Ward turns tables on Kovalev
Las Vegas, June 18: American champion boxer Andre Ward kept his IBF, WBA and WBO titles by stopping Russian brawler Sergey Kovalev in the eighth round of their light heavyweight rematch on Saturday.
The unbeaten Ward hurt Kovalev with a right hand that buckled his knees and then finished him off on the ropes 30 seconds later with a series of body shots around the mid-section at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino.
“He’s a great fighter, not a lot of people are going to beat him,” Ward said. “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
American Andre Ward needed this victory to validate his first win as many felt that he won won that fight and that Ward had been given a gift decision. With this win he kept his IBF, WBO and WBA titles.
the right shot in to finish him.”
Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight with 31 seconds left in the eighth with Kovalev kneeling down from what he said was a low blow.
Ward improved to 32-0 with 16 knockouts as he held onto three of the four major boxing belts that he snatched from Kovalev by winning the first fight in November by a slim unanimous decision.
Ward needed this victory to validate his first win as many felt that he won won that fight and that
Ward had been given a gift decision.
“I have never been the most talented, I have never been the biggest, I just keep knocking down giants one by one,” said Ward.
Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 knockouts) sent Ward to the canvas in the first fight once again he failed to close the deal and appeared to tire after the sixth round.
“I cannot explain,” Kovalev said. He added that he wants an “immediate” rematch because he felt he got hit with a series of low blows. ‘LOW BLOWS’
“It was a low blow, again another one,” he said as he watched a replay of the stoppage with an HBO interviewer. “We are boxers. I could still continue. Why stop the fight?”
Kovalev was the much busier of the two from the opening bell of the entertaining fight.
He was the aggressor backing up Ward who seemed content to wait for his opportunity to land a punch.
Both fighters landed solid blows in the fourth round, Kovalev with his stinging jab and Ward scoring with well-timed counter punches. But by the sixth, Ward said he could sense Kovalev was fading.