Jean Pascal vs. Gary Kopas

Last week, Jean Pascal learned of the death of his father and he decided to cancel his fight against Gary Kopas to grieve. A few days later, in a turnaround, we learned that he had accepted a WBA world championship fight against Dmitry Bivol. The question to ask: will he be able to cause a surprise in these circumstances?

Reached by Le Journal de Montréal, the principal concerned does not seem worried by the whole file, even if he will have to go to Haiti for three or four days to attend the funeral of his father.

“I learned that there is no perfect moment in life, mentioned Pascal. It’s up to me to make it perfect. As far as my father is concerned, it’s no use crying over me.

“I will have to turn this sad event into something positive.”

He does not rule out the possibility of working with his sports psychologist Robert Schinke upon his return from Haiti if he feels the need.

To return to boxing, it is not the motivation that he lacks for this world championship fight.

“I want to get back to the top, but I also want to bring back the fourth light heavyweight belt for Christmas,” Pascal said. I want us to see Quebec again as a world power in boxing.”

Weight under control

For those worried about the former WBC light heavyweight world champion’s weight, he’s under control. Pascal has been training on a regular basis since his duel against Steve Bossé last July.

And the reason is simple: he was supposed to fight Sean Monaghan on September 29, but the duel never materialized. Which means that coach Stéphan Larouche is not starting from scratch for the duel camp against Bivol. Everything will begin Monday in Montreal.

“I’ve never had a problem with my weight and I won’t have any for this matchup,” Pascal said. It won’t be easy, but I’m going to be 175 lbs at the weigh-in.”

An opponent he knows

Pascal knew very well what he was doing by agreeing to rub shoulders with the WBA light heavyweight champion. Bivol served as a training partner for the Quebecer in his preparation for his second duel against Sergey Kovalev.

“I had put the gloves with him in Los Angeles and he is a good boxer, indicated Pascal. I predicted that he would become world champion, so it’s no surprise for me to see him at the top.

“Our exchanges were quite divided according to my memories. Bivol is an aggressive boxer and he is not a coward. He is not the light heavyweight champion who hits the hardest, but he is the most complete.

The Quebecer knows that he will have several aspects of the Russian to neutralize to obtain victory. Will Pascal be able to achieve the same tour de force as Eleider Alvarez, that is to win a world title against a Russian in Atlantic City? We will have the answer in a little over a month.