Jean Pascal speaks to Fanhouse
Jean Pascal caught up with Fanhouse yesterday, the popular boxing website to spill some details about future plans. Pascal recently came into the international spotlight with a thrilling win over the undefeated American prospect, Chad Dawson. Pascal successfully defended his WBC and IBO light heavyweight belts, as well as won the prestigious Ring Magazine title.
He joked that since he’s won the title, the media have been hunting him down incessantly and that he hasn’t been able to sleep. He was fortunate to take a break from training though, to spend time with his seven-year-old daughter Angel, who just went back to school.
Fanhouse put the most pressing question to Pascal immediately. Namely who he’d like to fight next. Despite many sharing news that Hopkins would be his next adversary, Pascal was quick to say he’d like Bute next.
In his words: “I would like to fight Lucian Bute. But I don't need to chase Lucian Bute, because I'm the boss in town. I'm the king of my division right now. I beat one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound in the world. And, you know, that was kind of funny. Because Bute has said to the Montreal media that I was chasing him.”
Pascal hinted that, among the French media in his hometown of Montreal, he still may be second to hometown favourite Bute, and this is something that clearly affects him. “I’m the one who always talks about him [Bute],” Pascal admitted. “And the only reason [...] is because I know how to speak French [...] [but] I don’t need Bute to make my money. I don’t need Bute to be popular. I don’t need Bute at all.”
Pascal went on to say that his personal relationship with Bute is not strained at all, and that despite him being a potential opponent in the future, he thinks Bute is a “great guy” and that he’s a “good boxer.” But of course he’s no Pascal, so the line of logic goes.
Lucian Bute’s promoter InterBox, headed by Jean Bedard, recently said that they were presently not interested in fighting Pascal. They agreed it was a Canadian mega-fight and something to look forward to, but said stakes could be higher (read: financial gain) and will therefore wait until the timing is right. Bute is hopeful to challenge the winner of Showtime’s Super Six boxing tournament, a match most boxing analysts would love to see.
Pascal also commented on the Dawson fight, and said that he was “never” hurt, but admitted he was tired a few times. He expressed dismay at the fact that Dawson’s camp blamed him for the accidental head butt that ended the fight in the eleventh round, saying that the explanation was a “little bit low.” Pascal shot it down as an excuse, and offered a bit of worldly knowledge into the matter: “If you're a champion, you're supposed to win like a champion and lose like a champion and come back like a champion.”
Officially though, Dawson had vacated all previous titles he’d had long before the fight, so he wasn’t a champion.
Pascal finished the interview by discussing the advantages to moving up to the light heavyweight division. He said that towards the end, fighting as a super-middleweight, he had to drain himself or some 15 to 18 pounds before a bout to make weight, and that translated into premature fatigue in the ring. “Because I moved up in weight, that's helped me a lot with my energy. I can stay more focused, I can keep my strength and energy.”
That means of course that Bute, who at 168 fights lighter than Pascal's 175, would have to bulk up to fight Pascal rather than Pascal trying to shed the pounds.
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