By Luke Furman
As reported a few days ago, former light heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal (32-5-1, 19 KOs) was planning a comeback fight.
Last December, he pulled off a big upset with the oddsmakers, when he secured an impressive stoppage of previously unbeaten Ahmed Elbiali (16-1, 13 KOs) in the sixth round. The contest was the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card from the Hialeah Park in Miami, Florida.
Prior to the contest, Pascal stated that his contest with Elbiali was going to the final bout of his 12-year career.
Reports recently surfaced that there were discussions for Pascal to return to the ring on May 19th, as part of the undercard to the light heavyweight showdown between Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack, which takes place in Toronto.
That scenario will not happen.
Instead, Pascal has reached an agreement to come out of retirement to face former mixed martial arts fighter and hockey enforcer Steve Bosse.
The bout is scheduled for June 29, with the venue still to be determined.
In what appears to be the Canadian version of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor, Pascal has promised to batter Bosse and send him running back to mixed martial arts.
Bosse made his boxing debut as a heavyweight with a victory over Julio Cuellar Cabrera at the Montreal Casino in February. The 36-year-old from St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., played six seasons of professional hockey in the 2000s in a Quebec league that encouraged fighting. He then turned to MMA.
Bosse was 12-2 as a MMA fighter, winning two of three bouts in the UFC. He last fought in the UFC in June 2016, earning a unanimous decision over Sean O'Connell.
Pascal's defeats have come at the hands of Carl Froch, twice to light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, Eleider Alvarez and Bernard Hopkins (in their rematch).
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.