Jean Pascal vs Badou Jack Odds & Picks
By Dylan Bowker in Boxing
Updated: April 13, 2020 at 12:49 pm EDTPublished:
- Pascal vs Jack goes Saturday, December 28th at 9:00 pm EST
- Can Jean Pascal keep his unexpected career resurgence going?
- Can former titlist Badou Jack get back on track?
Pascal vs Jack is for the WBC silver light-heavyweight and the WBA light-heavyweight world titles. This prizefight goes down at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Davis vs Gamboa is in the main event of the evening on this stacked night of fights to close out the year. Jack is looking to regain his WBA regular title that has been hot potatoed around since he dropped it. In his first fight back since losing the belt, he’ll have to unseat the savvy veteran titlist Jean Pascal. The odds and my bout predictions are down below.
Pascal vs Jack Odds
Fighter | Odds |
---|---|
Jean Pascal | +180 |
Badou Jack | -230 |
Odds taken Dec. 26
Both men are coming off of radically different bouts with Marcus Browne. Browne was able to secure the judges’ decision over Jack while he fell to Pascal in the eighth-round via technical decision. The Pascal loss was one that surprised pundits and fans alike. Injecting a lot of life back into Pascal’s career. he dropped Browne three times throughout the course of the fight.
Combat sports math does not check out though. I’m certainly not saying that Pascal is superior to Jack by virtue of the results each had in their respective Browne bouts. In fact, I think Jack matches up quite well with Pascal and can rebound here whilst reinserting himself in the title hierarchy.
Badou Jack Regains the Gold
Pascal has been in the world title picture for close to 12 years. He is a multi-time world champion with his first title win coming in 2019 and his latest world championship victory being in 2019. A decade of world championship-caliber experience in what has been an engaging combat sports career to follow.
It will be interesting to see how Jack rebounds from such a visceral loss. He suffered a deep scar in his last outing that looked like a hatchet wound. Jack’ s career arc has been a compelling one for sure.
"I GET THE CHANCE TO GET MY TITLE BACK NOW!" 👑
Ahead of his World title fight with @jeanpascalchamp this weekend, @BadouJack retraces the journey of his belt from when he won it in 2017… 👇
SIGN UP HERE: https://t.co/Afi0JxbW98 🔞#Boxing #PascalJack pic.twitter.com/yODUiF6ZjH
— Boxing Social (@boxing_social) December 23, 2019
Jack won’t make the mistake that Browne did where he got defensively lax and dropped three times by the hands of Pascal. If anything, that bout further validated to Jack that Pascal was not an opponent to take lightly. If you get sloppy with Pascal, he will definitely make you pay.
Jack has had a couple of draws in the last few years and the loss in the last outing. Though these have been to top competition this fight has particular importance. Not only does it help reassert Jack, but it also helps get some promotional buzz back around him. If he secured a world championship for the third time it would do a great service in helping with that.
Pascal vs Jack Tale of the Tape
34-6-1 | Record | 22-2-3 |
20 | Knockouts | 13 |
5’10.5 | Height | 6’1 |
72″ | Reach | 73″ |
Chad Dawson, Lucian Bute, Marcus Browne |
Significant Wins | Lucian Bute, Anthony Dirrell, Nathan Cleverly |
Orthodox | Stance | Orthodox |
Pascal has thrown himself back into the mix at 175 lbs. A pro with over 40 pro bouts and invaluable experience against some of the best of this generation. Jack has been out of the picture for 11 months but he sees some utility in that. He seems confident that the time off allowed him to heal and I can see him performing well against Pascal.
This fight has a lot of high stakes and future matchmaking implications heading into 2020. I see Badou Jack getting it done via decision when Pascal vs Jack goes down.
Pick: Badou Jack (-230)
Sports Writer
A part-time writer and full-time broadcaster, Dylan has hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, and covered some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage.