By Paul Lam: In the lead-up to his Saturday night rematch against WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev, Jean Pascal had talked trash incessantly, accusing Kovalev, amongst other things, of being a racist. Such charges are not new to Kovalev’s ears, but the Haitian Canadian challenger and former light heavyweight world champion was hell-bent on turning them into a personal issue during an increasingly ugly fight promotion, culminating in a press conference in which Pascal symbolically handed out bananas to black members of the audience and notably to Kovalev’s trainer, John David Jackson, who himself is black, nearly sparking a physical altercation. Kovalev himself remained relatively unperturbed throughout the whole spectacle. He did however make one thing clear to the media and public; this time he wanted to end Pascal’s career for good.
Kovalev and Pascal met for the first time in March last year, a fight which Kovalev knocked down Pascal for the first time in his career in round three, hurt him repeatedly with heavy shots and compelled the referee to intervene in the eighth when Pascal was trapped in a corner, out on his feet and taking tremendous punishment.