In a local rematch of global proportions, Jean Pascal (26-1) retained his WBC light-heavyweight with a unanimous 118-110, 117-111, 117-111 decision over fellow Montrealer Adrian Diaconu (25-2) at the Bell Centre in Montreal before a crowd of 8,802 fans. This is the second defense for Pascal who utilized his speed and ring movement and bravely fought the last two rounds with one arm as he returned to his corner after the tenth round grimacing in pain with a separated shoulder. In fact his corner was forced to pop the shoulder back into place a total of three times on the night, the first time coming at the end of the third round.

With Pascal not at one-hundred percent, Diaconu who thought he had won the fight despite all three scorecards being almost identical, failed to take advantage of the opportunities that were there for the taking. Pascal threw a punch to end round three and was in obvious pain as he reached his corner after the bell. It took the champion a full twenty seconds to sit down as he was in that much pain with his corner feverishly working on the arm, putting it back into place and icing it down.

Instead of seizing the opportunity, Diaconu let his opponent off the hook, not attacking Pascal who was more than content to lay on the ropes in hopes of recovering, hanging on and clenching whenever possible. It was one of the few rounds that Diaconu would get the nod, but by the end of it, it was Pascal recovering nicely and landing the cleaner and more effective blows.

Diaconu was able to do some effective work in the next round, going to the body with a double fisted attack, forcing Pascal to drop his hands and then coming back upstairs. Too often though the Romanian would lay in waiting, looking for the perfect shot as Pascal would lay on the ropes but disappear by the time it could be delivered. Diaconu’s corner implored their fighter to go to the body, asking for a straight jab into the chest of Pascal who showed great head movement and was able to avoid most of the head shots coming his way, but it was a weapon that was under-utilized as Pascal had enough ring savvy to avoid the right hands coming his way and counter effectively with some nice combinations.

Pascal also showed how strong he can be when in the seventh, flipping off his stout opponent while in a clench and popping him with right hand, all in one motion. Diaconu a gifted puncher with both hands didn’t seem effective throwing his left and when the two went toe-to-toe as they did briefly during the round, the exchanges clearly favoured Pascal.

The champion who had captured the belt from Diaconu in June of this year came out blazing for the eighth round, ripping at his body in rapid succession. Pascal was like a hurricane, ripping into the body of the Interbox fighter and simply not stopping and landing well over a dozen shots before forcing Diaconu into the ropes in the most dominant round of the fight. Pascal had clearly put the shoulder issue behind for the time being and was beginning to dominate.

But just as he was beginning to pull away, the closing seconds of round ten again saw Pascal’s shoulder go out once again, forcing the fighter to run for cover, and even attempting to call time as the round ended.

Entering the championship rounds with an ailing champion should have been the daylight that Diaconu needed to seize back the fight and his belt but Pascal jabbed and used his left almost exclusively, keeping the Romanian born fighter off balance and unable to penetrate with anything effective. What should have been an all out assault in the final round saw Diaconu fight at a slow pace, often complaining about punches to the back of the head instead of trying for the knockout that scorecards and most at ringside felt he needed.

Up next for Pascal might be Chad Dawson who holds the ‘Interim’ version of the WBC belt at 175 pounds. Promoter Michel has already indicated that Dawson would be willing to travel north to Montreal but also left open the possibility of a fight with IBF champion Tavoris Cloud.

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