By Scott Gilfoid: In a startling confession after his 12 round unanimous decision win last night over Lucian Bute (31-2, 24 KO’s), Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17 KO’s) says that he was intentionally letting Bute hit him in the later rounds in order to make the fight close enough to where fans would be eager to see a rematch between them. Pascal says he knew he was well ahead in the fight, so he chose to let Bute tee off on him to attract interest in a 2nd fight.
Here’s Pascal’s comments when asked by Max Kellerman of HBO why he was letting Bute nail him with shots “It’s about the rematch, to make the fight a little bit closer. I knew I was winning the fight.“