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Canadian boxing great announces retirement after devastating stoppage loss
Canadian boxing great Jean Pascal has announced his retirement at the age of 42.
Pascal, who held world titles in the light-heavyweight division, told the Montreal Gazette that he was calling an end to his professional career after 20 years in the ring. The Haitian-born Canadian fighter last fought at the end of last month when he was stopped in four rounds by the Polish boxer Michał Cieślak.
Pascal told the Montreal Gazette after the fight: “I wanted to do it. I still have the passion. I still have the gas in the tank. Just tonight, I think this was a little too big for me. He was much taller, had a longer reach. Bigger. It was a hard task for me. I guess if I wanted to compete at that level I was going to have to gain more weight. Tonight, I was probably 205. He was probably 225 to 230. If I wanted to compete at that weight class, I’d have to get way bigger.”
Within the ring, moments after being stopped by Cieślak, Pascal announced his retirement to the crowd. The fight had taken place at the Place Bell in Laval, a suburb of Montreal.
Speaking in French, Pascal said: “Good evening, Montreal. I'd like to say a big thank you for being here. It's been a long road, I've worked hard, I've had a great career, but I think all good things must come to an end. So I want to say thank you very much for all these great years, I leave with my head held high and I love you all very much.”
After competing in the Commonwealth Games in 2004 and winning gold, Pascal turned professional with a stoppage win over Justin Hahn in 2005 at Club Soda in Montreal.
Pascal first came onto the world-title scene when he travelled to Nottingham at the end of 2008 in order to face Carl Froch for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title at the end of 2008. It was a hard-fought, close battle between two men who would after became friends. However, Froch who won by scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 118-110.
After losing to Froch, Pascal moved to light-heavyweight where he won the vacant WBC title with a decision over Adrian Diaconu. He then defended that belt twice before, including a rematch with Diaconu, before unifying against Chad Dawson. A controversial draw with Bernard Hopkins led to his first loss in the rematch.
Pascal gained the signature win of his career with a points decision over Romanian-born but Montreal-resident Lucian Bute in 2014. After losing to Sergey Kovalev in 2015 and 2016, Pascal gradually shifted to the right-hand side of the card, losing to Dmitrii Bivol and Eleider Alvarez.
Despite a good win over Badou Jack in 2019, Jack’s career began to wind down afterwards. He lost to Germany’s Michael Eifert in 2023 and managed to beat the undefeated Terry Osias in ten, but it was clear that his career was on a permanent wane.
Pascal retires with a record of 37-8-1 (21).
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