Over in Las Vegas, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Andre Ward took on Sergey Kovalev in a light-heavyweight title fight.
Kovalev was looking for revenge after Ward had beaten him in their first fight and was hoping to snatch the WBO, WBA and IBF belts at stake.
Unfortunately, for the Russian it was Ward that once again took the verdict, stopping Kovalev in the eighth round.
The end came after Kovalev, stopped thirty-one seconds before the end of that eighth round, slumped to the canvas.
Ward had caught the Russian with a big right-hand and then followed it up with a series of body-shots.
Kovalev, who lost their first encounter on points, believed that he was the victim of a low shot, remarking to the media afterwards,
‘It was a low blow, again another one.
‘We are boxers. I could still continue. Why stop the fight?’
Ward, on the other hand, remarked,
‘He’s a great fighter, not a lot of people are going to beat him.
‘But when you are facing a great fighter you have to raise your game to the next level.
‘I hurt him with a head shot and I just had to get the right shot in to finish him.’
The win makes Ward unbeaten in thirty-two fights although Kovalev wants, due to his low blow theory, another re-match.
Ward Beats Kovalev in Re-Match
