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| Date | January 18, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | NABF and vacant WBC Diamond Light Heavyweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pascal beats Bute by unanimous decision. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
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 | Notes | ||||
| Light Heavyweight |  Jean Pascal
|
vs. |  Lucian Bute
|
WBC Diamond Light Heavyweight Championship belt | ||||
| Heavyweight |  Mike Perez
|
vs. |  Carlos Takam
|
|||||
| Light Heavyweight |  Eleider Álvarez
|
vs. | Andrew Gardiner
|
|||||
| Bantamweight | Sebastien Gauthier
|
vs. |  Javier Franco
|
|||||
| Welterweight | Mikaël Zewski
|
vs. |  Krzysztof Szot
|
|||||
| Light Middleweight | Sebastien Bouchard
|
vs. |  Giuseppe Lauri
|
|||||
| Light Welterweight | Yves Ulysse Jr.
|
vs. |  Evaggelos Tsirimokos
|
|||||
| Heavyweight | Oscar Rivas
|
vs. |  Shawn Cox
|
|||||
| Light 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
- ^ "Jean Pascal tops Lucian Bute by decision". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- "Bute-Pascal: c'est officiel" (in French). Le Journal de Montréal. 15 March 2013.
- "C'est fait: Bute affrontera Pascal le 25 mai" (in French). La Presse. 15 March 2013.
- "Lucian Bute-Jean Pascal superfight set for May 25". CANOE -- SLAM! Sports. 15 March 2013. Archived from the original on April 10, 2013.
- "Pe stadion, dar nu la București – Bute va juca cu Pascal în aceeaşi zi în care Froch va boxa cu Kessler" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 14 March 2013.
- "OFICIAL: S-a semnat! Interviu EXCLUSIV cu Bute: "Sunt mai bun ca Pascal, îl voi epuiza fizic!"" (in Romanian). Prosport. 15 March 2013.
- http://www.boxingscene.com/bute-vs-pascal-announcement-expected-shortly--63294 Bute vs. Pascal Announcement is Expected Shortly
- ^ "Deal for Pascal-Bute bout signed". ESPN. 16 March 2013.
- ^ "Jean Pascal, Lucian Bute to fight". ESPN. 18 February 2013.