THE VIEW'S BOXING REVIEW
JANUARY
Bute looked on edge when anything came his way, no surprise given the manner of his destruction at the hands of Froch.
There was no real change in pace as the contest eked into the 2nd half. Each round took a couple of minutes before anything significant was thrown, Pascal still resembling his Roy Jones Jr type stance (he had trained him for the bout). It was becoming clear that Pascal was happy to sit back and pot shit, given Bute’s reluctance to force the fight for fear of being caught.
The eighth round saw Pascal land a straight left hand which rocked Bute back across the ring. Bute responded by pinning Pascal to the ropes with a soft attack, only to be countered with a right hook followed by a left hand which put Bute to the canvas. This however was ruled a slip by the referee, must to Pascal's dismay.
Rounds nine and ten saw Pascal land repeated power shots on Bute to the point that at the end of the tenth round, Pascal began showboating and looking in the other direction while Bute tried to land his shots. A clash of heads opened up a cut above Bute's nose causing his left eye to swell in the process.
The eleventh and twelfth bells finally woke Bute up and he went straight onto the front foot. Bute pinned Pascal up several times throughout each round landing repeated power shots.
The twelfth round in particular saw Bute
rock Pascal's head back many times. But it was a case of too little too late.
It will be interesting to see where both fighters go from here. Especially as Pascal looked to have put water on the flame of a possible fight with fellow countryman Adonis Stevenson. Bute however seems to have lost his confidence since the Carl Froch defeat. But his supposed glass chin he has been branded with seemed to withstand a lot of heavy shots so maybe this will motivate him for any future bouts he may have.
Undercard: M Perez Draw Carlos Takam, Eleider Alvarez UD Andrew Gardner, Mikail Zewski TKO7 Krzysztof Szot,
By Damien McKinley
Jean Pascal vs Lucian Bute opened up 2014's first “superfight”.
Both fighters are superstars of the sport in Canada and this fight had been highly anticipated. Fans were wondering which of the two fighters would turn up. Would it be the Bute of old who was rated as the top Super Middleweight in the world by many before Andre Ward's domination of the Super Six tournament, or the Bute who fell apart at the hands of Carl Froch. Would the Jean Pascal who handed Chad Dawson his first defeat turn up or again or would it be the one who failed to turn up against Bernard Hopkins?
The opening proceedings saw very little from either fighter. Pascal boxed with his hands low, choosing to fight in short busts in the last remaining seconds of each round. Meanwhile Bute seemed content to play the counter game; though there was a sense of nervousness about him, with his footwork looking erratic at times.
It was a sloppy fight with little action & as it approached the half way mark it was clear Bute needed to do more.