World champion boxer Jean Pascal was born 44 years ago.

Forty-four years ago, on October 28, 1982, Jean Pascal was born in Port-au-Prince. A Canadian boxer of Haitian origin, he became the world light-heavyweight champion.

From Port-au-Prince to Laval

As a child, he left Haiti with his mother and brother for Laval, near Montreal, where he had to learn French. Drawn to boxing by following his older brother, Nicholson Poulard, he won seven Canadian amateur titles. He won gold at the 2001 Francophonie Games and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, then bronze at the 2003 Pan American Games. In 2004, he represented Canada at the Athens Olympics. He left the amateur ranks with 103 wins and 18 losses.

WBC World Champion

He turned professional in 2005 and first made his mark on the North American scene. On December 6, 2008, he lost his first world title fight to Carl Froch. On June 19, 2009, he defeated Romanian Adrian Diaconu and became WBC light-heavyweight champion. He defended his title against Diaconu, then against Chad Dawson at the Centre Bell, before a draw with Bernard Hopkins on December 18, 2010. Hopkins beat him in their rematch on May 21, 2011.

A Long Career

On January 18, 2014, he defeated Lucian Bute in front of 20,479 spectators at the Centre Bell. He then lost to Sergey Kovalev twice and to Dmitry Bivol in 2018. In 2019, he dominated Marcus Browne and Badou Jack. On March 16, 2023, he lost on points to Michael Eifert at Place Bell.