Roy Jones jnr vs Sergey Kvalev @ 175

He'll be doubly fired up since Kovalev has destroyed two of his students now: Pascal and Sillakh, both of whom like Roid are super athletic (Sillakh is a beautifully graceful fighter to watch, moves like he's floating on air) and have either been popped for steroids (Sillakh was busted for them before he turned pro) or are under suspicion for being so. I'm sure I saw Sillakh in the background training in the same gym as Roy and Pascal the other day during an interview they were giving too.

Incidentally, Pascal and Sillakh were actually supposed to fight each other once upon a time.

'Pascal rejects WBC-ordered Sillakh bout

Undefeated NABF light heavyweight champion Ismayl “The Black Russian” Sillakh, (17-0, 14 KOs), the WBC’s #2 contender, has just been notified that he now stands by himself among the top three. Former WBC champion Jean Pascal was ordered to fight a “final eliminator” with Sillakh at the WBC convention and his promoter Yvon Michel accepted the order and personally told Sillakh that they would fight. The winner would become the “mandatory challenger” for the winner of the Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson rematch.

“I thought that the negotiations for the fight were going good. Yvon told me that they were going to do it and Showtime was interested. But I got a call on Wednesday from Yvon that Pascal has decided not to fight Sillakh, basically that Sillakh was just too young and too dangerous,” said Square Ring’s CEO John Wirt. “That’s the second time that Pascal has pulled out of agreed to elimination bouts.

In July, a WBC-ordered tournament to determine a mandatory challenger that included Sillakh, Jean Pascal, Zsolt Erdei, and Chris Henry was basically ignored by all involved except Sillakh. Then the sanctioning body again put Sillakh in the title mix last week by mandating Pascal to fight him for that mandatory slot, but the Canadian’s team has already gone on the offensive, claiming that Sillakh doesn’t bring anything to the table in terms of name recognition. It’s the classic case of not being able to get a job because of lack of experience, but you’re unable to get experience without a job. And Sillakh is stuck in no man’s land.

“I want to fight, but if Jean Pascal’s people don’t want to fight me, it will be bad for me and boxing,” he said, noting that he isn’t flattered by opponents’ reluctance to face him. “It’s not a compliment because if they want me to prove my abilities, then go into the ring with me and fight. I don’t understand why they don’t want to fight.”

Maybe it’s because of his abilities. He laughs.

“If I’m not good, this is good for him then; it’s an easy fight.”