By Keith Idec

Sergey Kovalev’s trainer doesn’t think his fighter has taken Jean Pascal lightly because he stopped Pascal in their mostly one-sided first fight.

In fact, John David Jackson expects a highly motivated Kovalev to tear through Pascal in even easier fashion during their light heavyweight championship rematch Saturday night at Bell Centre in Montreal (HBO).

“I don’t worry about that,” Jackson said during a recent conference call. “Sergey understands the task at hand. [Pascal] may not be the same fighter he once was, but he’s still dangerous. We’re still going according to plan, and getting him prepared the proper way. He’s a proud champion and he’s gonna do his best to execute his game plan.

“So we’re not worried about what Pascal is gonna bring to the table. We’re just concentrating [on] that Sergey’s ready, ready and motivated to do the job. You listen to him talk now, and he’s definitely motivated. He wants to make a statement with this fight. There’s no shortcomings on our end. He’ll be ready come fight night.”

Beyond needing to win to secure more important fights against Andre Ward and/or Adonis Stevenson, Jackson believes Pascal’s verbal attacks on Kovalev have given the Russian knockout artist even more motivation to win impressively.

“The fact that this fight is kind of a grudge match between both fighters makes it easier for Sergey to train harder and concentrate more, because he wants to make a statement with this victory this time,” Jackson said. “So it’s not really hard to get him motivated. It’s just that we have to make sure this time we cross all the Ts and dot all the Is, and make sure everything goes correct, the way it should’ve gone the first fight.”

The 32-year-old Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) dropped Pascal (30-3-1, 17 KOs, 1 NC) in the third round of their March 14 fight at Bell Centre. The IBF/WBA/WBO 175-pound champion hurt Pascal badly in the eighth round as well and was winning the fight 68-64 on all three scorecards when it was stopped. Pascal, who was still standing, contends referee Luis Pabon stepped in to halt the action too soon.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.