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MMA Boxing

Jean Pascal Is Sergey Kovalev’s Most Dangerous Opponent

Getty Images

Getty Images

Former light heavyweight champion and Canadian superstar Jean Pascal has agreed to fight Sergey Kovalev, the unified champion of the light heavyweight division and one of the most feared men in boxing. With exception to Kovalev facing Adonis Stevenson, who avoided Kovalev by switching to Showtime, Pascal-Kovalev is easily the most intriguing matchup to be made in the light heavyweight division.

According to ESPN’s Dan Rafael, the fight being made official is contingent upon two factors: first, Pascal must defeat former world champion Roberto Bolonti this Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Bell Centre in Montreal; second, the IBF must postpone Kovalev’s mandatory defense against Nadjib Mohammedi, which shouldn’t be difficult considering Mohammedi has already sent a letter of request for more time to prepare with Abel Sanchez, his new trainer with whom he has only worked with one time.

The Kovalev-Pascal bout, which will likely take place on March 14 in either Montreal or Quebec City, is by far Kovalev’s biggest test to date. Thus far, Kovalev is undefeated and has 23 knockouts out of 26 fights, albeit against lower-level competition. His most impressive win was against 49-year-old future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins, who Kovalev dominated en route to a unanimous decision victory last month on Nov. 8.

Against Hopkins, Kovalev proved he wasn’t the one-dimensional power puncher that so many boxing experts thought he was. He demonstrated excellent boxing skills in his ability to step in and out of range without getting hit. In addition, he proved he could stick to the game plan, something very few fighters have been able to do against Hopkins, and also showed his ability to fight for 12 rounds without tiring.

Pascal, for his part, has much more experience against elite competition. He has fought Hopkins twice, Carl Froch, Chad Dawson, Lucian Bute and Adrian Diaconu. But unlike Kovalev, Pascal hasn’t shown the ability to fight 12 rounds without fading despite having gone 12 rounds multiple times in the past.

Both fighters are extremely powerful and can change the course of a fight with one punch, and it will be interesting to see how well each fighter will handle the other’s punching power, as neither one has ever been stopped or knocked out. Stylistically, Kovalev is more technically sound, while Pascal has a tendency to punch wildly from awkward angles.

Should the fight be made official, Kovalev would enter the ring as the favorite; but make no mistake, Pascal is very capable of winning this fight. Kovalev has never faced anyone as physically strong or powerful as Pascal, who unlike Hopkins is in his prime and knows he’ll be able to hurt Kovalev.

No one knows what exactly will happen should Kovalev and Pascal meet in the ring, and I’ll reserve my prediction until the fight is officially announced, but one thing is certain: this fight won’t go the distance, and Kovalev will need to be at his very best in order to come out victorious.

Paul Pastorini is a Boxing Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @paul_past, find him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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