By Luke Furman
Earlier this month, former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal announced his retirement from the sport.
Pascal fought a long line of top opponents - like Sergey Kovalev, Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, Carl Froch, and several others.
But he strongly feel that the opponent he pursued the most, current WBC world champion Adonis Stevenson, dropped the ball when it came to making their fight.
At one time their contest was by far the biggest money fight to be made in Canada and would have easily been a sold out event.
But for one reason or another, the fight never happened - and Pascal feels Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) is solely to blame.
He says a few years ago the fight was a very lucrative opportunity, but now the contest has lost at least half it's worth.
"It's dead in the water. Stevenson missed the opportunity a few years ago," said Pascal to The Montreal Journal. "He missed the boat, and I'm sorry for the fans. If he knocks on my door again, I don't want to know anything.
"When I was pitching him invitations, I knew it was the right time, both for the sport and financially. There was a craze [with the public demand], and the money was on the table. Three years ago, we could have made $3 million each. Today, it would be half this amount.
"It doesn't disappoint me because I beat him twice in the amateurs. I'm better than him, and the evidence is there. It was up to him to show otherwise. I was the champion before him and I beat Chad Dawson before him. We're going to let him die with his fear."
Pascal (32-5-1, 19 KOs) walked away from the sport back on December 8th, when he traveled over to Florida and turned back the block with a stoppage victory over undefeated, and favored by some to win, Ahmed Elbiali.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
