Through five fights, the night had done little to excite boxing fans. The arena, while not quite full, had been loud at points when the hometown fighters were victorious, but it was not thunderous by any means. Many had yet to even focus on the ring at all. Grotesque, oversized men pranced around the floor area of Montreal’s Bell Centre with their trophies, women with dresses a little too short and heels a little too high, as if they were trying to impress the hounds in the stands. But before either Kovalev or Pascal could take to the ring, even before the HBO cameras started rolling, something magical happened. If you’ve ever been in the arena when a breathtaking fight happens, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The kind of bout that even the trophies stop and admire in sheer shock for the brutality the men put themselves through. Renan St.Juste and Francis Lefreniere accomplished the unlikely feat on 30 January. “I wanted to fight inside with Renan because he's a big puncher,” Lefreniere said of his gameplan. “When you receive one punch, it's okay, but if he lands two, three, four big punches, he can be dangerous. That's why we wanted to stay inside.”
