Jean Pascal scored the final points in the final round of Terry Osias in Laval, Canada
Former Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. Photo by Vincent Ethier/ InterBox
Jean Pascal continues to defy Father Time.
Pascal scored a knockout victory over Terry Osias on Saturday night at Le Colisee in his hometown of Laval, Canada. Pascal, who improved to 37-7-1, 21, won the regional title belt at cruiserweight.
The 41-year-old looked to land one big right hand on Osias after throwing in the towel as a guard in the opening round. As Pascal tried to close the distance between the two, Osias used a combination of moves around the small ring, also working behind a series of jabs.
Towards the end of the second round, Osias landed a straight jab, followed by a right cross to the head of Pascal, who did not appear to be hurt by the impact of the punch. Osias fought hard in the first half of the fight, throwing and landing straight left combinations to Pascal’s head. Undeterred, Pascal made Osias pay by getting in front of him, throwing a two-punch combination that forced Osias to cower.
During the middle rounds, Osias knocked out Pascal. At times, Pascal would miss completely with right hands or combinations, allowing Osias to capitalize and counter with a straight right or left hand to the head.
In the seventh round, Osias’ punch output dropped dramatically. He fought with his mouth open as Pascal continued to throw repeated jabs, but he began to switch his charges, landing straight right hands to Osias’ head.
Pascal thought he scored a knockdown at the end of the eighth round. After a 10-second warning, Pascal’s right hand landed on Osias’ jaw. Pascal threw and landed two more punches that dropped Osias to the canvas. Referee Martin Forest ruled that Osias had slipped to the canvas, distracted by Pascal, who hurt Osias late in the ninth round with several punches.
Seconds into the 10th round, Pascal unleashed a vicious right cross that dropped Osias on two of the lower ring ropes, and eventually to the canvas. Forest started the count, but ended the fight at 56 seconds.
Entering the tenth round, one judge had Osias up 87-84, while the other two judges had Pascal up 86-85 and a surprising 89-82.
Pascal has not fought since he lost by decision to Michael Eifert of Germany in a qualifying fight for the IBF world light heavyweight title on March 16 last year. Prior to the loss to Eifert, Pascal had wins over Fanlong Meng, Badou Jack, and Marcus Browne, all three of which came after losing to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in November 2018.
In June 2009, Pascal defeated Adrian Diaconu to win the WBC light heavyweight world title. Pascal would make four successful title defenses before losing the world title to Bernard Hopkins in May 2011.
Osias, who lives in Longueuil, Canada, falls to 13-1, 6 KO. In his last fight on March 23, the 37-year-old defeated Marcos Karalitzky by decision in six one-sided rounds.
Also on the Yan Pellerin-inspired card, super middleweight prospect Derek Pomerleau of Montreal improved to 10-0, 8 KO, knocking out world title challenger Marcelo Coceres of Argentina 31 seconds into the fifth round.
Coceres, a late replacement, went 32-8-1, with 18 KOs and has now lost six of his last eight fights.
In a cruiserweight match, Dany Mallette stopped Peter Gavrilovic (5-1, 1 KO) of Sherbrooke, Canada in the opening round. Mallette, who lives in Quebec City, improved to 2-0, 2 KO.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has handled boxing in Southern California and internationally since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. They can be reached at [email protected]
