Carl Martin Froch vs. Jean-Thenistor Pascal - IB's standalone RBR scorecard

Cobra versus the Haitian Sensation.

23-0 (19) versus 21-0 (14) - a pair of undefeated elites in their prime risking everything and laying it all on the line in a war. Those old enough to remember when this happened - y'all must have forgot. The rest of you have no clue what a gift from the boxing gods this was; the sort they bestow maybe once in a generation.

Now, you may be wondering how it comes to pass that I've never provided a full RBR and scorecard for this fight, even though it was a major event that occurred a good couple of years after my join date on here. Well...timing. I wouldn't 'become the RBR guy' for the site until eight months later. In those days, we had a small handful of guys who did the bulk of the heavy lifting in terms of real-time analysis, description and scoring of big fights on a round by round basis (@Arriba being the main one, followed by @RightCross) but more often than not there was no designated "RBR thread". Instead you would have some random poster ask what time it started or what channel it was on, and somebody else would post a link, and it would just grow organically into the primary housing of chatter on the live fight. Or somebody would bump the poll/prediction or weigh-in video thread, or something like that. In the case of Froch vs. Pascal (which really wasn't a massively hyped event heading in, as both were known to hardcore fans but not yet global mega-stars, with Froch already wildly popular in the UK but only just starting to generate buzz elsewhere - and Pascal still quite an obscurity being a Haitian based in Canada before that had become a cliched origin story for world class operators), it was the former:

Froch vs Pacal fight time

...and my only post in that unofficial RBR thread was begging for a stream via PM, very late in the fight. I caught the championship rounds live, and that was it. Later on I would go back and check out the rest once it was up on YouTube, but, already knowing the result, was doing so more for entertainment than with an eye towards scoring it.

So here we go, at last. Without any further ado...

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Carl Martin Froch vs. Jean-Thenistor Pascal, 12 rounds @ super middleweight

 

This is for the vacant 168lb green belt, previously captured by Joe Calzaghe in his unification with Mikkel Kessler but never defended.

 

Buckle up lads, starting ...now!

(this is what @Intense posted, since his embed isn't rendering:

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Round 1

Froch is out jabbing hard and sledging uppercuts with both hands into Pascal's sides to drive him into the ropes. Pascal holds up, not letting Froch's blitz attempt rattle him, staying calm, battling his way out to center ring and feeding out a steady jab once in open waters. Pascal lunges in and skirts the chin with a solid right. Froch is jumping away, hands down and both feet leaving the canvas as he cricket-hops away from the probing body jabs of Pascal. Froch playing around, very confident, almost cocky, seemingly taking pleasure in showing off his defensive prowess and denying Pascal even those relatively innocuous jabs downstairs. BIG left hook and sweeping right hand to either side of the head by Froch, trapping Pascal's head in a pincer attack. Pascal is stunned and briefly ties up but finishes the round flurrying back.

10-9 Froch

 

Round 2

Froch is flicking jabs off the lead hip, still very arrogant in his poise, refusing to put a guard up, intent on using his quick feet to make Pascal miss - except that isn't an option when Pascal feints the jab and fools him into leaning in only to crack him with a speedy overhand right on the left temple. Froch shakes it off but doesn't button down his above-the-waist defenses, insistent on standing in front of Pascal and jabbing off the hip, then springing in reverse to dodge when Pascal opens up with his fast but, admittedly telegraphed hooks. They each reach in with body jabs from outside. Nice clubbing right on the side of the head by Froch stepping in. Pascal dives in firing on the body and Froch misses one clubbing right but lands another, sending beads of sweat flying off Pascal's face.

10-9 Pascal, very close

19-19

 

"Nothing in this, Jim!" says the ITV play by play man.

Color commentator Jim Rosenthal (not Watt, if you were wondering - he was the color guy on Sky around this time) agrees, and has it scored one apiece.

 

Round 3

Froch is doing a tremendous job of goading Pascal into fiery exchanges up close, then widening his base and subtly toeing himself outward like a hinge door to give himself room to blast Pascal in the face with the right hand. Froch scoring repeatedly to punctuate the melees. Pascal refuses to be cowed without getting in the last punch, however, and dives in for drum-rolls on the body. Froch punishes him on the way out with a scooping hook.

10-9 Froch

29-28 Froch

 

Round 4

Froch is eschewing the jab and leading with a left hook before loading a cross down the flue into Pascal's chin. The visitor showing extraordinary courage and chin, walking through absolute bombs in order to maybe land a couple of his own, mostly on the body as Froch is exploiting his advantages in height & reach and speedier footwork to consistently get angles on Pascal and land first, last, and with more telling and well-leveraged blows. Froch in control until there's just under a minute left and Pascal turns his legs momentarily to jelly with a corker of an overhand right. Froch recovers and they cautiously pace around each other in the middle of the ring, jabbing. Pascal jumps in, flurrying. Twisting in place, Froch repels him with a series of swatting hooks and catches most of Pascal's shots on his biceps and shoulders, but looks uncomfortable.

10-9 Froch, super close

39-37 Froch

 

Round 5

Froch is backed up and keeping a wary eye on Pascal from afar, roping out deterrent jabs in singles and doubles but not moving his lead foot in for emphasis, more "leave me alone" shots than anything. Froch wants time to think. Pascal isn't feeling obliging. Pascal jabbing in, aiming from throat to thorax, making Froch's hands drop unconsciously, almost imperceptibly, allowing Pascal to ding him with the overhand right when he gets close enough. Froch settles things down by the final minute, circling away and throwing pot shot jabs, occasionally pumping in the right hand with a false-flag right really intended to brace palm-out against Pascal's chest and push him away, but Pascal bullies his way in and bashes him with several hurtful overhands.

10-9 Pascal

48-47 Froch

 

A few after the bell hits there, but the commentator makes a mountain of a molehill of it. There weren't that many and they weren't that late. Sort of just heat of the moment stuff.