By Keith Idec

Back when Jean Pascal was an up-and-coming contender and later the WBC light heavyweight champion, the transplanted French-Canadian helped draw huge crowds to Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Adonis Stevenson was unknown then and sometimes fought on Pascal’s undercards. If Pascal can upset Eleider Alvarez on the Stevenson-Andrzej Fonfara undercard Saturday night at Bell Centre, he’ll earn a mandatory match against the Stevenson-Fonfara winner.

The Laval, Quebec, resident senses an even greater purpose than earning another light heavyweight title shot.

“I want to make boxing great again in Quebec,” Pascal told krikya360.com. “Because since I lost my title, since Stevenson has been champion, boxing has decreased in Montreal because Stevenson doesn’t do his job to face real boxers, real opponents, real champions. So right now my job is to make boxing great again in Quebec and in Canada.”

The 39-year-old Stevenson is one of boxing’s biggest punchers, but the WBC light heavyweight champion has consistently drawn criticism for failing to fight former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs). Whether you think Stevenson or Kovalev is at fault for their title unification fight not taking place, Pascal (31-4-1, 18 KOs, 1 NC) is certain Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) has disrespected fans by avoiding the toughest fights available in the 175-pound division.

“Honestly, the only reason I wanna fight Stevenson is because the fans want it,” Pascal said. “You know me – I’m a crowd-pleaser. I like to please my crowd. That’s why I’m so popular in Montreal and why I’m way more popular than the current champion [Stevenson], because I like to please the fans and I like to take challenges. I fought a murderer like Kovalev. I fought a legend like [Bernard] Hopkins. I fought the pound-for-pound king [Chad] Dawson, who in ’09 was the pound-for-pound king. I always accept the challenges. That’s why the fans love me. I love to please the crowd.”

Pascal, 34, fought Kovalev and Hopkins twice apiece, Dawson and Quebec rival Lucian Bute basically over a five-year stretch. Each of those high-profile fights was contested in Quebec (five at Bell Centre; one at Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City).

Against Alvarez (22-0, 11 KOs), he’ll encounter a former sparring partner who is trained by the man, Marc Ramsey, who trained Pascal for about 20 years. Beating Alvarez, who knocked out Bute (32-5, 25 KOs) in the fifth round of his last fight three months ago, would re-establish Pascal as a legitimate light heavyweight contender.

“That’s gonna be a big thing for me because I’m gonna be right back on top,” Pascal said. “And that’s my goal, to regain the world title. I know when I win this fight I’m gonna have a shot at ‘Superman’ [Stevenson]. That’s the goal. That’s the focus. So we put a lot of work into training to make it happen Saturday night.”

Whatever happens against Alvarez, Pascal feels Quebec boxing fans respect him more than Stevenson.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really focus on this guy because he’s not on my road to Alvarez,” Pascal said. “So I need to focus on Alvarez. But one thing that I know is that the belt doesn’t define the champion. The champion defines the belt. So simply because you have the belt, it doesn’t mean that you’re a world champion. And right now, it’s been six years that I have no belt and people here treat me like a champion. I’m the people’s champion in my town and in my country. So it’s not the belts that define if you’re a world champion or not.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.