https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqFS7P1tZLg&feature=youtu.be
By Dan Ambrose: Following his 8th round stoppage defeat at the hands of IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev last Saturday night, Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) is kicking around the idea of moving up to the heavyweight division to face former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-2-1, 21 KOs).

Pascal, 32, says he would weigh between 200-210 pounds for the fight against the 36-year-old Stiverne, which would mean that Pascal would be giving away 30 to 40 pounds against the 240lb Stiverne. That’s a significant amount of weight for anyone to be giving up in a fight, but it would be potentially worse for Pascal because he would have nothing to keep Stiverne off of him.

Stiverne’s last opponent Deontay Wilder, 6’7”, gave away around 20 pounds against Stiverne for their fight last January. Deontay weighed in at 219 pounds for that fight, but he had a five inch height and a six inch reach advantage against Stiverne. Wilder used movement and his powerful jabs to keep Stiverne from landing his big power shots.

“Yes, I hope to meet short-term Bermane Stiverne. It is no longer world champion, but it’s still a very good boxer ranked in the top 10 among heavyweights,” Pascal said via the journaldemontreal. “I have to think about all aspects of the decision because once mounted in heavy, I could not back down from light heavyweight. But I will soon be 33 years old and if I want to try the adventure, it’s time. Quebecers would like to attend this fight and for me it would be a great challenge. I could fight at 200-210 pounds without too much fat. And I would not be the first to move from light heavyweight to heavyweight.”

Pascal is kind of in a predicament right now. If he stays at light heavyweight, which has few notable fighters, he would be possibly looking at him never really winning another world title. Kovalev showed clearly that he’s the better fighter, and as long as he’s going to be around, Pascal is just going to be a contender.

Pascal can always fight WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, but that’s probably the only big fight out there for Pascal unless he wants to try and lure one of the super middleweights like Carl Froch or Andre Ward to fight him. Pascal can always fight Kovalev a second time, but it’s not a good match-up for Pascal.

At 5’10 ½”, Pascal would be giving away a lot of height and reach against the bigger heavyweights in the division. Even if Pascal were to get past Stiverne, he’d still be looking at huge size mismatches against guys like Wilder, Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko.

Those fighters would have a monstrous height and reach advantage against Pascal. In the case of Wladimir and Wilder, they would also have a big power advantage. If Pascal thought he was hit hard by Kovalev, he would likely be in shock from the kinds of power shots that Wilder and Wladimir would be hitting him with.

If Pascal moves up in weight to heavyweight, he might find it all but impossible to ever get back down to light heavyweight again. Roy Jones Jr was able to go up to heavyweight and come back down to light heavyweight, but it messed Jones up with him getting knocked out by Antonio Tarver.

Jones really hasn’t been the same since. With Pascal, he still can make money against Kovalev, Stevenson, Jurgen Braehmer, Andre Ward and Carl Froch. He obviously couldn’t get all of those fights, but he could get some of them, and he’d have a chance to beat at least one of those guys.

If Pascal moves up to the heavyweight division, I think it could end very quickly with him in that division. Pascal would move up and likely get knocked out by Stiverne in one or two rounds.

Once Pascal loses, he’d likely decide on moving back down to light heavyweight. Losing all that weight to get back down to 175 would be hard on Pascal’s body, and he could very well be a shadow of his former self.

“Evander Holyfield was cruiserweight champion before moving to heavy,” Pascal said. “There was Archie Moore and even Roy Jones Jr who made the jump. People will say that Jean Pascal is crazy, but I like challenges and I do not want to wait to be too old to get involved in the fighting.”

Holyfield moved up to heavyweight and won a world title, but he wasn’t able to hold onto his titles for very long because he was beaten by the 6’5” Riddick Bowe. Archie Moore was beaten by Muhammad Ali by a 4th round knockout. Moore didn’t find any success at heavyweight, and this was during an era of smaller heavyweights.

Moore didn’t have to go out and face a 6’7” Wilder, 6’9” Fury, or a 6’6” Wladimir Klitschko. If Pascal is only looking to get a payday fight against Stiverne or one of the world champions at heavyweight, then it’s not a bad idea for him to go up in weight.

If the money is going to be a lot more than what he’s getting at 175, then it’s a good idea for him to move up in weight. But the money would have to be more than the money he can still make if he stays at 175.

Pascal has the opportunity to make some good money against Froch, Stevenson, Braehmer, Kovalev and Ward, I don’t think he should move up in weight just for one big payday against Stiverne unless the money is crazy money where Pascal can make millions.