By Jeff Aranow: Former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (31-4-1, 18 KOs) emerged from a 11-month layoff to stop 33-year-old Argentinian journeyman Ricardo Marcelo Ramallo (21-10-1, 15 KOs) in the 3rd round on Friday night in a scheduled 10 round fight at the Cabaret Amphitheatre Cogeco in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada.
Pascal, 34, knocked Ramalla down twice in the 3rd round with chopping right hands to the head. Ramallo was badly hurt after the second knockdown. When he got back up the referee stopped the contest rather than letting it go on. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:45 of the 3rd round.
Pascal had his way with Ramalla from the first round in hitting him with left hooks to the head and body, and landing hard right hands. Ramalla was connecting with his own shots from time to time, but he didn’t have the same size, speed or the power of Pascal. Ramalla also didn’t have the talent and the overall athletic ability.
Ramalla was clearly chosen to be a stay busy fight for Pascal, because there was nothing in his background in his boxing career that would have suggested that he would compete actively with Pascal. Ramalla came into Friday night’s fight having lost two out of his last three fights. Ramalla was stopped by former WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz in the 5th round in March of this year. In September, Ramalla was knocked out in the 3rd round by Andrey Sirotkin.
Pascal last fought before tonight in January of this year in getting stopped in the 7th round by former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in their rematch in Montreal, Canada. That was the second time that Pascal had been knocked out by Kovalev. In 2015, Kovalev defeated Pascal by an 8th round knockout. That fight was a little more competitive than the rematch.
At this point, Pascal is sticking around the light heavyweight division with an objective that is unclear. He doesn’t appear to have the talent to beat any of the champions in the division. He could potentially get a nice payday against WBC champion Adonis Stevenson or against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Andre Ward. That’s about all Pascal has going for him unless he moves down in weight to 168, which is unlikely at this point. It might be in Pascal’s best interest if Ward stays the multiple champion beyond his rematch with Kovalev. Pascal would have a better chance of getting a fight against Ward than he would against Kovalev, who has already beaten him twice.