Ward celebrates win; Kovalev plans protest

After leaving no doubt who was the best light heavyweight around, Andre Ward talked about securing his place as one of the top fighters in the world and perhaps moving up to heavyweight.

LAS VEGAS » After leaving no doubt who was the best light heavyweight around, Andre Ward talked about securing his place as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and perhaps even one day moving up to heavyweight.

The talk in Sergey Kovalev’s camp, meanwhile, was about protesting the outcome of Saturday night’s fight because the referee did nothing about borderline low blows that helped bring the fight to an end in the eighth round.

Kovalev’s promoter, Kathy Duva, said she would protest to the Nevada Athletic Commission on Monday to try and erase the second straight loss Kovalev suffered at the hands of Ward. Duva admitted, though, she has little hopes a protest would succeed.

“We have to try,” Duva said. “He was hitting him low the whole fight.”