Jean Pascal vs. Lucian Bute was a boxing light heavyweight Diamond championship fight for the vacant WBC Diamond title which took place on January 18, 2014 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The bout, originally slated for May 25, 2013, had to be postponed after Bute underwent surgery to remove bone chips in his left hand.http://www.boxingscene.com/bute-vs-pascal-announcement-expected-shortly--63294 Bute vs. Pascal Announcement is Expected Shortly
The co-production of Yvon Michel's GYM and Jean Bédard's Interbox promotions and televised via HBO, has trumped a proposed HBO-televised rematch between Jean Pascal and RING and WBC 175-pound champion Chad Dawson that was slated for the same date at Bell Centre in Montreal. Lucian Bute had the right to face Carl Froch in a contractually obligated rematch for the IBF Super Middleweight belt, but passed on that, freeing the Englishman to face Mikkel Kessler.
It was the biggest fight in Canadian history since 1980, when Roberto Durán won a 15-round decision to win the welterweight world title in his first fight against Sugar Ray Leonard at Montreal's Olympic Stadium in front of 46,000 spectators. Bute, who is fighting out of Montreal, versus Pascal was pitting the two biggest draws and most popular fighters in Canadian boxing who are considered huge stars in Quebec. Pascal ended up winning the fight by unanimous decision.
Background
Pascal Pascal came off a unanimous-decision triumph over Aleksy Kuziemski in December 2012 that helped him to rebound from the unanimous-decision loss to Bernard Hopkins in May 2011.
Bute Bute came off a unanimous-decision victory over previously unbeaten Denis Grachev in November 2012, which helped him to rebound from last May's fifth-round knockout loss to Froch that dethroned him as titleholder.
Reported fight earnings Jean Pascal $2,000,000 vs. Lucian Bute $2,000,000
Fight Card Fight card Weight Class Result Round Time NotesLight Heavyweight Jean Pascalvs. Lucian ButeWBC Diamond Light Heavyweight Championship belt Heavyweight Mike Perezvs. Carlos TakamLight Heavyweight Eleider Álvarezvs. Andrew GardinerBantamweight Sebastien Gauthier vs. Javier Franco Welterweight Mikaël Zewskivs. Krzysztof Szot Light Middleweight Sebastien Bouchard vs. Giuseppe LauriLight Welterweight Yves Ulysse Jr. vs. Evaggelos Tsirimokos Heavyweight Oscar Rivasvs. Shawn CoxLight Heavyweight Artur Beterbiev vs. Gabriel Lecrosnier
International Broadcasting Country / Region Broadcaster Australia Main Event Brazil SporTV Canada Indigo Croatia Fight Channel France Canal+ Sport Hungary Sport 1 Poland Polsat Sport Romania Digi Sport United States HBO United Kingdom Sky Sports
Notes
External links Jean Pascal vs. Lucian Bute Official Fight Card from BoxRec Groupe Yvon Michel: GYM Interbox