Coming off a long lay-off, and mostly because of PED suspension as he was supposed to fight Badou Jack last year, but failed a drug test 39-year-old former two-time world champion #4 rated light heavyweight according to ITRBoxing.com, Jean Pascal (36-6-1, 20 KOs) beat IBF #1 light heavyweight Fanlong Meng (17-1, 10 KOs) by a 12-round decision in a thrilling fight on Friday night from the ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

Meng hurt Pascal early, most notably in the second round. Pascal continued to come forward with undeterred pressure. As Pascal is very vulnerable beats hits freakishly hard. Meng allowed Pascal to stay in the fight which was costly, as Pascal did what he always does and dropped Meng late in the fight in round nine. Once the power was felt, Meng never won a late-round after, and lost on the cards.

The judges saw it 115-112, 114-113 and 116-111.

We had the start of the “Last Chance” tournament pitting up fighters, who have several losses who might not get the chance to fight on cards without having to take on a fighter who has a massive advantage over them, either in terms of talent or the politics of the sport.

The most spectacular performance was Kendo Castañeda (18-5, 9 KOs) who got a first-round KO over Sonny Frederickson (21-6, 14 KOs).

In a small shocker saw Joseph Fernandez (13-1, 4 KOs) pick up a close decision win over Zhiming Wang (11-4, 3 KOs), with the scores of 77-75, 78-74, 78-74.

Michael Dutchover (15-2, 10 KOs) got an eight-round split decision against game Florida veteran Clarence Booth (21-4, 13 KOs), as the bout was scored 78-74, 77-75 Dutchover, and one judge having it 77-75 Booth.

The last notable bout of the tournament saw Antonio “Toño” Moran (27-5-1, 19 KOs) received a decision over Jeffrey Torres (10-2, 6 KOs), as the judges saw the bout 79-73, 77-75, 77-75, all for Moran.

The semi-finals will be Castañeda vs. Fernandez, and Dutchover vs. Moran.

My gut feeling tells me we’re headed for a Castaneda vs. Dutchover final.