By Cliff Rold

The crowd was fired up at the start and had their energy back for exciting close, but in between one thing was abundantly clear:

Jean Pascal was the better man.

It can be argued that for too much of twelve rounds, Pascal was the only one who came to win.  Despite some success with the jab, the taller and longer Lucian Bute didn’t let his hands go.  Having been stopped by Carl Froch in 2012, and put in trouble in his next fight against Denis Grachev, was Bute gun shy?

Or was the speed and unorthodox approach of Pascal freezing?  

Let’s go the report cards.

Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Pascal A-; Bute B+/Post: Same 

Pre-Fight: Power – Pascal B; Bute B+/Post: B+; B+
Pre-Fight: Defense – Pascal C; Bute C/Post: B; C
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Pascal B; Bute B-/Post: A; B-

The fight was no gem but it probably wasn’t as bad as the social media reaction it created.  The first three rounds were intriguing.  The last two were fairly thrilling with Pascal rocked in both and fighting back to kill rallies when he needed too.

It was everything in between that sucked the life out of the affair.

Before the final two rounds, it could be argued it was one of Pascal’s best outings.  He wobbled Bute a few times and knew exactly who he was for the night.  Whether it was truly the influence of Roy Jones in the corner, or simply a fighter putting together the right game plan in general, Pascal fought with vigor and confidence.

Bute didn’t fight enough at all.

There will be some who look at the end and wonder if Bute could have produced those moments earlier.  That fails to take into account the fatigue of late rounds and what was coming back.  Pascal was getting off first and while he didn’t always land clean, he landed suddenly. 

We’ve seen it before.  Pascal is technically flawed.  It looks like he should be beatable and against the right guys he is.  Against Bute, and before him Chad Dawson (defending the WBC belt and claiming the lineal crown), opponents can look surprised by his speed.  Pascal might not be the fastest fighter in boxing, but he’s not far off. 

At Light Heavyweight, he’s right near the top.

With the win, Pascal opens up great possibility for himself.  While the world wants to see lineal king Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev, Montreal would put together a monster draw putting Pascal with Stevenson instead.  Of course, he could also make hay with Kovalev and attempt to build an even bigger showdown with Stevenson down the road.

It’s all about what will marinate.  Is the presumed best fight in the division, Stevenson-Kovalev, to wait longer?  Stevenson already looks aimed at a defense against Andrejz Fonfara before a Kovalev fight can happen.  Waiting on Pascal could mean more of what we got Saturday.  Pascal-Bute might have been the best fight it could be two-three years ago.  It waited too long.

Whether its Stevenson-Pascal or Stevenson-Kovalev, one of these potentially big fights is likely to take some rot before it can happen.  

For Bute, it’s back to the drawing board.  While he said he wants a rematch, no one else should (and that includes Pascal no matter his comments after the fight).  Still a draw in Montreal, could Bute lure the winner of a proposed Bernard Hopkins-Beibut Shumenov unification clash into the ring?

He’d better hope so.  Short of that, Bute’s big options appear limited.

Report Card Picks 2014: 1-0

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com