By Ian S Palmer
Former WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal of Haiti will be taking on undefeated Yunieski Gonzalez of Cuba at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, July 25th. The 10-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. and Canada on HBO. Meanwhile, fans in Britain can catch the action on BoxNation. This represents Pascal’s first bout outside of his adopted homeland of Canada since 2008. The former champ has been fighting mainly out of Montreal, Quebec over the past several years while Gonzalez now calls Miami, Florida his home..
The 32-year-old an Pascal climbs through the ropes with a record of 29-3-1 with 17 Kos while the 30-year-old Gonzalez has a perfect mark of 16-0 with 12 of them coming by way of Ko and he’s also stopped his last seven opponents dating back to 2012. This will be Pascal’s third fight this year. He was stopped by WBO, IBF and WBA champion Sergey Kovalev in the eighth round a few months ago and is hoping for a rematch. Gonzalez turned pro in 2010 after a fine amateur career and he’s definitely made a mark in the pro game already.
Pascal has good power in both hands as well as speed, but his chin can sometimes let him down. He has plenty of experience in big fights as he’s taken on top-notch talent in the past such as Adrian Diaconu, Chad Dawson, Lucian Bute, Car Froch, Kingsley Ikeke and Bernard Hopkins. His losses came by way of unanimous decision to Froch and Hopkins as well as the stoppage by Kovalev. He also fought to a draw with Hopkins. He’s fought 243 rounds since turning pro in 2005, stands just over 5-feeet-10-inches tall and has a 72-inch reach. Pascal’s knockout ratio currently stands at 50 per cent.
Gonzalez definitely has good power as his knockout ratio is 75 per cent, but he hasn’t faced any top level opponents as of yet. This is a definite step up in class for the Cuban. He’s a pure banger who has no interest in going the distance in his fights and that’s either going to be his downfall against Pascal or that’s what’s going to win the fight for him. Gonzalez has just 66 pro rounds under his belt and there isn’t a lot of information on him as his height and reach are unlisted at Boxrec.
Gonzalez likes to get inside and pound away and Pascal usually tires the longer a fight goes. However, Pascal can be quite dangerous early in fights as he has good power of his own. He’s most effective when he throws flurries and he’ll need to land a few to keep Gonzalez from walking through him. Pascal also has to make sure he doesn’t get sloppy as Gonzalez will make him pay for any blatant mistakes. The Cuban likes to go to the body and follow up with left hooks to the head.
Pascal doesn’t want to get into a slugfest with his younger opponent so he’ll need to use his boxing skills when possible. Gonzalez isn’t really interested in anything other than attacking and he’ll put the pressure on the former champ. However, it’s hard to rate Gonzalez’s chin at this stage of his career due to his level of opposition.
Prediction
Gonzalez is going to try and punch right through Pascal and he’ll either do it or be in for a rude awakening. If his chin isn’t rock solid he may find himself on the deck. Even though this is a 10-rounder I get the feeling it won’t go the distance. If Gonzalez can take a punch I can see him stopping Pascal in the second half of the fight.
