Bute, Pascal In Huge Canadian Showdown Tonight In Montreal

The Bell Centre in Montreal will host the biggest all-Canadian fight in years as light heavyweights Lucian Bute and Jean Pascal clash for Bute’s NABF title tonight on a fight card that also includes one of the top heavyweight prospects in the world, Mike Perez.

Bute vs. Pascal was originally scheduled to take place in May and the postponement due to a Bute training injury has only served to heighten the interest in this pairing.

At yesterday’s weigh-in, Bute came in at 173.6 lb while Pascal was right at the light heavy limit of 175 lb. During the obligatory stare down, Pascal oddly wore a piece of black tape over his mouth, perhaps in response to his own brash comments during the pre-fight buildup on social media.

Pascal has been favored in the Canadian press to win the contest, perhaps because he has been the more active fighter of late or due to Bute’s lackluster effort against Denis Grachev 14 months ago.

That bout, in which some felt Grachev deserved the win, came just six months after Bute was belted around the ring and stopped by Carl Froch in Nottingham, England, losing the IBF super middleweight title in the process.

Bute had held the belt for nine defenses and was favored to defeat Froch, who was coming off a WBC/WBA title loss to Andre Ward.

That fight interrupted a run of 30 consecutive wins for the Romanian born southpaw, and called into question the legitimacy of Bute’s title reign, as Froch was the first world class opponent “La Tombeur” had fought.

The Pascal clash is Bute’s chance at redemption.

In the other corner, Pascal has had his own career of good and bad fortune. The Haitian born brawler had risen to 21-0 by 2008, defeating a brace of the usual suspects and good second level competition before he met his first world class opponent, who just happened to be – Carl Froch – for the vacant WBC super middle crown.

Pascal was outboxed by Froch, again in Nottingham, but moved up to light heavy a year later and won the WBC belt in a big domestic fight against Adrian Diaconu.

In 2010, Pascal made his third successful defense of the title by upsetting former IBF/WBC champ Chad Dawson, a career high point.

Pascal was then involved in two title defenses against the old master, Bernard Hopkins, the first of which ended as a draw and the second of which was won via unanimous decision by Hopkins in 2011.

Since then, Pascal has won two fights against confidence building opposition and now steps up to help determine the second best light heavyweight in Canada, behind WBC champ Adonis Stevenson.

Bute vs. Pascal is definitely an intriguing matchup and not an easy outcome to determine, such are the variables at work.

It is a clear boxer vs. puncher situation and Bute, the boxer, has had trouble with punchers, namely Carl Froch, while Pascal the puncher has had trouble with boxers, particularly in the form of Bernard Hopkins.

At 6’1, Bute is at average height for his division but towers over the 5’10 Pascal, who is as tall as a welterweight, and right there, we have the obvious strategy for each fighter for this contest.

To maximize his advantages, Bute will want to use his height and reach to keep the challenger arm’s length, while Pascal will look to use his edge in strength to get on the inside and stay there.

It will be a war of will, discipline and endurance as each fighter will try to carry out his game plan while preventing his opponent from doing the same. Bute has been out of the ring since the Grachev fight and will be moving up to light heavy for the first time in a big fight, factors which could come into play.

Pascal will try to make this a close quarters brawl from the opening bell and Bute will have to keep on the move to prevent that from occurring while punishing his forward-marching rival.

If Pascal does not succeed in cutting off the ring and forcing Bute to fight, it is very unlikely that he will take the NABF strap from the ex-super middle champ; he won’t outbox Bute nor wear him down from a distance.

Bute’s two difficult clashes, against Carl Froch and Librado Andrade, were bouts in which he was forced to move a lot and also fight. An opponent can beat Bute by forcing him to do both, but not just one.

Pascal’s losses came when he couldn’t bull through his opponents and was outboxed. Similar to Bute, Pascal can be beat when presented with both obstacles, not just one.

Bute has the better boxing skills, better stamina and could be the harder puncher but Pascal has the better chin and is probably quicker.

This will likely lead to Pascal rushing forward to cut the distance and winging heavy punches in rapid succession. If this strategy works, Bute should be stopped in the first half of the fight. If it doesn’t Pascal’s stamina-reducing approach will have him in danger during the fight’s second half.

Hopkins defeated Pascal by use of body shots and slipping the big punches Jean likes to throw. Bute has superb body-punching skills but his defense isn’t near the level of that of Hopkins, but he will no doubt look to follow the fight plan of the American in order to prey upon Pascal’s stamina issues.

For Pascal, it’s all or nothing in the hope of tagging Bute on the chin. If he can hit the target flush, it’s all over but if not, Bute wins.

The undercard sees Ireland based Cuban heavyweight Mike Perez, 20-0 (12), against France based Cameroon slugger Carlos Takam, 29-1 (23), in a ten rounder.

Both men fought and won twice in 2013 and have thus been active, Takam has stopped the aged former contenders Michael Grant and Frans Botha as well as a long list of journeymen, while Perez has also mastered the line of journeymen and most recently defeated Mogomed Abdusalamov in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Both men have fought French heavyweight Gregory Tony; Takam was defeated in 2009, Perez TKO’d Toney on one round in 2011.

Look for Perez to win this one and go on to a world title shot later in the year.