05/25, Lucian Bute VS Jean Pascal

[BoxingSpecialist2]

Hey guys, if you haven't heard the news, a deal has been signed and delivered for a May 25th fight between Romanian-Canadian Lucian Bute, 31-1 (24 KO) and Haitian-Canadian Negro Jean Pascal, 27-2-1 (16 KO). A venue hasn't been announced yet, but as both boxers are based in Montreal, Quebec, I would think the Bell Centre is the most logical location to hold this fight. It will certainly be the biggest fight held in Montreal, I'd say in the greater part of 10, even 20 or 30 years. Many in the Canadian boxing community are calling it the most significant all-Canadian fight of all time.

This is a fight that's been building in Montreal for years, both guys have been world champions, Lucian probably is the slightly bigger star and draw, and now finally this fight is being made! Whoever wins this fight will be moving onto big things. Bute is promoted by InterBox (company of former world champion Eric Lucas), and Pascal is promoted by GYM (company owned by businessman Yvon Michel).

Lucian Bute is a slick, southpaw boxer-puncher with a lot of speed of movement. He reached his peak in 2010-2011, a time when many people were calling him as a top 10 P4P talent, before being shockingly upset in 2012 by Carl Froch, stopped in 5 one-sided rounds in England. Since then he has won a hard fought decision over tough Russian Denis Grachev. Between 2007 and 2012, Bute had 9 title defenses which included some amazing KO's over guys like Jean Paul Mendy, Edison Miranda (on HBO), and Fulgencio Zuniga, as well as a noteworthy decision over Glen Johnson (on Showtime).

Jean Pascal is a strong, tough, all guts come forward type fighter and early in his career was known as a guy who gets into a lot of wars. Most recently, Pascal is coming off of 2 fights with Bernard Hopkins (a draw and a loss), as well as an unimpressive decision win over Aleksy Kuziemski. Jean Pascal has also recently suffered recurring shoulder injuries and that partially explains why he has been so inactive as of late. Pascal is most known for his loss to Hopkins, win over Chad Dawson, and loss to Carl Froch, with his fights against Hopkins and Dawson being on HBO.

What is everyone's opinion on this fight and who do you like to win? Any predictions and/or comments on the fight?

 

[BoxingSpecialist2]

Personally, I am super excited for this fight, and I will probably be driving up to Montreal and attending the fight live!

I am a fan of the Canadian boxing scene, so I like to support fights in Quebec, Quebec has given us some great fighters today (Lucian Bute, Antonin Decarie, Mikael Zewski, Kevin Bizier, Kevin Lavallee, Arash Usmanee are some Quebec great fighters of today) and in past years (Arturo Gatti, Eric Lucas, and Adrian Diaconu). Montreal is a hotbed of boxing even in global terms, I would say it stands on par with any American city including Las Vegas, New York or Los Angeles. When Lucian was a champion, from 2007-2012, he was regularly drawing 16,000+ spectators per every of his fights in Bell Centre, and he was making big money ($1,000,000+) per every fight. There isn't a single boxer in USA that regularly draws 15,000+ per fight, the only possible exceptions to that might be Saul Alvarez (who is Mexian), Manny Pacquiao (who is Filipino) or maybe Floyd Mayweather (the only real American boxer I can think of who commands buying interest) . Quite honestly though, by fighting in Montreal, Lucian has become a bigger star and made more money than many American Negroes such as Andre Ward, Bernard Hopkins, Zab Judah, Steve Cunningham, Jermain Taylor and others. There's simply more money and spectators in Montreal than anywhere in the USA. Bernard Hopkins for example, has in the past had trouble to fill 2,000 seat arenas and his PPVs have been among the most worst selling in boxing history.

I'm also a huge fan and supporter of Lucian Bute and I have been since the mid 2000's, probably going on 7 or 8 years now that Ive been watching all of his fights and supporting him. I remember when he came onto the scene as a huge knockout puncher in about 2004 and he has been captivating since then. He's also a first generation immigrant from Europe and that's great so I like to support that.

As for the matchup between Bute and Pascal, on one hand I wish the fight had been made say 2 years ago (say 2011), because I feel at that time Bute probably would have knocked out or stopped Pascal. Bute does seem to have slipped just a bit in the past 2 years in terms of his speed and once invincible killer instinct. However, Pascal has also slipped in the past 2 years in terms of his unimpressive losses to Bernard and his repeated shoulder injuries.

In my opinion, Bute will be much too fast for Pascal. Froch was able to crowd and out-strengthen Bute, but Froch really has been at the top of his game and Pascal is not as good as Froch. So, I like Bute to use his speed and outbox Pascal in this fight. Pascal is slow on his feet, and though he is strong, Pascal is not exactly a knockout puncher like Froch. I don't think Pascal will be able to hurt Bute, and I also don't think he will be fast enough to catch Bute. He will be outboxed similar or even worse as he was by Hopkins. Actually, stylistically, I think this is a perfect fight for Lucian and I fully expect him to win this one! A win over Pascal is just what Bute needs to put his career on the right track and I firmly believe he can and should win this fight.

My Prediction: Lucian Bute W 12 Jean Pascal. Lucian is the better fighter (faster, better defense and movement, hits harder by the punch) and really should win this. Pascal is tough and will constantly be coming forward, but he's a bit slow and doesn't hit anywhere near as hard as Froch. Pascal's also had some bad injuries lately. All things considered, I like Bute in this fight.

Btw, here's a video of Lucian at his best, Summer 2011, when he absolutely flattened African-Frenchman J.P. Mendy (who was undefeated coming into this fight);

[video=youtube;4BwYyhUyvJg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BwYyhUyvJg[/video]

 

[Charles Martel]

We'll have this fight and Froch-Kessler on May 25.

It's going to be an excellent day for the sport of boxing.

 

[Liverlips]

Anyone know what weight Bute-Pascal is going to be at? I don't like what I saw with Bute the last two fights but Pascal moved to 175 as he was killing himself making 168.

Either way, Bute should win this if he boxes. But if it is at 168 he could KO the weight drained Negro.

 

[Westside]

The fight will be at 175. Really don't know how this helps Bute. I hope his loss and lackluster wins recently are not omen of what is to come on 5/25. Regardless both will be paid handsomely. They are saying this will be the biggest fight in Canadian boxing history.

Also, HBO is said to be featuring this fight and Froch vs Kesseler on the same night! I guess the tribesmen over there may be listening to CFers.

 

[BoxingSpecialist2]

The fight will be at 175. Really don't know how this helps Bute.

Yes, that is correct the fight is happening at 175 pounds (light heavyweight). It's Bute's first fight at 175.

However, I don't think Pascal has any sort of "size advantage", because Pascal himself has only been at light heavyweight a few years, and, similar to Bute, Pascal began his career at 168 pounds. Pascal is short for this weight, only 5'10", compared to Bute who is 6'2". Because he is so tall, Bute should put the weight on nicely.

I hope his loss and lackluster wins recently are not omen of what is to come on 5/25. Regardless both will be paid handsomely. They are saying this will be the biggest fight in Canadian boxing history.

Yes, great comments you make and I hope so too!

Reading people's opinions on mainstream boxing sites (such as BoxingScene or Boxrec), the general opinion seems to be that this is a 50-50 fight. Betting odds will be close to even money (+100).

Anything can happen in boxing and Jean Pascal is a very tough guy who keeps coming. That being said, I personally prefer Bute's chances. Bute is the faster boxer, hits harder, and he should be able to outbox Pascal. Bute has all the tools and should win this. It is true that Bute has looked "off" in his last 2 fights, but Pascal has also looked very "off" in his last 3 fights.

I feel Bute is the better fighter and really should win this so long as his training and confidence is in the right place! His speed and movement should be the difference, he will be a lot faster than Pascal. Pascal isn't a big puncher like Froch and that should help Lucian!

Also, HBO is said to be featuring this fight and Froch vs Kesseler on the same night!

Yea, what an awesome night it will be!

 

[Charles Martel]

It's been a long wait, but Bute-Pascal will be on the first HBO telecast of 2014 on January 18.

 

[Westside]

This is a do or die fight for Bute. He must return his form of 3 years ago. If so, should be easy night for him. If he wins impressively, big to huge fights await him in Canada.