Boxing: Jean Pascal Has Big Problem with Sergey Kovalev

Jean Pascal plans on doing something that has been tried and failed 29 times, and that is to stop Russian bulldozer Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev.

Pascal (30-3-1, 17 KOs) harbors another underlying motivation to beat the reigning WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion in their rematch this Saturday night at Bell Centre in Montreal. The fight has reached a personal level between the two.

Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) says he wants to end Pascal’s career. Pascal, who recently replaced longtime trainer Marc Ramsay with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, says his animosity stems from Kovalev’s photoshopped tweet last April of a monkey’s head on Adonis Stevenson’s body, with the caption “Adonis looks great!!!” The tweet came about month after Kovalev vanquished Pascal at 1:03 of the eighth round in Montreal last March 14; it was deleted almost immediately.

Kovalev issued an apology, stating that he “did not know it was bad” until his promoters schooled him on some U.S. history. He promised to “not do such a thing again.” But, in Pascal’s mind, the damage was done, and Pascal plans on dispensing more damage with his fists this Saturday when they meet again.

In November, Pascal called Kovalev ignorant. Last week, Pascal kept up the torrent of insults.

“He just doesn’t have any respect or education,” Pascal said of Kovalev. “He’s a racist guy. We are in 2016. This fight for me is kind of personal. I’m fighting ignorance, because he’s an ignorant guy to still be racist in 2016... I don’t like Stevenson either, but I would never do that. Stevenson is a chicken. He’s not a monkey. Did he put a picture of a monkey because Stevenson is black? Those things are not supposed to have a place in society today.

“He says it was a mistake. That wasn’t a mistake. You need to call a racist a racist. I’m not trying to play the race card. He said he was going to whip (Ismayl Sillah’s) black ass. He put color in the sentence. Why? That is racist. He called Stevenson a monkey. He’s being a racist. I’m going to beat his racist ass.”

All trash talk aside, the first meeting was a quality tussle. Pascal, 33, was knocked down for the first time in his career in the third round but opted to go power-for-power against Kovalev, who adjusted and showed yet another skill set.

“The Krusher” poked at Pascal with his jab, though he didn’t have any leverage on it, moreso using the jab as a range finder to stuff in Pascal’s face and then target the body. Pascal, on the other hand, was content to rip away with sweeping left hooks and straight rights. If one of those punches lands in the rematch, Kovalev could find himself in real trouble for the first time in his career.

“I know I’m the underdog,” Pascal admitted. “It’s been the story of my life. No one thought I could beat (Lucian) Bute, (Chad) Dawson or (Adrian) Diaconu, either, and look what happened to them.”

Roach says Pascal knows what’s coming and will be better suited to defend it this time.

Kovalev “uses that left to get your attention,” Roach said. “Then he tries to knock you out with the right. He’s a very good puncher with the right. He’s very dangerous, but we’re ready for that.”

As for Pascal?

“I have special motivation for this. I don’t like him, and I know he doesn’t like me.”

It makes for the perfect elixir for a great fight.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.