By Keith Idec

Jean Pascal readily admits that Eleider Alvarez has distinct advantages over him in their fight Saturday night.

Alvarez, one of Pascal’s former sparring partners, is trained by Marc Ramsey, Pascal’s longtime trainer. That’ll make defeating the Colombian-born Montreal resident even more difficult for Pascal when they meet in a 12-round light heavyweight fight at Bell Centre in Montreal (Showtime; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

“Alvarez is a great fighter,” Pascal told BoxingScene.com. “He has a good amateur background. He’s been my sparring partner for four or five years. And right next to him is my former coach, Marc Ramsey. So because of that, I’ve got two strikes against me in this fight because Alvarez knows me well, because we used to spar. But Marc Ramsey, his coach, knows me by heart because he trained me for 20 years. So I know this is gonna be a difficult task for me.”

The Pascal-Alvarez winner will get a shot at the winner of the main event Saturday night – a rematch between WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) and Andrzej Fonfara (29-4, 17 KOs, 1 NC). The 33-year-old Alvarez (22-0, 11 KOs), who has long been Stevenson’s mandatory challenger, is more than a 4-1 favorite over the 34-year-old Pascal (31-4-1, 18 KOs, 1 NC).

“I think I’m up to the challenge,” said Pascal, who’s now trained by Stephan Larouche. “I did my homework. And I know I’m a better fighter. I’m faster, I’m smarter and also I’m way more experienced than this guy. I’ve been there and done that on the big stage. And the one thing about experience is you cannot buy experience. You have to live it. I lived it many times and this is only his second fight on the big stage. So I’m gonna try to use my experience to get an advantage on him.”

Alvarez recorded the most noteworthy win of his seven-year pro career in his last fight, a fifth-round knockout of former IBF super middleweight champ Lucian Bute (32-5, 25 KOs) on February 24 in Quebec City, Canada. Alvarez impressed Pascal in that bout.

Pascal acknowledged that agreeing to fight someone he knows so well has been “bizarre and weird.” The former WBC light heavyweight champion accepted the fight because winning would earn the Laval, Quebec, resident a shot at regaining his title.

“I’ve tried to keep it on a professional level,” said Pascal, who last sparred against Alvarez before his first TKO loss to Sergey Kovalev in March 2015. “We’re still friends and we still talk. But right now, for 36 minutes they’re gonna be my enemies. When the referee raises my hand after my victory, we’ll be friends again.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.