BoxRec

Joe Smith Jr. and Jean Pascal could be facing each other in the fall of this year, according to RingTV. a fight between the two highly ranked contenders is in the works, says Smith Jr’s promoter Joe DeGuardia. Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs), ranked #2 with the World Boxing Council at light heavyweight, is coming off of a career best 1st round knockout victory over the highly ranked former world title challenger Andrzej Fonfara last June at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

For his part, the 33-year-old Pascal has seen better days in his boxing career, as he’s lost two out of his last three fights in two stoppage losses to IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. It probably wasn’t the smartest move that Pascal (30-4-1, 17 KOs) could make in choosing to fight Kovalev in a rematch last January, because he was stopped in the 7th round of a one-sided fight.

The payday was probably worth it for Pascal to take the fight and absorb yet another loss on his resume.

Smith Jr. won’t be fighting unbeaten 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the right to fight WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. It’s a good thing because that would be a tough fight for Smith Jr. to take to get to an even tougher one against the 38-year-old Stevenson. Currently, the 175lb division is so solid that even good fighters like Smith Jr. and Gvozdyk are left with few options in terms of winning world titles.

Even if they do eventually get a shot at Stevenson or Sergey Kovalev, the chances of them beating either of them are extremely remote. Smith Jr. may soon have to face the #6 rated WBC contender Gvozyk if he wants to get a crack at Stevenson for his WBC title, because he’s probably never going to get the title shot just given to him on a silver platter. That’s not how Stevenson and his management work. When they’re making voluntary defenses, they opt for the easier fights against guys like Tommy Karpency, Tavoris Cloud, and Sakio Bika rather than taking on guys that have good punching power and a chance of beating them like Smith Jr. or Gvozdyk.

Woldemar wrote:Arum want make Gvozdyk vs Smith jr. Winner will face against Adonis Stevenson

filibert wrote:Pascal is not going down as easy as Fonfara, he has a good chin. Pascal usually does gas out after 6 rounds, so Smith will have to prove that he can also box that long, can he do that? I don't know him well enough...

gilgamesh wrote:This is a winnable matchup for Smith as Pascal has taken severe punishment in virtually every fight in recent years so he has to have slipped a bit, but Smith is pretty hittable so this could be just what Pascal needs to get a win and look impressive and get his name back in the mix. I like this matchup if it goes down. I'd probably favor Pascal.

boxing_rocks wrote:Pascal is done. Taking Kovalev's beating for the second time was a mistake. He could still handle Smith Jr though. I would say it is 65/35 fight in Pascal's favor.

zorndeslammes wrote:Props to Joe Smith Jr. for getting a huge KO win, but he screams fluke to me. Pascal schooling him wouldn't shock me.

diddy wrote:Pascal in no way deserves a title shot right now but this is what boxing is now. No order. No structure. Just guys trying to fight "names" who they think may be passed it. That's why they're targeting Pascal. He's still a name. And he may be shot. It's a high reward-medium risk fight as opposed to several high risk-lower reward fights out there like Beterbiev or something. Was guessing they'd go after Dawson or Pascal and they're choosing Jean because I think they believe Chad would have an easier time out boxing Joe with his size.