Sergey Kovalev vs. Jean Pascal II will end up a lot like Sergey Kovalev vs. Jean Pascal I. Only this time it will end sooner.
In big fight history, whenever there is a rematch between two title-level boxers, the man, in this case Pascal, who was stopped in the eighth round by Kovalev in March, often loses even worse in the return bout.
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield sticks out to me. In their first fight, like Pascal-Kovalev I, it was an entertaining scrap that Holyfield eventually overwhelmed and stopped Iron Mike late. When they met in the rematch, Tyson was being handled until getting disqualified for biting ears.
I also harken back to Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor. Again, it was another entertaining scrap where the winner (Chavez) easily destroyed the loser (Taylor) in the rematch.
In both aforementioned fights, the losers all took a huge amount of sustained punishment before being stopped late, which possibly contributed to their losses in the rematch,
I believe that Jean Pascal has similar “wear-and-tear” both psychologically and mentally due to his “concussive” loss to Sergey Kovalev in their first bout.
As a result, I’m predicting that Kovalev will emerge victorious via knockout in the sixth round to retain his lineal light heavyweight title.
