Light heavyweight king hopes to continue on as reigning opportunist
This week’s edition of On the Ropes, the popular boxing radio show, featured newly crowned Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion, Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs). Pascal was all smiles coming off his stunning upset of undefeated Chad Dawson, whom was rated no less than sixth best fighter in the world according to Ring Magazine.
When asked about how he felt going into the ring, Pascal responded: “Honestly, I only think about my game plan. I knew that I would have to start really fast and strong to show him that I’m the champion. He was the bigger name that night, but I was the champion and I had the crowd behind me, so I knew if I started really big and fast he wouldn’t keep up.”
Analysts have commended Pascal on his ability to capitalize on every single opportunity provided to him in the fight. The opposite could not be said for Dawson, who remains puzzlingly inactive for much of the fight, and when he did open up (in the 11th round, for instance), demonstrated that he could dominate the action. Dawson was never confident enough, or lacked the drive to open up, and part of the reason for this was Pascal’s ability to be a great opportunist in the fight.
Round one is filled with examples of this. With the opening bell, within the first minute, Pascal jumped at “Bad” Chad and threw wild, crazy punches, half-tossing him around the ring. It wasn’t so much about connecting here as it was about planting the seeds for intimidation and control.
At every opportunity, Pascal followed up on the pattern. When Dawson would get a good combination in and the two would hold, Pascal was sure to throw punches, even when Dawson surrendered to the referee breaking them up. And in the seventh round, when Dawson momentarily slipped to the canvas, Pascal was again quick to pounce on him when he got up, not leaving anything to chance or allowing Dawson to gather his composure.
It was almost as if Pascal was able to smell Dawson’s discouragement, and compounded it by badgering and frustrating him exactly when he had to.
Pascal said, when asked if he thought he ever seriously hurt Dawson: “Yes, I think so, but one thing that I noticed in that fight with Chad Dawson is he’s a great fighter and he has a good chin, because I know that I worked him with good punches and he was still there. He has slick moves and he’s a good fighter. He’s a great fighter.”
Now that Pascal is the man to beat in the light heavyweight division, everyone wants to know what the next step is. A contract stipulation with Dawson necessitates a rematch, but Pascal can have one fight before that. There’s no shortage of possible contenders, even with the Showtime’s Super Six Boxing tournament excluding five fighters from Pascal for the time being. Pascal is eyeing a fight with Bernard Hopkins, or other Canadian favourite, IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute.
“Lucian Bute would be a great challenge for me, but right now I’m the boss in town. I am the king of my division, so if Lucian wants to fight me, he has to go up and challenge me, because I have nothing to gain by chasing Lucian Bute right now.”
Pascal seemed more inclined to face Hopkins: “if he [Bernard Hopkins] thought that Chad Dawson was the man he was wrong, because he knows from Saturday night that Jean Pascal, the French Canadian, is the real deal at 175 pounds. I do respect Bernard Hopkins. He’s a great legend, but I think that’s going to be a great, great fight for us to make happen.”
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