The fight between Jean Pascal and Michal Cieslak has been officially announced for June 28, confirming BoxingScene’s report from April.
Pascal-Cieslak will headline at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec, Canada, just outside of the city of Montreal. The winner will be the WBC’s interim cruiserweight titleholder.
Poland’s Cieslak, 27-2 (21 KOs), was originally supposed to face Yamil Peralta for the interim belt, but that fight failed to come to fruition. And so the WBC has sanctioned a bout between the 36-year-old Cieslak, ranked fifth, and Pascal, who had been unrated – not in the WBC’s top 15 and not even in its top 40 – until conveniently entering the rankings at 10th in the WBC’s update on May 12.
Pascal, 37-7-1 (21 KOs) and of Canada, is a former lineal light-heavyweight champion. The 42 year old had one fight at cruiserweight in 2018 and then didn’t return to the weight class until September, when he scored a 10th-round knockout over the 13-0 Terry Osias.
The WBC’s primary titleholder is Badou Jack, who lost to Pascal via split decision in a light-heavyweight fight in 2019. Jack, who is 41 years old, is coming off a majority decision win over Noel Mikaelyan on the undercard of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-William Scull on May 3.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.