By Terence Dooley

WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal was an interested spectator at the Froch-Dirrell fight.  Pascal waged war with Froch for the WBC super-middleweight title at this very venue, the Trent FM Arena, in December of last year.  The man from Quebec, Canada gained a lot of British fans that night; he told BoxingScene.com that he had come back to the UK in order to support Carl and meet-and-greet the British fans. 

Indeed, Pascal spent nearly thirty-minutes posing for photographs and signing autographs, a large number of the Nottingham faithful even went as far as apologising to Pascal for booing him during the war with Froch.  Pascal, 26, said that the acclaim from the fans and his friendship with Froch had taken him by surprise.  “I think England is a beautiful country and I love the English fans,” he beamed. 

“Carl is a friend of mine and I came to support him in this tough fight.  At the beginning the way the fans came up to me was kind of weird and it is weird that Carl became my good friend but he is a tough guy and a brilliant boxer so I am happy with our surprise friendship.”

Pascal won the WBC 175lb belt by waging another pitched battle, this time with the then-undefeated Romanian Adrian Diaconu.  Pascal now has his own division to conquer.  Still, he will be keeping an eye on Froch; Pascal believes that Carl has a good chance of winning the Super Six tournament.

“I am with Carl all the way,” declared Pascal.  “I’ve put my money on him in the Super Six.  It was also a dream come true for me to win my own world title but now I must keep that dream alive over the next decade by staying champion.  Working hard will be the key.  I will have a rematch with Adrian Diaconu in December – then I will try to take over the world.  I have spoken to Carl about a rematch at 175lb or catchweight in Montreal at the end of 2011 or 2012.”

Carl should be done with the Super Six by this point.  A rematch with Pascal, plus the possibility of the 175lb title, will give Carl something to push for during the Super Six process.  Pascal himself has many irons in the fire at the moment; he takes on Diaconu on December the 11th at the Bell Centre, Quebec.  A Pascal-Froch rematch may be on ice for the moment but it is a tantalising possibility for 2011.

Tyson Fury was also on-hand to support Froch.  Tyson, 21, has been a pro for less than a year but is making waves in the domestic heavyweight division.  The 6’ 7’’ boxer believes that Carl, who is his promotional stablemate, needs to take a ‘one fight at a time’ approach if he is to win the Super Six.

“I’m backing Carl all the way,” said Fury.  “He will come on strong.  It is going to be a hard tournament for any of them and I wouldn’t like to pick anyone of them to win as you have to take it one fight at a time - especially at this level.”

Tyson was embroiled in his own ‘robbery’ controversy last month when relieving Darren McDermott of the English title courtesy of a ridiculous 98-92 scorecard from referee Terry O’Connor.  Fury was in action again two-weeks after that fight; however, he looked lethargic in a six-threes contest with Tomas Mrazek over in Ireland.  Tyson told me that a hand injury has been hampering him; he wants to put it right before rematching McDermott.

“I’m hoping to get over my hand injury and get out soon as possible,” revealed Fury.  “A rematch with McDermott is definitely on the cards, it is just a case of when and where.  Going the ten-rounds did me a world of good.  I’d only gone four-rounds before so it was a massive difference.  It has been ten-months and I’ve already had nine fights.  I’m looking forward to the future.  I’m hoping to go for the British title soon.”

Fury was quick to dismiss Audley Harrison, who won the Prizefighter tournament at the start of this month.  Tyson believes that Harrison’s tournament win means nothing in the greater scheme of things.  “Audley Harrison is the three-round king, with his Olympic gold medal and all of that, and he will always be the three-round king,” thundered Fury. 

“Audley hasn’t got anything that I want – don’t forget that he hasn’t got a real title.  Unless he gets something I want he won’t be on my radar.  I will concentrate on producing a knockout performance when I rematch McDermott.  I’ll get him out of there this time and will do it within six-rounds.”

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