In 2008, after
Joe Calzaghe had moved up in weight to challenge
Bernard Hopkins, his WBC super middleweight title became vacant. This meant that challengers
Carl Froch and
Jermain Taylor were in line to fight for the vacant title. However, Taylor opted to fight former IBF champion
Jeff Lacy instead, which meant
Jean Pascal would challenge Froch for the title on 8 December 2008. Both men went into the fight with an unbeaten record, but this would be their toughest test to date. ==The fight==