Their first fight in March of last year was somewhat competitive. Although the champ stopped the challenger, he got hit more than usual, which suggested a rematch might be memorable.
Saturday night at the Bell Center in Montreal, Canada, WBA/IBF/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) the knockout artist from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, by way of Kopeysk, Russia, successfully defended his titles by stopping former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (30-4, 17 KOs), from Laval, Quebec, Canada, by way of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at the end of round seven.
Many hoped that Pascal, having added Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach to his team, and based on what they read, had become a more complete fighter. Instead of an athletic brawler going for the knockout he had become a boxer in six short weeks. But once the bell rang, it was obvious that not only had Pascal learned nothing new, he had actually regressed.
Kovalev, fighting out of the red corner in black trunks with red and white trim, Kovalev was as dominant as usual. Smart, self-assured, and destructive, with a dash of anger thrown into the mix, he wasted no time in bringing the fight to his poorly prepared, uninspired opponent.
Pascal, fighting out of the blue corner in brown trunks with gold trim, this time brought nothing into the ring. His vaunted athleticism was nonexistent. His punch output was embarrassing. In their first fight Pascal at least tried to win. That was not true Saturday night, due in large part to Kovalev’s superiority.
The fact of the matter is that Pascal got beaten up. Freddie Roach did him a big favor by stopping it when he did.
After seven one-sided rounds, Kovalev had landed 165 of 412 punches thrown (40%) to 30 of 108 (28%) for Pascal.
In the power punch department, Kovalev landed 78 of 202 (39%) to 16 of 48 (33%) for Pascal.
After the fight, Pascal sat in his corner with a glazed look in his eyes.
Kovalev by contrast couldn’t have been happier, having hurt Pascal repeatedly for things that he said.
“This was personal fight,” said Kovalev, “because Pascal is a special person. I mean that he’s not liked by anyone around him and don’t respect fighters. Everybody he don’t respect. Believe me, in Montreal everybody said me like, ‘Kick his ass.’ I would fight him more rounds and make him more pain, punish him more. I don’t respect him at all. I punished not good person and everybody understand. I want to unify all four titles. I want to fight Adonis Chickenson.”
Then Kovalev made chicken sounds.
WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson was ringside and climbed in the ring. He didn’t like being called chicken and hollered, “I’m the champ! I’m the real champ! I’m the lineal champ!”
Does that mean a unification bout is not far behind?
Possibly.
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
