Looking back on the fights that defined Jean Pascal's career

Independent

2 days ago

This weekend saw what could be the end of Jean Pascal's career when the Montreal-resident former policeman lost in four rounds to Michał Cieślak.
After four largely one-sided rounds, the referee stepped in to stop Pascal in the fourth round. He looked thicker than ever before as if training and maintaining the physique of his youth had slipped too far away from him.
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For Pascal, 37-7-1 (21), this marks what surely is the end of his career. Despite winning four of his last five fights, it seems that both age and mileage is catching up with the former light-heavyweight champion. Although this cannot be predicted with 100 per cent certainty as Pascal, like the villain from a horror movie, has seemingly come back from irrelevance time after time.
For now, however, it seems that there is no way back. Pascal may have won his last fight, against Terry Osias in ten rounds, but while Osias may have been undefeated in thirteen, it was a definite step down for Pascal. Before that, Pascal had lost on points to the undistinguished Michael Eifert of Germany (who seems, since then, to have squandered that momentum).
But there was a period of eleven years, between 2008 and 2019, when Pascal always seemed to be chomping at the bit when it came to being the best light-heavyweight fighter on the planet.
Jean Pascal vs. Carl Froch, 2008
It was one undefeated fighter against another when Pascal, then 21-0 (14), travelled to Nottingham, UK, in order to face Carl Froch for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title at the end of 2008. It was a hard-fought, close battle between two men who would after became friends, but it was Froch who won by scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 118-110.
Froch, then 23-0 (19) would go on to his Hall of Fame career from the cauldron that was the Nottingham Arena. Pascal, meanwhile, went back to Canada. A rematch between the two was mooted but never came about.
Jean Pascal vs. Adrian Diaconu, 2009
If Jean Pascal was to carry Canadian boxing for years, it was at this point that he started to bear its load: a match against Adrian Diaconu, 26-0-0 (15), for the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title. Going up seven pounds in weight, Pascal outscored the Romanian-Canadian by 115-112, 116-112, and 116-111. Six months later, Pascal won another unanimous decision, this time by even-wider scores of 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111.
Jean Pascal vs. Chad Dawson, 2010
Let us get this one out of the way: Pascal was about to lose this fight to Chad Dawson, 29-0 (17), when a cut allowed him to unify two light-heavyweight titles. In the eleventh round of their fight in Montreal, Dawson threw a left uppercut that stopped Pascal, causing his legs and body to stiffen. Seconds later, in moving in to clinch Dawson, Pascal's head collided with his opponent's eyebrow, causing a cut. The referee waved off the fight, giving Pascal the win on a technical decision.
Jean Pascal vs. Bernard Hopkins, 2010 and 2011
It was called a robbery at the time, but Pascal's first fight against American middleweight great Bernard Hopkins, 51-5-1 (32), was close and competitive. The outcry at the time made a rematch inevitable and caused Pascal to become a footnote in Hopkins's legacy as the light-heavyweight championship changed hands.
Jean Pascal vs. Lucian Bute, 2014
It was a long time coming and both fighters were way past their best, but this was the biggest fight in Canada at the time. Originally from Romania, Bute had lost in five rounds to Carl Froch in 2012. Meanwhile, Pascal was coming off two uninspiring wins over less-than-inspired opposition. Even though few outside Canada noticed, Pascal scored a wide decision over Bute and somehow kept his career on the tracks.
Jean Pacal vs. Marcus Browne, 2019
What people do not understand is that Pascal was FINISHED by 2019. Absolutely FINISHED. And Marcus Browne, 23-0 (16), was on the way up. The pair were fighting for the WBC silver light-heavyweight title but it was really supposed to be an anointment for the US fighter.
Except Pascal won, handily. He knocked down Browne in the fourth and then twice more in the seventh. A round later, it was over with a technical decision awarded after an accidental headbutt caused a cut over the left eye of Browne.
Jean Pascal vs. Badou Jack, 2019
It was four months later at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta when Pascal took on the Swedish Badou Jack, 22-2-3 (13). Jack holds a cruiserweight title in 2025, having beaten the plodding Noel Mikaelian (the pair should meet in a rematch soon).
The sap was surely running dry at this point Pascal, then 37. It would turn out to be the last good night of his career, with an as-narrow-as-it-can-be split decision. It was, after this, that Pascal's career began to truly wind down, with a unanimous decision over the unbeaten Fanlong Meng, 17-0 (10), the losses to Eifert and Cieślak, and the plodding decision over Terry Osias.
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