WBC #2 ranked light heavyweight Ismayl Sillakh (17-0 14KO) calls former champion Jean Pascal's excuses to back out of a WBC-ordered showdown against him transparent.
"They can't hide from me forever," said Sillakh of fellow top light heavies Jean Pascal (WBC #3 ranked), Chad Dawson (WBC #1 ranked), and Bernard Hopkins (WBC champion). "Enough excuses. Just get in the ring and fight. We're fighters."
Sillakh says Team Pascal's excuse that a fight between them would be hard to sell is laughable given the crowds Pascal has drawn to fight a long list of unknown foreign fighters in his adopted home of Quebec, Canada.
"I am the uncrowned champion and these guys at the top are all hoping to avoid me as long as possible before I take over the division. I understand that. But at the end of the day, someone has to step up and say I'm a fighter. I will fight. Pascal, you and I are both young and in our primes. Let's show the world who is the better man. I will even travel to Canada to make the fight happen."
Sillakh says he's hoping Pascal and his team will drop the faƧade and either get in the ring or get out of the way.
"You'd rather sit on the shelf for two years, or fight lesser opponents than fight me, Jean? I'm talking to you, the fighter. I know your team wants to keep you safe, but are you going to man up and take this challenge? We're fighters. We fight."