Kovalev defends light heavyweight belt at MSG

Sergey Kovalev powerfully defended his WBO light heavyweight title Saturday night, opening a deep cut under fellow Russian Igor Mikhalkin’s right eye that forced the fight to be stopped with 35 seconds left in the seventh round.

Kovalev won his second consecutive fight since his back-to-back losses to Andre Ward, dealing punishment to his former amateur teammate in the first defense of the title he regained in his last bout.

Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) took some punches but simply walked through them and opened the cut in the sixth round. Then in the sev- enth, referee Steve Willis halted the action and sent Mikhalkin to the corner after a flurry of punches to his face, and the physician said the fight needed to be halted.

“This was better work than the last fight for sure,” Kovalev said.

Mikhalkin (21-2) had a bloody U.S. debut, winning just one round on one judge’s card.

In the other light heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden, WBA champion Russian Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) stopped Cuba’s Sullivan Barrera in the 12th round.

Mikhalkin landed some clean shots as “Krusher” either wasn’t seeing the straight lefts from the south- paw or simply wasn’t respecting his power. Mikhalkin has only nine knockouts and it became clear he wouldn’t get another — though Kovalev did say he felt some of the body shots.

He certainly seems ready for something tougher — though he didn’t seem interested in hearing that Ward teased a possible third fight.

“I don’t think about that right now,” he said. “I just want to do what the fans want to see and I love boxing.”

Perhaps it’s in another allRussian match against Bivol, who was dominant in the biggest fight of his career.

“If it’s a big-money fight, I am always ready for that,” Kovalev said. —