IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs) is looking to get an exception by the International Boxing Federation in order for him to bypass #1 IBF mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi so that Kovalev can defend his titles against 32-year-old former WBC 175 pound champ Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17 KOs) on March 14th next year at a still to be determined venue.
With WBC champion Adonis Stevenson taking his time in defending his title against Pascal, Kovalev is looking to move on in and take out Pascal before Stevenson has a chance. It will then give Kovalev an opportunity to beat Pascal before facing Stevenson at some point in the future if he can get him to agree to the fight.
Beating Pascal and Stevenson would effectively clean out the division for Kovalev. The only guy left after those two is WBA champion Jurgen Braehmer, who Kovalev will likely never get a shot at no matter how hard he tries.
Kovalev and his promoters at Main Events will need to wait at least 10 days before the IBF makes their decision to grant or deny his request to temporarily bypass the Mohammedi fight. It’s really no big deal if they insist that Kovalev take the fight against Mohammedi, because it’s a very, very easy fight for Kovalev on paper. You can make an argument that the Pascal fight is a very easy one as well, but the money for a Kovalev fight is obviously much better than the Mohammedi fight.
Pascal fought Roberto Bolonti last Saturday night in a fight that was stopped in the 2nd round and ruled a no contest after Pascal hurt Bolonti while hitting him on the break. It was not a great finish and definitely not the ideal way to build up a fight between Pascal and Kovalev. However, there will still be enough boxing fans in the U.S interested in seeing Kovalev fight Pascal that it really won’t matter.
Pascal still has a recognizable name to the hardcore boxing fans in the U.S and that will help make the Kovalev-Pascal fight a success. Granted, it won’t be a huge fight, but it will be a step above the guys that Kovalev has been fighting.
Kovalev recently defeated 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision last November at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The fight was built up to be a competitive match-up, but it turned out to be a one-sided mismatch with Kovalev totally dominating Hopkins from start to finish.
Pascal isn’t in Hopkins’ league as we saw in their two fights in the past. However, styles make fights and it’s always possible that Pascal could give Kovalev some problems with his hand speed. Pascal is very hittable though, and it’s hard to picture him being able to last more than 6 rounds before Kovalev lowers the boom on him.
