by David P. Greisman

Bernard Hopkins fought Jean Pascal twice, holding him to a draw in 2010 and then winning the light heavyweight championship from him in 2011. Hopkins watched Pascal’s fight with Lucian Bute earlier this month and was complimentary of his performance, while also noting the influence that Roy Jones Jr. had.

 “Pascal did an excellent job of sticking to having action when he needed to and having patience when he needed to,” Hopkins told BoxingScene.com. “And Bute couldn’t get off, not only his body attack, but he couldn’t get off on Pascal. I thought the way the fight was going earlier, that somehow Bute thought that Pascal, who has a history of getting tired or taking breaks, and it didn’t happen.

“I think Roy Jones had a lot to do with that. I think he’s [Pascal has] been inspired, and always been a Roy Jones fan, and justifiably so. No matter what Roy has done in the past four or five years of his career, you can’t deny or you can’t ignore, a guy like Pascal understands the history and what he can learn from one of his heroes. I give him a B-plus. The only reason I give him a B-plus is because he didn’t knock the guy out.”

Pick up a copy of David’s new book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com