MONTREAL – Canada’s Jean Pascal called Sergey (Krusher) Kovalev a racist.
Kovalev promised to shut Pascal’s mouth "forever."
So it was not all fun and gamesmanship as former champion Pascal (30-3-1) and current title holder Kovalev (28-0-1) attended a news conference on Monday to promote their rematch on Jan. 30 at the Bell Centre.
Kovalev retained his WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight belts when he stopped Pascal in the eighth round of their first meeting on March 17, also at the Bell Centre.
Not in the room was another Haitian-born Montreal fighter, Adonis Stevenson, who holds the light heavyweight belt from the other major fight sanctioning body, the WBC. Pascal and Kovalev have both been hounding Stevenson for a showdown for more than a year, so far to no avail.
Pascal said Kovalev was racist because he posted a picture of a monkey on social media to represent Stevenson.
"I don’t like Stevenson either but I’d never do that," said Pascal. "I posted a chicken because Stevenson’s a chicken.
"Did he post a picture of a monkey because Stevenson’s black? Those kinds of things are not supposed to have a place in society in 2015."
Kovalev said he apologized for the posting and that he now understood it was not a good thing to do.
His promoter Kathy Duva called Pascal’s statements "ugly and uncalled for."
She also said she has reached agreement with Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel for a fight with Kovalev in June on HBO, the TV network the Russian is attached to. However, she remains skeptical about Stevenson, who her camp has accused of avoiding tough opponents.
"I’ll send them a contract based on terms that Yvon and I agreed on (Sunday)," she said. "If they sign it, then we’ll have a fight. If they don’t, then we’ll know they were posturing."
Pascal, 33, was WBC champion from 2009 to 2013, when he lost to veteran Bernard Hopkins. Kovalev won a unanimous decision last year over Hopkins to unify three of the belts.
Kovalev and Pascal each fought once since their first meeting, both on a July 25 card in Las Vegas. Pascal won an unimpressive decision over top-10 opponent Yunieski Gonzalez while Kovalev knocked out mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in the third round.
The 32-year-old Russian is considered the best in the division for his mix of skill and power, but he should see an improved Pascal, who dropped trainer Marc Ramsay to work with famed fight guru Freddie Roach.
The already fit-looking Pascal is to open camp Wednesday at the Big Bear resort and then go to Roach’s gym in Los Angeles for final preparations.
Kovalev insisted he’s not looking past Pascal even though he has bouts with Stevenson and with Andre Ward (in November) already lined up. He expects a better-prepared opponent who may pick up some new tricks from Roach.
"He doesn’t take me lightly because he knows deep in his mind that I gave him his toughest fight," said Pascal. "He knows that I’m going to be ready and probably be better than the last fight."
He said he wants to get Kovalev back for showing disrespect to Montreal fans when he made a rude gesture at them after the weigh-in for their last bout.
"The reason HBO is putting $3 million on the table for this fight is because he’s fighting me," said Pascal. "I’m the star of the division. This guy, a champion, has no class."
"He continues to speak a lot of trash," said Kovalev. "I want to beat him and close his mouth forever."