MONTREAL -- This time, Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev says it's personal.
Ten months ago, he traveled to Montreal and defended his three light heavyweight world title belts against former world champion Jean Pascal in an exciting, but ultimately one-sided, fight.
Kovalev knocked Pascal down for the first time in his career in the third round and was ahead 68-64 on all three judges' scorecards when the fight, at the Bell Centre in Pascal's hometown, ended with Pascal getting badly rocked by a pair of searing right hands to the head that forced referee Luis Pabon to stop the fight in the eighth round, just moments after a wobbly Pascal appeared to knock Kovalev down in a sequence that Pabon ruled a slip.
Let's just say Kovalev and Pascal do not have the warmest of relationships.
"I hate him," Kovalev told ESPN.com on Thursday.
Pascal is no fan of Kovalev's, either, they prepare for a rematch on Saturday night (HBO, 9:45 ET/PT) at the Bell Centre in which race has become an issue.
Pascal, who is black and originally from Haiti, has accused Kovalev, who is a white Russian living in Los Angeles, of being a racist for past comments toward him and Montreal's Adonis Stevenson, the lineal light heavyweight champion who is also black and originally from Haiti. Kovalev has denied Pascal's accusations.
Kovalev also once tweeted a photo of himself and a young boy, who was wearing a shirt with a gorilla head on a human body wearing boxing gloves. Kovalev was in the photo pointing at the shirt with the comment "Adonis looks great!" Kovalev, who continues to try to get a unification fight with Stevenson, quickly deleted the post and said there was no racial intent.
At Wednesday's final news conference, Pascal had a bit of a meltdown, props included. He brought out a bunch of bananas and directed his remarks at Kovalev as he held one of them up.
"Kovy, do you want a banana? You're white. I know you're white, and it's only for black people," Pascal said. "Do you want to take it for your black coach? He might want to eat it because he's black. You want to keep it for your black coach?"
While Kovalev maintained his composure, John David Jackson, Kovalev's black trainer, who is regarded as one of boxing's best cornermen, was clearly not pleased when Pascal dropped a banana in front of him on the dais, igniting a near scuffle in which they had to be separated.
Jackson defended Kovalev, saying that because he comes from another culture, he sometimes says things that "come out the wrong way" but that he is not racist.
"If he were racist, I wouldn't be in his corner," Jackson said. "Trust me, I wouldn't be here."
Kovalev did not bother to respond to Pascal's accusations when it was his turn to speak.
"I have nothing to say. He is not a fighter," he said. "I hope that he will bring something in the ring. It will be great fight for boxing fans. ... I will try to make it shorter."
So whereas the first time Kovalev and Pascal met it was strictly business, this time there appears to be much more involved.
"Pascal has said bad things to my side," Kovalev said. "I have a reason for fighting him. I think Pascal has reason to say thank you to Luis Pabon, the referee for the [first] fight. He forgot to say thank you very much that he saved his health and life maybe. Because he was already drunk, you know, like spaghetti legs."
Said Pascal, "He called me and Stevenson a piece of s--- because we are black. It's a fact that he only calls black fighters pieces of s---. The funny thing is when it comes to selling tickets, speaking in complete sentences or generating big ratings, the only piece of s--- is him."
Perhaps Pascal is merely trying to pump himself up for a fight in which he is the decided underdog. After Kovalev knocked him out, they fought their next fights on the same card in July in Las Vegas with an eye on setting up the rematch. Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs), 32, destroyed mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in the third round and the 33-year-old Pascal (30-3-1, 17 KOs) struggled terribly in the co-feature to win an unpopular 10-round decision against Yunieski Gonzalez.
"The fight with Gonzalez on the last card, Pascal looked shot," Jackson said. "I don't see much more he can do."
Pascal's apparent gift decision -- virtually every media member at ringside had Gonzalez winning the fight with a couple of draws, and Harold Lederman, HBO's unofficial judge, also had Gonzalez winning wide -- left many lukewarm to the rematch, although the late heat from the news-conference outburst may stoke interest.
Either way, Kovalev, who will be making his seventh title defense since claiming his first belt by fourth-round knockout of Nathan Cleverly on Cleverly's home turf in Wales in 2013, said he will make Pascal regret his accusations.
"Pascal is a trash talker. I don't care what he say because it's just trash from his mouth," Kovalev said. "He starts speaking trash to [make me] lose my mind and make me nervous. He will pay for this in the ring. Believe me. I am going to make him pay for this. It is a more personal fight."
In the scheduled 10-round co-feature, welterweight Dmitry Mikhaylenko (20-0, 9 KOs), 29, of Russia, will take on Karim Mayfield (19-2-1, 11 KOs), 35, of San Francisco, who stepped in on about two weeks' notice -- but he had been training for another bout -- to replace Philadelphia's Ray Robinson (20-2, 9 KOs) after Robinson hurt his back in a car accident.
Racial overtones aside, Pascal -- who fired trainer Marc Ramsay after the Gonzalez fight and hired Hall of Fame Freddie Roach -- has also taunted Kovalev about fighting him again in Montreal.
"There is only one star in this fight, and it isn't Sergey Kovalev. When he and I fought on the same show in Vegas on July 25, it became obvious that Kovalev sells like sand in the desert," Pascal said. "He didn't even sell 1,000 tickets, so we all know the reason he's coming back to Montreal is because I'm the only way he can make money. He likes to say that he likes to go to other people's hometown and ruin them in front of their fans, but that's a lie.
"He likes to go to other people's backyard because he has no hometown of his own and couldn't sell 2,000 tickets to save his life. And when he makes his first million-dollar purse because of my great fans in Montreal, how does he thank them? He gives them the finger. Talk about classless."
Kovalev's response about returning to Montreal?
"I love Canada and Canadian fans. Canada reminds me so much of my hometown in Russia. Same atmosphere," he said. "I feel very comfortable in Canada. Big support from Canadian fans. And second thing why I fight in Canada -- because Pascal doesn't want to go to America to fight me or in Russia, either. He's fighting only in his hometown. OK, I'm ready to kick his ass in his hometown."
"This fight is personal fight. It is something personal for me. It is not everything true that he is speaking. I understand for why he is doing this. He is trying to make me angry. I am giving him a reminder. I didn't do my job last time. I should have stopped his career."