Jean Pascal, Sergey Kovalev spice up light heavyweight title rematch

In March, Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal met in a light heavyweight clash in which Kovalev won via eighth-round TKO.

Although Pascal made things entertaining before the referee stoppage, it wasn’t a fight that had fans clamoring for a rematch. Nevertheless, the two will meet again Jan. 30 as Kovalev will travel to Pascal’s backyard of Montreal and put his WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight titles on the line.

Pascal, who said to FightHype that he ended up getting the Kovalev rematch because he’s the “cash cow” of the division, believes that the first fight was close and he will fare better in the rematch. But to make things interesting, the Canadian decided to challenge Kovalev to a side wager regarding the outcome of the fight.

“Kovalev said – I think at the press conference – that he was going to finish this fight earlier than he did the first fight,” Pascal said. “So I would like to challenge Kovalev that if he knocks me out before the eighth round, to make a bet of $50,000. … If he knocks me out before the eighth, I’ll give the money to his own foundation.”

Upon hearing about Pascal’s wager, Kovalev took to his Twitter account to accept the terms.

If nothing else, this bet will bring some intrigue to a rematch some think shouldn’t happen.