Looks like the rematch of Badou Jack and Jean Pascal is going to be put on hold.
Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports dropped late Friday night that Pascal (36-6-1,20 KOs, 1 NC) had tested positive for several illegal substances ahead of their title bout to take place on Sunday June 6 in Miami, Florida on the much anticipated exhibition bout Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul.
The drugs that Pascal failed on the test are reportedly anabolic steroids: Epitrenbolone, Drostanolone, and Drostanolone Metabolite A. They all are used in terms of increasing muscle mass for performance enhancing.
Major blow to this card as this rematch for the WBA Regular title was the show stealer in Atlanta back in December 2019. In that bout, Pascal scored an early 4th round knockdown but spent the rest of the fight fending off a surging Jack (23-3-3, 13 KOs) the rest of the fight. That led to the close split decsion victory for Pascal in Atlanta.
So what will happen from here with Pascal will be whatever takes place with the punishment he gets for the failed test. The 38-year-old from Canada hasn’t been in action since the Jack fight. Jack was last seen in on the Triller undercard of Mike Tyson against Roy Jones Jr. cruising to a wide points win over Blake McKernan last November.
Interesting that Pascal tested positive as he has been one of the more outspoken ones against fighters taking performance-enhancing drugs. Hate to refer to World Boxing News (we all do) but Pascal was once quoted as saying “I proudly consider myself one of the pioneers when it comes to drug testing,” to them back in 2016.
Later on Friday night, Jack expressed his frustration with Pascal, but also put him on blast about the alleged PED use:
The new co-main more than likely will be the ten round contest between Jarrett Hurd and Luis Arias.
