Montreal and Quebec Tourism. www.regionquebec.com

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this important championship fight directly to our loyal subscribers and fight fans,” said Ken Hershman, Executive Vice President and General Manager of SHOWTIME Sports®. “This is a milestone fight for each man’s respective career and thus this matchup fits perfectly into our programming strategy—to televise the most competitive and meaningful bouts in the sport.

“I want to thank the promoters for this event—Group Yvon Michel Inc., Golden Boy Promotions—and of course the fighters themselves for working with us to bring this bout to our faithful audience. It’s an early holiday present for SHOWTIME fight fans.”

Pascal and Hopkins are setting out on a multi-city, two-country press tour to officially announce their championship showdown with stops in Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and New York. The press tour will mark Pascal’s first stateside appearance as WBC Light Heavyweight Champion. Please mark your calendars as these are events not to be missed.

PASCAL vs. HOPKINS TOUR DATES AND CITIES

Monday, October 18 Quebec City, Canada (Morning)

Quebec City Hall

Montreal, Canada (Afternoon)

Studio NRJ

Tuesday, October 19 Toronto, Canada

Air Canada Centre

Wednesday, October 20 New York City

Planet Hollywood – Times Square

*Additional Details (media call times, etc.) will be announced shortly.

For information on SHOWTIME Sports®, including exclusive video, photos and news links on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, along with access to the SHOWTIME Sports Facebook® and Twitter® pages, please go to http://Sports.Sho.com.

About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, SHOWTIME 2 HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD™, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™ and FLIX ON DEMAND®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

According to Dan Rafael the WBC/Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will take on Bernard Hopkins on December 18th in Quebec City, Canada and it will be televised on Showtime PPV.

“Showtime will be using their announcers and doing it like a first-class Showtime broadcast. Showtime is excited about it and so are we,” Said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer.

Hopkins said he weighed 182 pounds on Thursday and was anxious to begin training for the 175-pound fight. He usually prepares for fights in Miami, but said he would instead train in either Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains or New York’s Catskill Mountains.

“I’m doing that because of the climate and the conditions,” Hopkins told ESPN.com just before signing on the dotted line. “I’m not going to train in 80-degree Miami and then go to Canada, where it will be five below.”

“This is the fight where I see if I can go forward or does it end for me,” said Hopkins, who routed nemesis Roy Jones in a lopsided decision in April in a rematch of Jones’ middleweight title win 17 years ago.

“I know what I gotta do to pull out another surprise,” Hopkins said.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBC/Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will take on former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight king Bernard Hopkins on December 18th in Quebec City, Canada

“We agreed on everything,” Hopkins said. “There is no issue. There is no problem with my side or Pascal’s side. The contracts have been drafted. It’s a done deal. All I gotta do is sign.”

Hopkins said he is reviewing the contract, but “I’ll probably sign it before Friday because the [Labor Day] holiday is coming up and I’m going away for a few days.”

Said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, Hopkins’ promoter, “The fact is that both sides have agreed to the terms. Now we have to get it signed, but I don’t anticipate any problems.

“Both fighters really wanted the fight. If you have two fighters who really want to fight each other then I think the promoters just have to cross the T’s and dot the I’s. I am excited to work with [Pascal promoter] Yvon Michel. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“It’s a big fight for Pascal and a big fight in Quebec,” Said Don Majeski who is the agent for Pascal. “Hopkins is one of the biggest stars in boxing and those are the kind of fights Pascal wants.”

“It could be live on Showtime. We’re having discussions,” Schaefer said. “Or it could be pay-per-view.”

“It’s a crossroads fight. It doesn’t get more crossroads than this one,” Schaefer said. “You have the young guy coming off the biggest win of his career and he’s at an all-time high. Can he beat another star like he did with Dawson? Then you have Hopkins, the experienced veteran wanting to again turn back the clock. Can he do it again and beat an emerging star like he’s done before? It’s a fascinating fight.”

Hopkins, who made a record 20 middleweight title defenses, won the lineal light heavyweight title against Tarver and lost it on a split decision to Joe Calzaghe in 2008. Regaining it is important to Hopkins.

“I need it around my waist,” Hopkins said. “This fight will prove to the world that I am not done.

“I hold no malice or bad feelings to those who are concerned about me, but I’ve always been a son of a bitch when it comes to rising up to the occasion. This for me is the type of fight where I have to top what I’ve done before. I want to keep giving them something where they can’t understand how I’m doing it.”

“I was going through my memory and I had a conversation with [trainer] Naazim [Richardson] and we got stuck on just [two] guys,” Hopkins said of heavyweight George Foreman and light heavyweight Archie Moore.

“It’s a very short list of the guys who’ve done that, so that’s one of my motivations,” Hopkins said. “To make that happen and to add it on top of all the other unusual things I have done in my career, it’s very motivating to me.”

“I have no problem going to Canada,” he said. “I suggested we go to Canada based on the fans that Pascal has up there. And the Canadians have been making a lot of noise lately with [super middleweight titlist Lucian] Bute and Pascal.”

Hopkins, of Philadelphia, has not fought outside the United States since 1994, when he received a draw against hometown fighter Segundo Mercado in a vacant middleweight title bout in Quito, Ecuador.

“I’d rather be fighting in Canada than Ecuador,” Hopkins said.

Jean Pascal retained the WBC Light Heavyweight title and picked up the Ring Magazine championship with a back and forth technical decision over Chad Dawson at the Bell Center in Montreal.

Pascal took the early rounds as he used his speed or quickness that had Dawson befuddled over the first part of the bout. Dawson got in the fight in round nine as he rocked Pascal from a perfect right hook. Pascal steadied himself to take round ten. Knowing he was down on the cards, Dawson came out hurt Pascal on two separate occasions. First Pascal was hurt from a hard combination on the ropes and then from a perfect uppercut that froze Pascal.

Late in the eleventh, Pascal and Dawson banged heads that opened up a huge gash that dripped blood from the right eyelid of Dawson.

The fight was immediately stopped and the fight went to the cards.

Pascal won by scores of 108-101, 108-101 and 106-103 to raise his record to 26-1. Dawson of New Haven, CT suffers his first defeat and is now 29-1.