Light Heavyweights HBO Saturday Night
-This is a fight between a young top contender (Bivol) versus an older former champion in Pascal. Pascal’s best days are behind him and he has been in some very tough fights including two with Bernard Hopkins and two with Sergey Kovalev. He is an athlete who has a world class chin and very good power. His last big fight was a majority decision loss to Elidier Alvarez a year back and he has come back with two stoppage wins since.
Bivol, skillwise, is in my opinion one of the best if not the best light heavy in the world. Very good footwork and crisp short combinations make him look very smooth. He lacks the power of a Beterbiev or a Kovalev but he makes up for it with very good boxing ability. And he can punch too if he needs to, his KO win over Sullivan Barrera proved that. His last fight was an unimpressive decision win over Isaac Chilemba but in his defense Chilemba has made a lot of good fighters look bad. The most important thing is he got the win and now moves on to a fighter in Pascal where his short combination punching will be a big advantage against the aggressive free swinging Pascal.
Even though Pascal is a couple years past his prime he has a ton of pride and has a great chin. I think he will come to fight and make it fun for a little while. I could see Bivol boxing and moving in the beginning until he figures Pascal out. While I don’t see Bivol losing I do think this will go rounds. Bivol has shown patience in the ring and is very content to sit back and box if need be. And Pascal has had one of the better chins in boxing over the past decade. Pascal needs to hurt Bivol early to get respect and change the rhythm of the fight. If he is tentative and lets Bivol box and get off his combinations he will have a rough night. I think it will be fun for about 3 rounds and then Bivol will begin to pull away. I could see Pascal going the distance, the only guy to ever stop him was Kovalev, but seeing that Pascal is a little older and already has retired once I think Bivol will wear him down and stop him late.
Prediction
Bivol TKO 11
-Be sure to also check out former Cruiserweight World Champion Dennis Lebedev on DAZN Saturday afternoon as well.
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