Montreal’s Bell Centre hosts a Light Heavyweight World Title bout on Saturday, March 14 as legend-slayer Sergey Kovalev fights Jean Pascal. The books currently have Pascal as a huge underdog at +500 odds, with Kovalev returning at -700. The over/under for this scheduled 12-rounder is 9.5 rounds, with the over paying at +150 and the under paying -170.
Without being in the match, 50-year-old legend Bernard Hopkins is all over the storyline for the fight as he has a history with both men. Pascal (29-2-1) held the WBC World title at light heavyweight for almost two years and endured three successful title defenses before he ran into Bernard Hopkins. Their first encounter, in December of 2010 ended in a draw , setting up a rematch six months later. In that bout, Hopkins took the light heavyweight belt from Pascal, setting up his legacy of one of the historically oldest champions of all-time. Pascal was 28 at the time, and he took more than a year and a half off before fighting again. He has gone 3-0 since, and one of those wins was against well regarded Lucian Bute, who was 31-1 at the time. Unfortunately, he looked bad in his last outing, against Roberto Bolonti. Pascal was hit in the back of the head and he KO’d Bolonti with a punch while the referee was breaking them. The shot was declared an unintentional foul and the fight was declared a no-contest at 2:29 of the second round.
Sergey Kovalev has the IBF, WBO and WBA World titles at light heavyweight already in his clutches. He is a perfect 26-0 and in his last outing he consolidated his hold on the top of the weight class rankings by soundly defeating Bernard Hopkins. The fight went on to give Kovalev a lot of attention for “Fighter of the Year”, as he went 3-0 overall, topping it off with the clubbing of Hopkins that was much more definitive than most anyone expected. He has a massive amateur background to his resume as well, and with 23 stoppage wins in 26, he considers his power and his ability to fight technically on par with each other and at the highest level.
Kovalev has few naysayers at this point, but if any remain, this is his chance to prove them wrong again. Pascal is just 32, so they are practically the same age. Pascal is fighting at home, though this is not Kovalev’s first trip to Canada.
No one can take anything away from Bernard Hopkins legacy. What he has achieved could likely be voted to the Hall of Fame as two separate careers, and he fought at a high level for years in his forties, compensating for the ravages of time by really taking care of himself well and by being a technical master at the sport. He was always in great shape and time seemed to not have caught up with him.
Now, Kovalev deserves credit for sitting Hopkins down in the first round and winning the fight outright. Kovalev broke through and hit Hopkins solidly in the very first round. Hopkins’ age showed at that moment, and despite chasing a man a half a century old, Kovalev could not seal the deal and crush him. Kovalev needs to put on a definitive performance in this fight.
