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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Bute Thinks
75% Of The Crowd Will Be On His Side; Pascal Says 100% Will
Be On His Side…
When The Bout Ends
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL - Jean Pascal, the former WBC light heavyweight
champion of the world, and Lucian Bute, the former IBF super
middleweight champion of the world, met the press together
for the first time Tuesday afternoon at Bell Centre. Among
the guests invited at this prestigious press conference, we
saw Roy Jones Jr., one of the greatest fighter of his
generation, who will be an advisor for Pascal for the next
two months.
Pascal (27-2-1) and Bute (31-1-0), the two most popular
fighters in Canada, were in disagreement on three major
subjects: who will win their fight, who should be the
favorite and the underdog, and which one will have the
biggest support by the crowd May 25th at Bell Centre?
“No doubt in my mind, 75% of the crowd will support me,”
said Bute. “I really believe Pascal will be the favorite in
the sports book, considering my tough loss against Carl
Froch last year in Nottingham, but I will be so well
prepared physically, mentally and strategically, that I will
win for sure. However, I am realistic. I know it will be an
intense and difficult fight. A great challenge for me, and I
really want to live this experience.”
Pascal replied: “Personally, I think the support of the
crowd will be 50-50, or 60-40, but not 75-25. But I am sure
of one thing: when we will get out of the ring after the
bout, 100% of the crowd will be on my side! The favorite? It
should be Bute. He has been world champion from 2009 to last
year, he won 10
world championships bouts in a row, then, I believe I will
start the fight in the skin of the underdog.”
Pascal was laughing when the Bute's promoter, Jean Bédard,
said: “Lucian wanted so much this fight with Pascal, he was
calling me day after day in the last two months, to push me
to finalize a deal with Yvon Michel (the Pascal's promoter).
Pascal, I think, was not so hurry to finalize this deal…”
Pascal, who jumped in listening to that comment, said: “Many
many times in the last three years, I said that Lucian Bute
should respect more the desire of the Québec boxing fans,
and make this fight with me a reality. I am so happy to see
it's a reality now. Bute and me will be involved in the
greatest fight of the
Canadian boxing history. We will draw the biggest crowd ever
at Bell Centre (23,000). If Jean Bédard believes I did not
want to live that magic evening, he does not know me…”
When a journalist asked to each fighter to specify the
biggest quality on the rival, Bute said: “Jean is a bigger
man than me, he is certainly stronger physically than me,
and he is an explosive and strong puncher. I will need to be
wiser than him in the action.”
Pascal replied: “Bute has fast hands and he is very good
technically. However, he is more predictable than me in the
ring. I want to surprise him at the right moment in each
round.”
Yvon Michel, the GYM Group promoter, believes that Pascal is
deserving the support of the Québec boxing fans. “Jean is
deserving great respect in the Canadian sports scene,” said
Michel. “He has been Canadian champion seven times in the
amateurs, he has represented Canada in many major
tournaments including the Olympics, and in pro boxing, he
fought three actual world champions, Bernard Hopkins, Chad
Dawson and Carl Froch. His fight with Froch was the WBC
world championship bout of the year
(2008), he fought twice Hopkins, for a total of 24 rounds of
tough battle, and he lost by only two points on the total of
the rounds. And he beat a Chad Dawson undefeated in 2010.
But I will not deny that Bute is deserving respect also. He
has been a great champion. Pascal and Bute has been involved
in 17 world championship fights. May 25th, we will assist to
the most important local fight of the Canadian boxing
history.”
Marc Ramsay, Pascal's trainer, will work with Roy Jones and
the Floyd Mayweather Jr. trainers group in Las Vegas in the
next weeks. “Jean Pascal, like most of the boxing fans in
Canada, was hoping since two or three years to see InterBox
and the GYM Group finalized a deal to make real a fight
between him and Lucian Bute. Thanks God! It's true now. Jean
loves to be involved in huge boxing shows, and it is exactly
what's he will live May 25th. He will be so happy. He
believes in himself, and trust me, he will be perfectly
prepared to face that challenge.”
Stéphan Larouche, Bute's trainer, said: “I am working with
Lucian since the beginning of his pro boxing career, and I
worked with Pascal at the time he was fighting in the
amateurs. I know both very well. Both fighters have great
skills… and at least a weakness. Who will win? The one who
will be best that night, the one who will know how to impose
his skills and take advantage of the opponent's weakness. I
know how much Lucian is determinate to be the best man in
that prestigious bout.”
Both fighters have been agreed to take drug tests before the
fight… and after the fight, in case of an eventual
rematch. Apparently, both fighters will make 2 millions$ that
night.
Kerry Davis, the president of HBO, was present at this press
conference. “I have been informed that the Bell Centre will
be sold out May 25th, and more than 50,000 boxing fans will
pack be the soccer stadium in London that night, to assist
to the WBA and IBF super middleweight championship bout
between Carl
Froch and Mikkel Kessler,” said Davis. “We will televise
both fights that night, and we are expecting two fantastic
bouts, two very emotional fights.”
Jacques Aubé, the director of Evenko (the entertainment Bell
Centre's branch), said the tickets office opened at 9.00
o'clock A.M. Tuesday. “After only one hour, we sold over
3,000 tickets for this fight Bute-Pascal,” said Aubé. “We
really believe we will make a sold out in the next weeks.”
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