Jean Pascal vs Michal Cieslak
The Haitian and the Pole will seek to conquer the available WBC Interim cruiserweight belt, last held by Marcelo Fabian Dominguez in 1995!
Haitian-born Canadian Jean Pascal (37-7-1, 21 KOs) will face Poland’s Michal Cieslak (27-2, 21 KOs) on July 28 at the Place Bell in Laval, Canada on a New Era Promotions event, also featuring Marcus Browne vs Olanrewaju Durodola.
Both boxers are experienced fighters with the same number of KOs and similar amount of fights.
The 36-year-old Pole is trained by Andrzej Liczik and has challenged for the WBC world cruiserweight title before, in 2020, losing a close contest with Ilunga Makabu via unanimous decision. He also took Lawrence Okolie the distance when challenging for the WBO world cruiserweight title in 2022.
Cieslak became the European champion in 2023 and defended the blue belt successfully to Irishman Tommy McCarthy later the same year. He fought twice in 2024, and is currently riding on a six-fight KO streak.
Now 42, Pascal is a two-time light-heavyweight world champion, who first turned pro 20 years ago in 2005. His first attempt at a word title came against long-since retired Carl Froch for the WBC super-middleweight strap in 2008.
He moved up to win the WBC world light-heavyweight title two fights later in 2009. He defended it four times, while adding the IBO and Ring titles, before losing it to Bernard Hopkins in 2011, another fighter who has been retired for a long time – almost nine years. Incidentally, both Froch and Hopkins have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since hanging up their gloves.
Pascal attempted to dethrone Sergey Kovalev in 2015 and 2016, unsuccessfully, as wel as Dmitry Bivol in 2018, but then came back to hold the WBA Regular light-heavy title between 2019-2021.
The 45-fight veteran has won titles at super-middle, light-heavy and cruiser. His dream is to end his career as a three-weight world champion, but Cieslak is attempting to become a world champion for the first time on his third attempt.
They say third time’s a charm… but for who?
