During Wednesday’s final press conference between IBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and former lineal champion Jean Pascal, the brash Canadian product decided he’d try Kovalev by shoving him in the head.
Thinking he could somehow intimidate the Russian tyrant, Pascal was boisterous in trying to provoke Pascal into some beef he tried to stir fry in the ring on Saturday night. If I could make a statement to him and his asst. trainer/legend Roy Jones Jr., I would borrow from the title of Roy’s record they were heard singing in the dressing room before the fight: “Yall Must’ve Forgot!”
With a resume that sprinkled of a who’s who in the light heavweight division (Chad Dawson, Bernard Hopkins, Carl Froch, Lucian Bute), and the strongest and most athletic fighter Kovalev has ever faced, Pascal entered the ring brimming with confidence and fought like it from the outset.
Problem is, Kovalev did too.
After repeatedly finding Pascal with jabs and hammering right hands for the first two rounds, “The Krusher” dialed up the intensity in round 3 by damn knocking Pascal’s head into the Montreal press seats. A totally knocked out fighter who somehow got up to endure a frightening amount of punishment, Pascal bravely endured an equally punishing 4th round before mounting something along the lines of a comeback.
In fact, he arguably won rounds 5 and 6 by effectively countering with heavy hooks and overhand rights. But in so doing, he spent a tremendous amount of energy by not only staying upright and bouncing around, but by continuing to throw as many punches as he could while still absorbing punishment.
By the middle portion of round 7, Pascal was back to receiving a massive amount of abuse and was beginning to resemble Roy Jones when he was getting Glen Johnson’d.
Bravely fighting back with an air of futility and inevitability in round 8, Pascal once again absorbed a thunderous assault that all but left him knocked out – again – before Kovalev slipped on water in the corner. During a break with the referee, Pascal actually wobbled along the ropes all the way to the opposite corner.
It had shades of Trevor Berbick’s BUI (Boxing Under the Influence) against Mike Tyson all over it, and when Kovalev returned to action he immediately nailed Pascal with two powerful right hands to force a stoppage. I had a friend over crying that the stoppage was premature, and I looked at him like he was Charles Manson.
“F*ck is wrong with you? You want him to die? All it takes is just one more shot from a puncher like that, and he’s Gerald McClellan,” I screamed.
I was more relieved to listen to Pascal complain how he could’ve continued than anything else, as he had nothing to hang his head about. He fought very bravely and lost very badly. But in the process, he did reveal some possible chinks in Kovalev’s armor. He was able to strike the Russian with a number of counter right hands and left hooks over the top, and shook him on occasion.
Kovalev, who fights tall, is not the most defensively proficient fighter in the world, and shows a tendency to leap away from punches rather than slip them in textbook fashion.
Seated at ringside was the trainer of middleweight champion terrorist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Since he didn’t appear to have been training any fighters on the Montreal card, one can only suspect that he was there for some sort of scouting report. It lead me to put a pair of binoculars on the flatscreen in search of Andre Ward or Jay-Z.
But one person who was in the building, according to ring marvel and legend Bernard Hopkins, is Adonis “Superman” Stevenson. Hopkins said Stevenson (perhaps in his best secretive Al Haymon impression) told him he wants to face Kovalev next and will seek to make that fight happen.
This was all music to Kovalev’s ears.
“Adonis Stevenson is still a piece of sh*t,” barked Kovalev, sounding like a Russian version of Superman villain General Zod. “If he’s really a champion he needs to face me. I am ready to kick his ass.” Yoo-Hoo… Adonis… He’s pulling on your cape “Superman”. Do us a favor and don’t fly away.
Again.
