Lucian Bute v Jean Pascal: Boxing live streaming and fight preview

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Where: Montreal Centre, Quebec, Canada

When: 02.00(GMT)

It’s a crosstown rivals in Montreal match on January 18, 2014, when Jean Pascal dukes it out with Lucian Bute live on Sky Sports.

By the time the fight happens, boxing fans will have been waiting ten months. What can they expect from this pair of former champions, and what (if anything) has changed since Spring 2013?

Pascal hasn’t been the busiest of fighters since his WBC championship.

Since his 2011 loss of the title to Bernard Hopkins (who went on to lose it and then pick up the IBF belt in the meantime), he has fought two journeymen.

By the time he gets to Bute, Pascal will have had only two “gimme” fights in two and a half years. Thankfully, the most recent of the pair was in September, so he will only be a little rusty.

Pascal’s style isn’t exactly subtle. He is a swarmer, a guy who wins by going forward and landing punches in bunches. As such, he relies mainly on hand speed, durability, and stamina.

Only the former is likely to have suffered from inactivity, but against Bute that might matter.

If Pascal is a little rusty, Bute is weighed down by doubts. After being crushed by Carl Froch, he moved up to 175 lbs and then struggled hard against Denis Grachev.

It is now very firmly established that Bute has a merely average chin, and questions remain as to whether Le Tombeur suffers in the confidence department after getting bitten by the Cobra.

Should his confidence be restored, Bute can pose a serious threat to Pascal. He is fast, likely faster than Pascal, and has good power.

His southpaw boxer-puncher ways allowed him to shield that chin while waging aggressive war on his opponents, putting the hurt down without unduly mixing it up. A guy like that could stymie Pascal, if he has the ability.