Former Ring Journal gentle heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. Photograph by Vincent Ethier/ InterBox
Gentle heavyweight contender Jean Pascal, who’s ranked No. 9 by The Ring, and Michael Eifert will sq. off on February 9.
The 12-round bout will happen at Place Bell in Pascal’s hometown of Laval, Canada, not removed from Montreal. The winner of the IBF world title elimination bout will turn out to be the obligatory challenger for unified titleholder Artur Beterbiev.
“Main props to Lou DiBella, Yvon Michel and (supervisor) Greg Leon for making this occur,” stated Pascal. “It’s been a very long time coming, however I’m lastly again the place I wish to be, again house performing in entrance of my folks. My followers have all the time been a significant supply of inspiration and their type phrases have helped preserve me going robust at 40 years younger. It’s essential for me to provide you guys an incredible present and, on February 9, that’s precisely what I’m going to do.
“Michael Eifert is an efficient, strong fighter and the ultimate impediment on my highway to the championship. I respect him like all my opponents, but it surely’s my intention to destroy him as shortly as potential. I don’t wish to struggle away from house once more and caring for enterprise on February 9 is one of the simplest ways to verify I don’t must.”
Pascal (36-6-1, 20 knockouts) final fought on Could 20, dropping Fanlong Meng as soon as en path to a unanimous determination victory. Meng entered the struggle because the No. 1 contender to the IBF world title belt. The victory over Meng was his first struggle in about two and a half years, when he defeated Badou Jack by split-decision.
The 40-year-old has received his final three fights since shedding by unanimous determination to longtime WBA world titleholder Dmitry Bivol in November 2018.
In a profession that started in February 2005, Pascal has confronted a who’s who of high fighters, together with Chad Dawson, Bernard Hopkins, Sergey Kovalev, Eleider Alvarez, Carl Froch, and Lucian Bute.
Eifert (11-1, 4 KOs), who resides in Magdeburg, Germany, defeated Adriano Sperandio by unanimous determination in his final bout on July 16. The 24-year-old has received his final 5 bouts since shedding to Tom Dzemski in a conflict of unbeaten prospects.
Regardless of being the prohibitive underdog and preventing for the primary time exterior of Europe, Eifert is assured he may pull off the monumental upset over Pascal.
“This can be a lifetime alternative and a dream come true for me,” stated Eifert, who’s promoted by Benedikt Poelchau. “I can’t wait to come back to Canada to provide the efficiency of my life versus an incredible champion in Jean Pascal. It’s youth versus expertise. It’s the younger lion difficult the previous lion to battle to be the king of the jungle.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has coated boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He may be reached at [email protected]
