Pascal ready for Gonzalez, possible Kovalev rematch

— -- LAS VEGAS -- Jean Pascal was knocked out in the eighth round before his home crowd in Montreal on March 14 by unified titleholder Sergey Kovalev in a fantastic fight.

Four months later, Pascal, the former light heavyweight world champion, will make his return on Kovalev's undercard with HBO and promoters Main Events and InterBox eventually but certainly intending to put together a rematch between two of the best 175-pound fighters in the world.

Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) will face 30-year-old Miami-based Cuban defector Yunieski Gonzalez (16-0, 12 KOs), who is taking a massive step up in competition, in a 10-round bout. Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) will look to defend his three world title belts against mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs) in the main event on Saturday night (10 ET, HBO) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Some might view Pascal's appearance on Kovalev's undercard as a bit humbling for a guy who regularly draws big crowds to arenas in Montreal and Quebec City as the main event fighter. But Pascal said at Thursday's final news conference that he has no problem with it and that he is excited to be fighting in Las Vegas for the first time in his 10-year career.

"It's part of the game," Pascal said. "I think I'm the best light heavyweight in the world. I just had a bad night March 14. I'm still the cash cow because if this fight will be at home [in Quebec], there'll be like 15,000 people and not only 1,000 sold. I know I'm the cash cow of the division."

Pascal was referring to the acknowledged difficulty Main Events has had selling tickets for Kovalev-Mohammedi, which is viewed by most as a mismatch in Kovalev's favor.

Kovalev is headlining a Las Vegas card for the first time after fighting mostly on the East Coast. Mohammedi, of France, is entirely unknown, and it's the dead of summer in the desert. That is not a recipe for a hot fight.

But the 32-year-old Pascal is here, he said, to put on a show and to shake off a loss he said was hard to get over.

"It was not easy," he said. "I have a lot of confidence. I believe in myself -- a lot of pride, too. You win some; you lose some. The most important thing is when you lose you learn from that. And I learned a lot. I changed my style a little bit, and I am going to become a better boxer. I want to make a statement Saturday night. I want to show you guys even with no belt I am still the best guy out there and a cash cow.

"It's easy to talk. Talk is cheap. So Saturday night I will be in action in the ring to prove I am the best light heavyweight in the world. At my level, belts don't matter. For me a belt doesn't mean anything. It's all about the fans. What fight they want to see and who you think is the best. Some champions have belts and have no class. And when you're a champion, you're supposed to behave and talk like a champion."

While Kovalev and Mohammedi have been very respectful of each other, and the same goes for Pascal and Gonzalez, it has been a different story between Kovalev and Pascal.

Pascal was taking a clear shot at Kovalev, who has not been gracious in victory. Kovalev had harsh words for him in a teleconference with reporters last week.

"I don't want to speak about Pascal because he does not deserve to get attention," Kovalev said. "He lost my respect for him even before the fight. I cannot respect even his team. He is piece of s---, same as [champion Adonis] Stevenson.

"I think all fighters make terrible fighters in Canada. I don't respect [him], and I want to kick his ass again and much, much bigger this time. If it will happen -- rematch -- he will sleep in four rounds because he is a piece of s---."

Pascal said Kovalev, who routed Bernard Hopkins last fall to unify three belts, has spoken poorly of him because "he knows the truth. I'm still in his head. He knows I gave him the toughest fight of his career, and maybe he knows he got kind of lucky that night. He said he wasn't 100 percent. Who goes in the ring 100 percent? Nobody. So that's a lame excuse to me."

It is odd that Kovalev has tried to explain his performance -- he said he was only 80 percent -- against Pascal, despite leading on all three scorecards and then winning by knockout without controversy.

"I had some problems in my training camp for Pascal. I made some mistakes. I started to make my weight very late," he said. "I was very happy after Hopkins fight. It was a lot of things. I celebrated New Year and Christmas in Russia. Christmas is biggest holiday in Russia. It made for big trouble to make the weight for the fight. I didn't have a good sparring partner for the fight. It was a lot of things. Right now everything is clean and going very well."

With all of the animosity between Kovalev and Pascal -- and the fact that a Kovalev fight with super middleweight champion Andre Ward is probably at least a year away -- the rematch makes sense if they both win Saturday.

"I think Sergey just made it a lot more interesting with his comments about Pascal," said Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, Kovalev's promoter. "From a business perspective, it is a great fight. We are keeping Pascal close. He is fighting in the co-feature, but first Pascal has to defeat Gonzalez."

Pascal, however, said Gonzalez is on his mind, not Kovalev.

"I'm thinking about Gonzalez because he is a solid matchup for me," Pascal said. "He's a prospect. He's hungry. I know the way he feels because I've been there already. I know I need to be prepared for this fight, so right now I am thinking about Gonzalez, and after Gonzalez we'll see what happens. If HBO is down for [a rematch with Kovalev], if the fans are down for it, I'm down for it. I'm a crowd-pleaser. That's why they like me."