Many fight fans and media alike felt Sergey Kovalev had done more than enough to defeat Andre Ward in their first fight back in November, as the 2004 Olympian won by a controversial unanimous decision.
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This time around, though, Ward left no doubt as he defeated Kovalev by TKO at 2:25 of the eighth round to retain his unified light heavyweight titles and soar to become the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Sporting News had it 67-66 Kovalev at the time of the stoppage.
Toward the beginning part of the fight, it looked like Kovalev figured out the mistakes he made in the first fight by going to the body and being the aggressor. Ward came back though and started to go to work connecting with the left hook and becoming the heavier puncher.
Heading into the sixth round, Ward and Kovalev were exhausted. Kovalev had appeared to pull through and take control of the fight as he rocked Ward with a right hand. To Ward's credit, he bounced back in the seventh and, in a precursor to how the fight would end, went for the body.
In the eighth and final round, Ward connected on a beautiful right hand that stunned Kovalev, who tried to come back with a left hand to little effect. Ward, sensing he had "The Krusher" in trouble, connected on another flush right hand and then landed a hard left to the body, which hurt Kovalev.
Ward, sensing the end was near, got Kovalev against the ropes, throwing left hands to the body with everything he had. Tony Weeks had seen enough and stopped the bout.
Ward remains undefeated in 32 fights and told Max Kellerman of HBO after the fight that he is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. When he asked what was next, Ward said he may move up to cruiserweight or possibly heavyweight for the right fight.
Kovalev, who is now 30-2, has lost back-to-back fights. He was livid afterwards, saying the shots at the end of the fight were below the belt and that Weeks stopped the fight prematurely.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and Boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can listen to his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago" here. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
