Froch-Pascal For Vacant WBC Title on December 6th

By Boxing News - 11/27/2008 - Comments

Image: Froch-Pascal For Vacant WBC Title on December 6thBy Nate Anderson: Super middleweight Jean Pascal (21-0, 14 KOs) will be making his toughest fight of his career on December 6th in a fight against unbeaten Carl Froch (23-0, 19 KOs) in a 12-round bout for the vacant World Boxing Council super middleweight title at the Trent FM Arena, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.

Pascal, 26, an undefeated fighter with speed, power and a fighting style similar to a young Roy Jones Jr., is taking a huge risk in going to Froch’s neck of the woods for this WBC title bout, because he will be fighting in front of a large hostile crowd and if the fight is remotely close, one can expect that Froch will get the nod by the judges.

Originally from Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Pascal moved Quebec while a youth, and took up boxing at an early age, where he excelled, eventually fighting in the 2004 Olympics. In facing Froch, 31, Pascal will be taking on the biggest puncher of his career and easily the best opponent that he’s yet to face.

Pascal, whose amateur career was far more impressive than Froch’s, will have to try and stay away from exchanges with the more powerful Froch if he plans on winning the fight. While clearly the much faster puncher of the two, Pascal has shown the tendency to want to stand and trade punches with his opponents, making fights that would normally be one-sided into more closely contested matches.

If Pascal can keep the fight on the outside, then Froch, a slow, ponderous puncher, would seem to have little chance at winning the fight. The problem for Pascal, however, is that he will probably want to mix it up with Froch at some point in the fight and will take punishment when that time comes.

So far, Pascal’s chin has stood up well against the moderately good opposition that he’s been matched up against to this point, but it’s going to have to be especially strong if he hopes to be able to remain standing against the sledgehammer shots from Froch.

One thing that Pascal has going for him, however, is that Froch has fought largely mediocre opposition and will be making a huge step up in competition in facing the speedy Pascal. Froch, who has tremendous power in both hands, hopes to line up a fight against former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor if Froch is successful in beating Pascal.

That would be a dream fight for Froch, one that would give him a nice payday for a change. For the past four years, Froch has unsuccessfully pursued a fight with WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, but unfortunately for Froch, Calzaghe never showed much interest in facing the dangerous Froch.

It was a logical decision on Calzaghe’s part, because Froch has been slow in building up fan support, and only now is starting to build a name elsewhere in the world outside of England. At 31, after toiling away in the super middleweight division for the past six years, Froch is finally poised to make a name for himself if he’s able to get by Pascal.

It won’t be easy, because if he’s not able to pin Pascal down and prevent him from landing his blazing fast shots, then Froch will end up on the losing end and will be pushed back in his hopes of winning a title and gaining recognition.



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