1. Use His Athleticism
Photo by Vincent Ethier
Jean Pascal is a skilled athlete and this has helped him his entire career including his win over Lucian Bute last year in Montreal. Pascal will probably be the most athletic fighter Sergey Kovalev has seen yet.
Pascal has the speed and quickness to avoid Kovalev and make him miss. Pascal must set traps for Kovalev and lure him into a technical match up. Pascal at times found himself in a slug fest with both Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins. He must not tempt Kovalev the same way because Pascal was hurt late in the fight against Dawson and Kovalev carries much more firepower than Dawson does.
Pascal said he doesn’t believe Kovalev can box with him the same way he did with Hopkins. Pascal has said the Hopkins that Kovalev met in November last year is not the same Hopkins he faced twice earning a draw in their fist fight and losing the second one.
Kovalev has shown in recent fights he can move well in addition to throwing serious firepower. Pascal will need to be faster to the punch and be able to move away to make Kovalev miss and ultimately frustrate him.
