He might have made more money fighting Bute in the short term, but I think this could turn out to be a wise business decision on Pascal's part.
Hopkins is less of a threat than Bute and is much more well known in the United States and throughout the boxing world. If Pascal can beat him, his stock will rise exponentially; regardless of age, he'll be the first guy to beat Hopkins since his renaissance. However, if he fought Bute and won, people would call Bute untested and would bring up the ghosts of the first Andrade fight to prove this; if he lost it would be even worse. Bute would benefit more from fighting Pascal than Pascal would for fighting him, and I think I can understand their logic behind fighting what appears to be a quickly fading Hopkins. It's eschewing short-term gain for long-term investment.
Bookmarks