MONTREAL (AP) — Jean Pascal dominated an unusually tentative Lucian Bute to win the battle of former world champions by unanimous decision before 20,479 at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.
The decidedly pro-Bute crowd could do little to help their fighter, who appeared more concerned with not getting hit than with launching attacks.
One judge had it 117-110, another 117-111 and the third 116-112.
Pascal took Bute’s minor NABF title and something called the WBC diamond belt, but more importantly, he bested his fellow Montreal fighter in their long-awaited showdown and made himself a player again in the light heavyweight division.
The fight, billed as the biggest between two Canadians, was a one-sided affair, with Pascal on attack from the outset. He failed to knock his Romanian-born opponent down, however, although he opened a nasty cut on Bute’s nose in the 10th.
