Russian Kovalev wants to knock Canadian ex-champ Pascal right out of boxing

MONTREAL – Sergey (Krusher) Kovalev doesn’t just want to beat Jean Pascal, he wants to end his career.

Kovalev (28-0-1) will certainly be the favourite in his rematch with Pascal (30-3-1) on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

“Each fight I take seriously, but this one more,” Kovalev said this week. “I finish his career. That’s my goal.”

The Russian stopped him in the eighth round of their previous meeting on March 14, also at the Bell Centre. However, the veteran boxer from Laval, Que., became only the third opponent to take the power-hitting Russian that far into a bout.

But even if Pascal loses for a second time to the unified World Boxing Association, World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion, it is premature to say he will hang up the gloves.

Russ Anber, a longtime boxing trainer, manager, cut man and broadcaster, says Pascal’s talent and flashy style will still be attractive to boxing promoters and broadcasters like the HBO specialty channel in the United States whether he wins or loses.

“The last fight he had with Kovalev, when he got beat, HBO came into the dressing room immediately after the fight and were thrilled to death about having him on,” said Anber. “I don’t think it has anything to do with a win or a loss

“It’s how he performs. And he performed so well last time they were thrilled to bring him back. I don’t think it’s the end of the road by any stretch of the imagination.”

The 32-year-old Kovalev needed a 12-round decision to beat Bernard Hopkins and become the unified light heavyweight champion, missing only the WBC title held by Adonis Stevenson of Montreal.

Unable to arrange a bout with Stevenson, and with American Andre Ward unavailable until autumn, Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events was glad to make a rematch with Pascal, ranked fourth by The Ring magazine.

Still, there is a sense of desperation this time for Pascal, who held the WBC belt from 2009 until 2011, when he lost to Hopkins.

After a tepid win over Yunieski Gonzalez in July, Pascal dropped Marc Ramsay, his trainer since childhood, and went to work with renowned trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles.

He is hoping the extra edge provided by a veteran who took stars like Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto to championships can be the difference in the rematch with Kovalev.

This was scoffed at by Kovalev’s coach John David Jackson, who said a trainer and boxer need three or four fights together to make a difference. But Anber said it may help.

“We think Freddie is reinforcing the things we wanted Jean to do,” said Anber, who worked in Pascal’s corner with Ramsay. “Sometimes they just need a change.

“If it’s good for him mentally, that’s what’s important.”

He feels Pascal was too nonchalant going into the first meeting with Kovalev and paid for it.

“He can’t be complacent in this fight because he found out early that this guy might miss with the first shot, but there’s six other howitzers coming right afterwards,” he said.

Pascal also caused a commotion at a news conference this week that led to a shouting match between the two sides, but that was dismissed as bluster by the Kovalev camp.

“He understands that Jean has tried to get him off his game and he’s not going to let that happen,” said Duva.

Both fighters easily made the 175-pound limit at Friday’s weigh-in. There were no incidents and neither fighter made any comments.