Jean Pascal Wins The Easy Way And The Hard Way, Outboxing And Outslugging Adrian Diaconu (Plus: Fernando Beltran, Jr. - Monty Meza-Clay)

Quebec went crazy for this fight, as well it should have. Round 5 was one of the best of the year, with Pascal dropping Diaconu officially once and unofficially twice, only to overestimate how hurt Diaconu was and get caught with shots that had him on wobbly legs. The last couple rounds were pure street brawl. Both men took turns wobbling the other throughout, and the cards were closer -- 115-112, 116-112, 116-111 -- than I had it: 117-110.

(Also Friday, on on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights, there was a second slugfest, with Fernando Beltran, Jr. beating Monty Meza-Clay in a fight where both men threw more than 1,000 punches.)

I gave Pascal the first five rounds, although there was some variation. In the 1st, Pascal played stick and move to perfection, diving in for 1-2s and using his excellent reflexes to get back out. In the 2nd, he did much the same, but Diaconu was able to get closer. Unfortunately for him, as he held Pascal's left arm toward the end of the round, Pascal pounded on him with the right repeatedly. In the 3rd, the round was much, much closer, with Diaconu landing some overhand rights that I could see making someone give it to Diaconu. In the 4th, they traded, with Diaconu getting the better of some of them, but Pascal seeming to stagger Diaconu. In the 5th, Diaconu went down once on a counter left, then appeared to go down again on a right, but since Pascal gave him a little shove, too, the referee ruled it a slip.

The next two rounds, Diaconu closed the distance and stayed there, winning both. But I thought I sensed Diaconu slowing in the next, with Pascal's accurate body punching and uppercuts doing a lot of damage. In the 9th and 10th, Pascal went back to stick and move, and Diaconu couldn't get close. But the crowd began to boo a little, wholly without justification, and maybe that made Pascal a little overeager to please. Diaconu hurt Pascal again in the 11th, and Pascal responded by getting super macho and hammering back. It didn't win him the round, but it was completely awesome. I thought Pascal pulled out the 12th by landing the harder shots in another slugfest-style round.

This was a gritty fight, with both men showing guts upon guts. Diaconu never stopped coming  forward, and Pascal never took a punch for the answer. Size never proved problematic for Pascal that I could see, even moving up from super middleweight. I don't see either as ultra-elite light heavyweights, instead as good, difficult middle of the pack top-10 types. But of the two men, if Pascal could fight like he did early and in some of the mid-to-late rounds where he boxed sharply and took advantage of his speed, he might stand a chance against one of the top couple guys. Thing is, I'm not sure I'd want to change him. He's such a pleasure the way he is.

This was the kind of fight you score with a calculator, this featherweight bout between Beltran  and Meza-Clay. In the 9th, Beltran had already crossed the 1,000-punch threshold, and it was Meza-Clay who'd been thought of as the swarming volume puncher. In all, the two boxers threw 2,381 punches.

Beltran's superior height, and his ability to outwork the prodigious Meza-Clay, made the major differences. Meza-Clay needs to get on the inside; it's the only place the 5'2" fella can fight. Beltran is 5'7", and his work rate allowed him to tag Meza-Clay as he came in where others have had trouble catching Meza-Clay's always-moving head. Once Meza-Clay made it past that, Beltran also more than held his own on the inside. He threw a couple hundred more punches than Meza-Clay overall. Meza-Clay hurt his right hand in the 5th, and that slowed his pace some. But Beltran was already outworking Meza-Clay early, so I don't think it made that much of a difference.

I gave Meza-Clay the 3rd and the 6th through the 8th, primarily because even when he was outworked, he was landing some of the harder shots. The rest of the time, Beltran just overwhelmed him. Meza-Clay took a few occasions to back up and counter, but it didn't get him much -- usually thrown into a corner or against the ropes and pounded on. (Tactically, ESPN2's Teddy Atlas kept insisting that Meza-Clay had to hit Beltran as he stepped back, but maybe he forgot that Meza-Clay was a munchkin, or maybe he failed to notice all of Meza-Clay's punches aimed at Beltran as he stepped back whizzing way short of Beltran's head.) Meza-Clay gained another point in the 11th when Beltran was deducted for a very low blow, although that shot, unlike the very low blow in the 1st, was the fault of Meza-Clay for pushing Beltran's head down. Meza-Clay landed his most eye-popping shots in the 10th, but he appeared to lack the ability to really, truly hurt Beltran, so there was to be no bailout KO. Beltran won by scores of 117-110 twice and 115-112.

Neither of these guys have the potential of Pascal or Diaconu. And it wasn't a particularly close fight. It still was an excellent FNF main event. Anytime the people counting punches take one big step closer to the insane asylum, it isn't boring.