WBA light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal is hoping Canelo Alvarez will come back up to 175 so that he can face him. Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs) wants to see Canelo try and make history a second time by coming up to 175 to challenge him for his belt.
It’s asking a lot of Canelo to move up to 175 and take on a dangerous fighter like Pascal. Canelo has been fighting guys like Rocky Fielding, Daniel Jacobs, and Gennadiy Golovkin. Pascal’s fighting style is all wrong for Canelo.
The Mexican star Canelo would be showing a lot of courage in coming back up to 175 to challenge Pascal or take on the other light heavyweight champions, but he probably won’t do that. It’s too risky.
The hard-hitting Pascal can take a punch, and he’s someone that would unload on Canelo and force him to work hard in every round. None of Canelo’s opponents have done that with him, not even GGG. He wasted time trying to box Canelo twice, and it cost him.
Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) recently moved up in weight from super middleweight to light heavyweight to dethrone WBO champion Sergey Kovalev last November.
The casual boxing fans and the heavy-duty supporters of Canelo made a major production about him beating the 36-year-old by an 11th round knockout in Las Vegas, Nevada.
What the fans didn’t realize is that Kovalev is no longer in his prime, and was easily the weakest of the champions in the light heavyweight division at the time. Canelo picked Kovalev over arguably more dangerous 175-pound champions Artur Beterbiev, Jean Pascal, and Dmitry Bivol.
In other words, you can argue that Canelo cherry-picked Kovlalev over Beterbiev, Bivol, and Pascal, who all might have beaten him.
In Beterbiev’s case, it’s almost a sure thing that he would have beaten Canelo and done it in a destructive fashion.
Pascal surprised Canelo moved to 175
“I was surprised that Canelo moved up to 175 because I think I was the perfect match-up for him,” said Pascal to Premier Boxing Champions on social media. “He went down to 168, and I’m fighting at that [weight] as well. But if he were to move back up and make history once again, I’m right here. Our styles are going to be like fireworks in the ring.
“The rest of the guys in the division. As I said, Bivol is a great fighter, and he used to be my sparring partner when I fought Kovalev. I told Freddie Roach. I don’t know this guy [Bivol].
“At the time, he had three or four fights, and I told Freddie Roach, ‘I don’t know this Russian, but he’s going to be world champion one day.’ One or two years later, he became a world champion,” said Pascal on Bivol.
Yes, Canelo moved up to 175, but he did it for only one fight, and that was against an old shot guy in Kovalev. It would be another thing altogether if Canelo moved up to 175 and took on the murder’s row of fighters in the division:
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol
- Jean Pascal
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- Gilberto Ramirez
- Marcus Browne
Canelo might be able to beat Browne and Ramirez, but he would have a lot of trouble against Pascal, Bivol, and Beterbiev. All six of them would be fights that Canelo could lose.
Pascal: You must have the heart for boxing
“As I said, Marcus Browne is a skillful fighter, but this is boxing,” said Pascal. “It’s not all about skills. You have to have the heart, the guts, and the chin, and not just the skills.
“If you have the skills, you won’t go to the top, and if you got to the top, you won’t stay long because you need to be tough to be a boxer. Boxers are like soldiers.
“When you got to war, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and you don’t know if you’re going to come back. Boxing is the same thing. When you step into the ring, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and you don’t know if you’re going to come back from the fight.
“I’m a risk-taker, and I love to gamble in the ring,” said Pascal on his win over Marcus Browne. “I know sometimes it’s risky, but I believe in myself, and I believe in my skills. That’s why I can afford to take those kinds of risks. It’s not like any fighter can take those kinds of risks,” said Pascal.
Jean recently pulled off an upset in defeating previously unbeaten Marcus Browne by an eight-round technical decision last August. Pascal out-toughed Browne, who wore down from the pressure that he was putting on him.
In Pascal’s last fight, he defeated former two-division world champion Badou Jack by a 12 round split decision last December. That was a war from start to finish with both guys having their moments. In the end, Pascal was too much for Jack, and the judges saw him as doing better work.
