By Edward Chaykovsky
John David Jackson, the trainer for WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0, 25KOs), is predicting a very vicious ending when his fighter steps in the ring on Saturday night for his rematch with Jean Pascal (30-3-1, 17KOs) at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The two boxer collided last March at the same venue, with Kovalev winning the bout with an eight round stoppage. Afterwards, Pascal complained about the fight being stopped too quickly and demanded an immediate rematch takes place.
Late last year, Pascal made a very unexpected move when he parted ways with his career trainer Marc Ramsey and brought on Hall of Fame coach Freddie Roach.
Jackson is pretty confident that Roach is not going to be a factor in the outcome in any way possible.
"No, none whatsoever. First of all, Freddie was not a defensive specialist, if you look at his fights and his career, defense wasn’t his forte. I’m not saying anything bad about Freddie, he does well with the fighters that he has and he has some very good fighters, but you can’t teach an old dog new trick, especially when it’s washed up," Jackson told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
Prior to hiring Roach, Pascal had an interim fight at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He faced Cuban Yunieski Gonzalez. In a war, Pascal pulled out a very close ten round unanimous decision. There were many observers who felt Gonzalez did enough to win.
Regardless of the win, Pascal did not look good in the fight. He was getting tagged often. He was hurt several times and he didn't react well to punches.
Jackson strongly believes that Pascal is now a shot fighter after the punishment he took in the first bout with Kovalev. He says the rematch will be the end of Pascal's run.
"Pascal is finished, that last fight with Sergey really took a lot out of him and I think this time Sergey is gonna put the nail on the coffin. The fact that he has Freddie Roach to help means nothing. First thing, Freddie can’t fight for him, once the bell rings Pascal has to go out and fight Sergey, so it doesn’t help him at all. Number two, if your trainer from the time that you were a child walks away from you and tells, 'Don’t take this fight because you’re gonna get hurt,' what does that tell you?," Jackson said.
"The fact that he’s got Freddie means nothing, it brings nothing to the table, there’s nothing that Freddie can show that will be able to help him to deflect anything that Sergey is bringing to the table. Once you get hit you revert back to what you do best and what you’ve been taught prior to that fight, so the fact that it’s Freddie’s first fight with him, it will probably be his last because once he gets hit by Sergey. he’s gonna go back to what he once did, and in the last fight what he did before didn’t work for him, so it’s not gonna work in the rematch."