By Jon Uddin✏

The State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia will play host to a under the radar match-up in the Light-Heavyweight division as 🇭🇹🇨🇦Jean Pascal (34-6-1, 20KO) makes the first defense of his WBA (regular) Title against former two-division Champion 🇸🇪Badou Jack (22-2-3, 13KO). The fight serves as the main undercard to the WBA Lightweight title fight between Gervonta Davis and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

It was just this past August where Pascal, for what seemed like at least the third time in his career, was at a crossroads heading into his fight with then WBA champion Marcus Browne. The 36 year old two time World Champion had lost two of his previous four bouts, including being on the short end of a one sided loss to WBA (Super) Champion Dmitry Bivol in the fall of 2018. Fortunes would change for the Haitian born Canadian that August night in Brooklyn, as he would pull off the significant upset at the Barclays over Browne, who held the title at the time, putting the 28 year old Staten Island native down three times en route to an eight round technical decision victory. Pascal wants the momentum from that win to continue, and build on what could be his last run in a division that’s picked up steam with its young talent in the last year.

The belt is working itself around where it started as Pascal will now defend the title against Sweden’s Badou Jack, the man who owned it before losing it to Browne at the beginning of 2019. That night Jack left without his belt but took home a nasty gash at the center of his forehead that required 25 stitches. Now in his first return to the ring since that night, Jack is looking to supplant himself back in the mix with the major players at 175 heading into 2020.

JEAN PASCAL VS BADOU JACK
WBA (regular) LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2019
STATE FARM ARENA, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
TV: SHOWTIME, 9pm ET/6pm PT