Over the weekend, former world champion Jean Pascal challenged unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev to a bet. Evidently, Pascal was not pleased about the fact that Kovalev predicted he would score a knockout in 8 rounds or less in their upcoming January 30 rematch. During a meeting with a group of reporters, Pascal issued a $50,000 bet that the hard-hitting undefeated champion would not be able to deliver on his prediction.
"Kovalev said, I think at the press conference, that he's going to finish the fight earlier than he did the firs time, so he said he's going to knock me out before the 8th round, so I would like to challenge Kovalev that if he's not able to knock me out before the 8th round, to make a bet like he's going to donate like $50K," Pascal explained on Saturday. "If he knocks me out before the 8th, I'm going to give money to his own foundation, so that's a good challenge."
Today, Kovalev revealed that he's more than willing to put his money where his mouth is, accepting Pascal's challenge by posting the following message on his official Twitter page:
@jeanpascalchamp your generous offer is accepted. Train hard for this- you'll need it. #REMATCH #KovalevPascal
@jeanpascalchamp your generous offer is accepted. Train hard for this- you'll need it. #REMATCH #KovalevPascal pic.twitter.com/oKKELrlU11
— Sergey Kovalev (@KrusherKovalev) December 14, 2015[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]