by Richard Cloutier

During David Lemieux's recent open workout, krikya360.com\Netboxe.com spoke with promoter Yvon Michel to explain how Adrian Diaconu vs. Chad Dawson came about, and the brief withdrawal of Dawson from the fight. The battle for former champions is the HBO televised co-feature to Bernard Hopkins-Jean Pascal II on May 21 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

"When it became apparent that Dawson was going to appear on the May 21 card, we contacted Diaconu to have him on the event. It was complicated because initially, Richard Schaefer (CEO of Golden Boy Promotions) wanted Librado Andrade. Except InterBox still had rights over him. They wanted to be involved and Jean Bédard (President of InterBox) was anxious to have a fight involving Adrian Diaconu. So I pushed for a fight between Diaconu and Dawson. Finally, I reached an agreement with Golden Boy to withdraw Andrade, and we put in Diaconu," Michel said. "Last week when we held a press conference in New York, I met with the people from HBO and I confirmed that we had Diaconu on card."

Kery Davis (senior vice president of HBO Sports) was informed that there might be trouble in securing Dawson, and asked Michel is he was willing to match Diaconu with IBF champion Tavouris Cloud. Dawson did not show up to the press conference in New York to announce the Hopkins-Pascal rematch.

"They did not come to the press conference, because they were still discussing the choice of opponent for Dawson.  Nevertheless, Gary Shaw always wanted it to be Diaconu. He never understood the reluctance of Emanuel Steward, the new trainer of Dawson, [in accepting the fight]. Now on the other hand, I can confirm that he will confront Adrian Diaconu in Montreal, on May 21," Michel said.