Sergey Kovalev knocks out Jean Pascal to retain world titles
Sunday 15 March 2015 21:06, UK
Sergey Kovalev came through a back-and-forth battle of attrition to eventually halt Jean Pascal in the eighth round of their light-heavyweight championship bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The Russian was given possibly his toughest test so far so far but still handed Pascal the first knockdown of his career in the third round before ending the contest in the eighth.
Pascal, competing in his home town, enjoyed some success and took Kovalev deeper than he had been before as a world champion but ultimately couldn’t avoid the night-ending blows from the WBA, WBO and IBF title holder.
The finish came as Kovalev forced Pascal onto the ropes with hard shots that landed flush, but he slipped on the canvas as he swooped in for the kill.
The reprieve was brief as Kovalev immediately landed two unanswered right hands to the temple that convinced referee Luis Pabon to step in.
Brutal
The fight had offered glimpses of a brutal finish much earlier when both fighters landed hard blows a couple of rounds in. Pascal landed a left hook that didn’t budge Kovalev in the second, and followed it up with quick punches in the third that still failed to hurt the Russian.
Kovalev roared back and had Pascal wobbling after a left hook, then landed a right hook seconds before the end of the third that floored the Haiti-born puncher for the first time in his career.
Pascal still hadn’t recovered in the fourth and was unable to fight back as Kovalev teed off but he would have to wait longer for his eventual finish.
Pascal’s right eye was swollen but, in the fifth, he backed up Kovalev with shots of his own and forced the Russian to instigate a clinch to end his rhythm. But he enjoyed the better of things in the seventh before the tide swung critically in the eighth.
Kovalev was leading 68-64 on all three judges' scorecards before his knockout, which extended his record to 27-0-1.
