Bernard Hopkins Vs. Jean Pascal II: News, Updates And Information

If you had to guess the odds for a rematch between two men who battled to a hotly contested draw in their first bout you’d probably place the two fighters close to even. And that’s basically what you’re looking at for the light heavyweight championship rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal.

The 46-year-old Hopkins will be making a bid to become the oldest man in boxing history to win a major world championship while Pascal will attempt to re-assert himself as the clear #1 fighter in the light heavyweight division.

As we mentioned earlier this afternoon, Bernard Hopkins missed weight on his first attempt for his rematch with Jean Pascal. The two men fought to a controversial draw in late 2010, a bout which saw Hopkins knocked down twice early before taking over the fight from a fading Pascal as the rounds wore on.

Hopkins had two hours to lose four ounces and make the 175 pound light heavyweight limit, which he was able to do. Pascal tipped the scales at 174.14 while featured undercard fighters Chad Dawson (173) and Adrian Diaconu (174.4) both made weight for their light heavyweight bout.

Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal hit the scales this afternoon to make weight for their light heavyweight championship rematch in Montreal. Both men missed on their first attempt to make the 175 pound limit, but Pascal was able to hit the mark on his second try. Via the Montreal Gazette:

As the article states, making weight should not be an issue after two hours to sweat out a little more. The real problem will be if Hopkins had trouble making the cut at all, or if this was just a case of the fighter’s scale and the official scale being a little different.

Ticket sales for the rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal are doing very well. The Bell Center in Montreal is one of the best arenas in the world as far as atmosphere for hockey, mixed martial arts and hockey. Now, Hopkins is going the extra mile to rile up the Montreal fans. Via ESPN.com:

If only Hopkins had been willing to play this game yesterday at the press conference or really do anything to keep his name in the headlines beyond the early talk about Donovan McNabb we may be talking about a fight that could do pretty decent numbers on HBO. As for right now though, it may be a little too late for talk of wearing the jersey of Montreal’s rival to have any impact.

With mere days left until Bernard Hopkins steps into the ring to face Jean Pascal in a rematch of their controversial 2010 draw the two men were set to speak to the media at the final fight press conference. It’s the last major moment for fighters to sell a fight, hooking the media and getting the story of the fight out for the public. Instead of following through on their responsibility to promote the bout, both men kept the media waiting for 45 minutes before showing up and speaking a combined nine words.

Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette didn’t much appreciate the effort:

Boxing fans may have been anxiously awaiting the rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal, but the fight was bereft of mainstream attention. Of course, it didn’t help that the public at large only gets interested in a small handful of huge fights a year and Hopkins/Pascal 2 comes a mere two weeks after Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring to face Shane Mosley.

The bellicose Hopkins, never one to shy away from controversy, has managed to bring a flood of attention to the bout in the past days and has done so without even talking about the fight at hand. Instead, Hopkins has turned his focus to an old target in Donovan McNabb. Via the Philadelphia Daily News: