The planned fight between Jean Pascal and Terry Osias will ultimately not take place on July 20 at the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal, RDS.ca learned from two sources familiar with the situation on Thursday.
The Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) has officially removed the event from its calendar and promoter Yan Pellerin is reportedly looking for a new date and a new location to present the gala featuring the 41-year-old former world champion.
If Pascal (36-7-1, 20 KOs) and Osias (13-0, 6 KOs) end up crossing swords, it also seems certain that the confrontation will not be sanctioned by the WBC, as was initially conveyed. Rumors suggested that the silver belt or even the international light heavyweight belt would be awarded to the winner of the duel scheduled for 10 rounds.
In interview at The Canadian Press three weeks ago, Pascal had mentioned wanting to become world champion in a second different weight category, after having held the WBC light heavyweight title from June 2009 to May 2011 and the WBA “regular” title from August 2019 to July 2021. The Laval resident was stripped of this second belt following a positive doping test ahead of a planned clash against Badou Jack in June 2021 in Miami.
Pascal has fought two fights since those events that forced him to serve a six-month suspension: a win against Fanlong Meng in May 2022 in Plant City, Florida, and a loss to Michael Eifert in an IBF light heavyweight eliminator bout in March 2023 at Place Bell.
