By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs) may be a three-belt world champion and the guy that many boxing fans consider to be the best fighter in the 175 pound division, but on March 14th, Kovalev will be in the adopted country of his opponent Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17 KOs) at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The reason why Kovalev will be fighting in Canada rather than the United States or Russia is because Pascal has a huge fan base in Canada. They can make more money fighting in Canada in front of a large audience of Pascal fans than they could if the fight took place in the U.S.
Pascal’s fans are loyal to him despite the fact that he was beaten by Bernard Hopkins in 2011 and that he’s done pretty much zero since then in terms of facing high caliber opposition. Pascal has burned up three years of his career without fighting for a world title. Now he’ll be fighting for a world title, but he’s doing it against what could be the best fighter in the division.
Kovalev isn’t too worried about giving the 32-year-old Pascal the home country advantage, because he feels that the fans aren’t going to play any real part in the fight. Kovalev expects to be able to get to Pascal no matter where the fight is staged.
Since Pascal isn’t one of the most mobile fighters in the division, it means that Kovalev is going to have a good chance of landing his big power punches in this fight at some point. Pascal likes to fight in an in and out type of style, but he can be hit when he comes forward and that’s what Kovalev will be looking to do on May 14th. He’s going to time Pascal and land when he tries to engage.
“The ring is the same everywhere”, Kovalev said. “I plan to show who I am to Canadian boxing fans, and I aim to do the things they like to see in a ring.”
If Pascal fights with a lot of adrenalin like he did in his win over a past his best Lucian Bute then there’s going to be a good chance that Kovalev will be able to land his big power shots. The only thing that Kovalev needs to watch out for is getting hit in return by the big power shots from Pascal.
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