Jean Pascal: Roy Jones Jr. will be in my corner vs. Don George
When Jean Pascal enters the ring against Don George on Dec. 6, the Haitian-born fighter will be joined by his boxing idol and recent mentor Roy Jones Jr. for the second straight bout.
Jones was in Pascal’s corner for the first time in January, when he unanimously decisioned former IBF super middleweight beltholder Lucian Bute in a 175-pound bout at Bell Centre in Montreal. The four-division titlewinner will be there again when Pascal, who like Jones is a former RING light heavyweight champion, returns to the venue against George.
“For this fight, Roy Jones will be in my corner again. Roy Jones is going to be the head trainer for my fight. Right now, he’s working with Jessie Vargas. Jessie Vargas has a fight coming up in Macau,” said Pascal, 32, during an interview with RingTV.com on Wednesday.
“But Roy is supposed to come this week to train a little bit, and then, to go back to Las Vegas where Jessie Vargas lives, and to leave with Jessie Vargas. When that fight is done, then he’s going to come back to Montreal and train me.”
Pascal (29-2-1, 17 knockouts) said he brought Jones into his training camp in advance of his fight with Bute due to the 45-year-old veteran’s past success with southpaws. Things went so well, however, that Jones has remained, Pascal said.
“First of all, Roy Jones brings knowledge. Big time knowledge, because he’s a legend. He’s a living legend,” said Pascal, THE RING’s No. 3-rated light heavyweight. “Plus he brings motivation, because I was always looking up to him when I was a young kid. So he brings a lot of motivation and knowledge.”
Jones may factor heavily into Pascal’s future, which could include a fight against left-handed RING/WBC champion Adonis Stevenson. The Bell Centre in Montreal has been placed on hold for a potential April 4 showdown between Pascal and Stevenson, according to Stevenson’s promoter, Yvon Michel.
But first, Pascal must get beyond George on the undercard of a main event featuring Bute against Roberto Bolonti, and Stevenson, 37, past Russian Dmitry Sukhotsky on Dec. 19 in Quebec City.
Bute represented Pascal’s third straight win since being dethroned as RING/WBC champ after losing a unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in May 2011.
Jones (59-8, 42 KOs) is still fighting as a cruiserweight, having registered last month’s 75-second knockout over Hany Atiyo in Krasnodar, Russia. Atiyo represented Jones’ second straight stoppage and his fifth consecutive win since falling by 10th-round knockout to current beltholder Denis Lebedev in May 2011.
The loss to Lebedev was Jones’ third straight following those by first-round knockout to Danny Green in December 2009 and by unanimous decision to Hopkins in April 2010.
“We haven’t sparred yet together,” said Pascal. “We’ve done some technical boxing together, some pad work and some footwork and the heavy bag, but I haven’t sparred with him, yet.”
Note: The Bute-Bolonti, Pascal-George will air on Integrated Sports Media Pay Per View in the United States, promoter Jean Bedard of InterBox announced on Thursday. ISM will distribute the event for $24.95 starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on both cable and satellite PPV via iN Demand, DirecTV, DISH and Vubiquity.
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