WBA "regular" light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal is coming off a very big 2019.
Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs) retired in December 2017 after an upset stoppage over undefeated Ahmed Elbiali.
The 27-year-old boxer resumed his career the following year, with a sense of unfinished business.
Pascal started off 2019 with a stunning upset win over undefeated Marcus Brown for the WBA strap. And close out the year with a twelve round decision over former two division champion Badou Jack to retain the belt.
Now he's ready for more big fights in 2020, and 175 is a very loaded division at the moment.
"I'm going to sit down with my advisor Greg Leon and my coach Stéphan Larouche," said Pascal to the Montreal Journal. "As you know, I do not refuse any fight."
His trainer would like to see him take a big rest before fighting again.
"I wish for him to have a beautiful and long rest," said Stéphan Larouche.
"Fights like the one against Jack can take a lot from your body. For example, Sergey Kovalev fought two months after his victory in Russia and he was unable to deliver a good performance against Canelo Alvarez. Your body needs a lot of rest. A good two or three months. His next fight won't be far enough away.
"[Pascal is] doing it right. He has the lifestyle of an athlete of that age. He knows he can no longer afford to do what he did in the past."
And Pascal realizes that he's not longer a young fighter and must take precautions after a fight is over to rest body properly.
"We did twelve rounds of non-stop boxing. I am no longer 20 years old, I see it with my marked face. Before, I came out unmarked from fights. I will take several months of rest. I'm going back to the gym in a month, but I'm going to wait at least four months before I accept a fight,” said Pascal.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.