Kovalev-Pascal II: Racism and Controversy
Four months after facing each other in March 2015, both Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal fought different opponents on the same card with different goals. Kovalev crushed a severely outgunned Nadjib Mohammedi, in hopes of illuminating his conquest of the Light Heavyweight division by taking his demolition skills to the bright lights of Las Vegas for the first time.
With hopes of a Kovalev rematch hanging in the balance, Pascal narrowly edged the rugged Yunieski Gonzalez on official scorecards, grabbing a controversial decision that many spectators objected to.
In the months leading up to this rematch between the light heavies, controversy has been the central theme, as Pascal made it his personal mission to bring Kovalev’s insensitive comments towards black fighters to the forefront of promotional efforts for this fight.
Race, by and large, has been the most effective tool in promoting prizefighting, dating back as far as Jack Johnson’s reign at Heavyweight in the early 1900’s, to as recently as today’s generation with fighters like Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather Jr., who are widely known for their use of racial commentary and animus in the promotion their fights. While many would ignorantly place the blame on fighters like Hopkins and Mayweather, if there wasn’t an audience for the stoking racial tensions in boxing, then it would not be used as such and only serve to damage their careers.
This instance is slightly different from your conventional, racially-driven boxing promotion, given Kovalev is the champion prizefighter and far from the underdog. He’s also made some pejorative characterizations of black fighters in interviews and on social media. Kovalev’s stinging commentary has emboldened Pascal to publically call him to task on his racial ideologies.
Pascal’s claims are highlighted by a resurfacing interview Kovalev did with the Russian boxing site AllBoxing, from April 2013. Kovalev made sweeping generalizations in his disparaging comments about “darkskinned(s).”
“In general, for some reason among African Americans across the guys inadequate. If they are on the sparring that something does not work, then you can with an elbow strike. In one case, the white beaten black. So he pulled out a gun after a workout and began waving it in the face of the enemy, threatening to shoot him,” declared Kovalev during the interview.
“This abnormal behavior. I’m not a racist, I know that everywhere there are good and bad guys, but the ‘tanned’ every day I like less,” said Kovalev.
Kovalev was even asked about his referring to Grover Young–the only opponent to draw with Kovalev on his otherwise perfect record–as a “thoroughbred nigga.”
Once this article had been discovered by the American boxing media, Kovalev’s manager, Egis Klimas, rushed to explain how Kovalev’s comments were translated badly and that his environment, the Russian equivalent of a ghetto, is responsible for his politically incorrect diction. If that were the only incident one could draw from, the ignorance that results when coming from a more racially-homogeneous country like Russia, would be more palatable as an excuse.
The former light heavyweight titlist, Beibut Shumenov gave a brief interview with Ring TV in early 2014, where the Kazakh was asked to weigh in on the translation of Kovalev’s AllBoxing interview. “I was shocked when I heard about his racist comments that he said in reference about African Americans,” said Shumenov. “There was no misinterpretation or lost in Russian-to-English translation of what he said.”
Not to mention, Kovalev revived the controversy last April, when he tweeted a picture of himself with a kid in a t-shirt of a boxer with a Chimpanzee’s face transposed on the boxer’s shoulders, while making reference to Hatian-Canadian rival Adonis Stevenson.
In interviews promoting the rematch, Pascal often spoke about Kovalev’s penchant to only refer to black fighters as “pieces of shit,” a description of fecal matter used historically to reference the pigment of black skin.
Both Klimas and Kovalev’s promoter, Kathy Duva have expressed an annoyance with questions about Kovalev’s racial commentary. On separate occasions, both have hoisted up trainers Don Turner and John David Jackson as proof that he couldn’t possibly be racist with black people in his corner. Jackson is Kovalev’s current trainer and stated publicly that he would not be in the Russian’s corner if he felt he was indeed racist.
However, Jackson is not omnipresent in every minute of Kovalev’s life; nor does having a black friend prevent one from harboring racial bias. As an example, Hulk Hogan probably has (or had) black friends, too. Those relationships didn’t prevent him from revealing ugly sentiments towards black people, when black people weren’t around. So how does Kovalev’s association with Turner or Jackson, mean that he couldn’t harbor any racial bias?
In last night’s final presser for Kovalev-Pascal II, Jackson and Pascal nearly came to blows over this specific issue leading Jackson to cordially invite Pascal to the parking lot to settle the dispute physically.
Kovalev has been mute on the allegations of racism from his challenger, outside of past interviews he’s given, where he has been apologetic for the distasteful tweet and declaring he’s not a racist. He’s pretty upset with Pascal for continuously calling him racist, despite it all.
In a media day promotion for this fight, Kovalev stated, “Pascal is a trash talker. I don’t care what he say because it’s just trash from his mouth. He start speaking trash to (make me) lose my mind and make me nervous; he will pay for this in the ring. Believe me. I am going to make him pay for this. It is a more personal fight (because of trash talk).”
Pascal, still adamant in his claims, has made this fight a personal quest to make Kovalev pay for all his insensitive racial commentary. He even split with longtime trainer, Marc Ramsay, for the legendary trainer, Freddie Roach, to help him achieve this goal.
Few recall that Pascal hurt Kovalev in their first encounter, and while Roach hasn’t been the best trainer in terms of defense, he can definitely add some offensive wrinkles to help Pascal in his attempt to topple the light heavyweight kingpin.
The most interesting aspect of all the hyperbole surrounding this fight, is the manner in which the (predominantly white) boxing media have largely ignored the relevance of terrible things that Kovalev said in that 2013 interview; while having no qualms about rehashing Floyd Mayweather’s 2008 racial tirade against Manny Pacquiao for speaking on racism in the sweet science.
Many fans have responded well to Kovalev, seemingly placing him as the victim, while Pascal has become the villain for maligning Kovalev. It all kind of suggests that it doesn’t bother them that Kovalev could indeed be that kind of person, but that they are more outraged that Pascal would even dare bring it up. That’s disturbing.
Another bit of irony, is the perception that somehow in Kovalev viciously beating a black fighter, affirms that Pascal is wrong about him. It does no such thing. That can only be changed by Kovalev’s words and actions going forward.
All of the animosity, “trash talk” and controversy encompassing this fight, has created a very personal situation for both fighters; which could end up being a win for fans in terms of action and drama. Kovalev has made it his personal mission to make Pascal pay for this. While beating Pascal may pacify this, that 2013 interview will always exist.
All photos by Vincent Ethier/Interbox
