Photos: Sergey Kovalev, Jean Pascal Ready For Rematch War

by David P. Greisman

Unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev and former 175-pound champion Jean Pascal both made weight on Friday for their rematch on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Kovalev came in at 174.6 pounds, while Pascal was 174.3.

Their first fight took place in the same arena last March, with Pascal putting up a fight before being dispatched by Kovalev in the eighth round. That effort, as well as Pascal’s ability to sell tickets, brought Kovalev back to Montreal for a second go-around as he works his way toward an anticipated clash with Andre Ward later in 2016.

His team also is still talking about wanting a fight with lineal light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, though political maneuvering and business factors on both sides have long kept that fight from coming to fruition.

Kovalev picked up a world title in 2013 with a victory over Nathan Cleverly, then made three defenses before topping Bernard Hopkins and acquiring two more belts in the process. Next came the Pascal bout, and then Kovalev’s most recent appearance, a third-round drubbing of mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi last July that brought the 32-year-old’s record to 28-0-1 with 25 KOs. A proposed November fight in Kovalev’s native Russia failed to materialize, and this January opportunity came up, leading to a six-month gap that is Kovalev’s longest time out of the ring in years.

Pascal, meanwhile, also hasn’t fought since the undercard of Kovalev-Mohammedi, and he didn’t look good that night, taking a controversial unanimous decision over Yunieski Gonzalez. The 33-year-old is 30-3-1 and hoping to resuscitate a career that peaked in August 2010, when he won the championship from Chad Dawson. That was followed by a draw to Hopkins and then a loss to Hopkins in their rematch.

On the undercard, Karim Mayfield and Dmitry Mikhaylenko also made weight. Mayfield came in at 147 pounds while Mikhaylenko was 146.7. This is Mayfield’s first fight since 2014, when he outpointed Michael Balasi after suffering back-to-back defeats against Thomas Dulorme and Emanuel Taylor. The 35-year-old is 19-2-1 with 11 KOs.

Mikhaylenko, 29, is undefeated at 20-0 with 9 KOs. He is coming off an eighth-round stoppage of former 140-pound fringe contender Johan Perez last August.

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