We already have just had the ‘Battle of Brooklyn’ but on January 18th boxing will showcase another fight between two resident Canadians when Jean Pascal fights Lucian Bute at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada for the NABF light-heavyweight title.
The odds are pretty close for this encounter and if you were to bet with the best bookmaker in 888 Sport then you may get a decent return betting on either fighter. Pascal is 3/4 favourite while Bute is 27/25 against. If I was to bet on this one my money would be on Pascal, who is on a winning streak of two since his points loss to Bernard Hopkins in 2011. Bute, while he just beat an unbeaten fighter in Denis Gracev on points, may still bare the psychological scars of his crushing fifth round KO defeat to Carl Froch in 2012. That loss confirmed to all and to the man himself that his questionable chin was truly fragile as Froch had him in all sorts of trouble from the opening. Bare in mind that the only world class opponent that he had stopped previously was Jermain Taylor and that was due to exchaustion and stamina issues more than Froch’s power telling the story. Pascal can hit when he connects although he can be made to look quite one dimensional at times and can be handily outboxed, as Bernard Hopkins showed.
It would not surprise this editor if Pascal was to try and swarm him from the opening bell and attempt to take him out but if Bute can get behind his jab and use his footwork to keep himself from being cornered then he can take it on points. But as Librado Andrade showed Bute is not all that hard to find, and he should prepare to withstand a few daunting moments.
On paper Bute is the harder puncher but even the most talented has failed to put Haitian away and his level of competition has been better than Bute’s despite the more recognisable names on the latter’s record, most of which had seen better days.
You can expect Pascal taking the role of the hunter while Bute tries to keep things tactical, but I am going for the former to wait patiently to find his moment and end things late.