by David P. Greisman

So many fighters and writers have described boxers and boxing matches as being a “Rocky story,” drawing from the famed fight film series starring Sylvester Stallone. Former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal says his upcoming bout with three-belt 175-pound titleholder Sergey Kovalev is also out of “Rocky,” but with a twist.

“Your title must be the remix of Rocky IV,” Pascal said at a Dec. 22 press conference. “This is the North American guy against the Russian. But in this remix I'm not Apollo Creed. I'm Rocky.”

In Rocky IV, Apollo Creed faces Ivan Drago and is fatally injured in their bout. Rocky avenges Creed’s death and defeats Drago.

“I'm sorry, you don't get to be Rocky,” responded Kathy Duva of Main Events, which promotes Kovalev. “The last guy who fought thought the same thing. We're not going to have ‘Rocky’ here. What we're going to have here is a tremendous fight between two amazing fighters.”

Kovalev is coming off a big win over Bernard Hopkins, while Pascal’s past two bouts brought a decision over Lucian Bute and a no contest against Roberto Bolonti. Their match will take place March 14 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com