Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada (January 19th, 2014) – Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17KOs) dominated most of the action, but he was forced to survive after getting hurt in the last round – winning a twelve round unanimous decision over Lucian Bute (31-2, 24KOs). Bute was moving up to light heavyweight for the first time. 116-112, 117-110, 117-111 – all for Pascal.
Both boxers were tentative in the first, with Pascal having the edge. Then Pascal erupted with punches in the second and appeared to stun Bute late in the second. Bute came back with a better third, but then Pascal started firing back with hard punches in the fourth. Bute was allowing Pascal to outwork him in several of the rounds that followed, as he wasn’t throwing enough punches or countering the incoming shots.
Pascal was landing some bombs in the eight, and Bute appeared to go down, but the referee ruled it a slip. In the tenth, there was a clash of heads that opened up a cut above the nose of Bute, who also was having issues with a badly swollen left eye. Pascal suckered Bute in during the eleventh round and unleashed a monster arsenal of shots.
In the final round it wasn’t clear if Pascal was hurt or initially playing possum, but Bute staged a huge rally early in the round and had Pascal running around trying to coast as the punches were landing well. Bute seemed to be dominating the action in the final minute as well, with Pascal looking completely spent and trying to make it to the final bell.
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