Post by 221dayton on Jan 31, 2016 11:08:04 GMT -5
Dan Rafael
ESPN
1/31/2016
MONTREAL -- Unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev had a much easier time in Saturday's rematch with Jean Pascal than he did the first time he knocked Pascal out.
Ten months ago, Kovalev knocked Pascal out in the eighth round of a fairly dominant performance, but he totally outclassed Pascal in the rematch Saturday night before 9,866 at the Bell Centre.
Kovalev beat, battered and bloodied Pascal in a one-sided destruction in front of Pascal's hometown crowd before Freddie Roach, working as Pascal's trainer for the first time, stopped the fight in the corner after the seventh round.
It was a virtually flawless performance from the fearsome Kovalev, who retained his three world title belts and continued to power his way toward an expected fall showdown with Andre Ward. Ward, the undefeated former super middleweight champion who is moving up to light heavyweight, was ringside to observe his likely future foe.
Kovalev gave him a lot to digest as he clobbered Pascal, the former light heavyweight world champion, from start to finish.
The fight was a rematch of Kovalev's March 14 defense, also at the Bell Centre, which was an exciting but ultimately one-sided fight.
The rematch was finalized and was a big deal in Montreal, where it dominated sports media coverage all week, especially after Pascal and Kovalev got very personal with each other in their prefight comments. But when they got to the ring, it was all Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs).
"No, I don't like rematches, but this was a personal fight because Pascal was a special person," Kovalev said sarcastically after the fight. "I mean, he's not polite with anybody around him and don't respect fighters. Anybody he don't respect, believe me. When I'm in Montreal, everyone said to me, 'Kick his ass.'"
That is exactly what he did. Kovalev, 32, a Russian living in Los Angeles, dropped Pascal (30-4-1, 17 KOs), 33, with a jab in the center of the ring in the first round, but referee Michael Griffin called it a slip. Replays showed it was a clean knockdown. Kovalev also steadily worked Pascal to the body with hard jabs in what should have been a 10-8 round.
Kovalev seemed to have Pascal in some trouble during the third round, when he hurt him with a chopping left hand that Pascal leaned into. Pascal got off a hard left hand at the end of the round, but he was basically landing one punch at a time.
Kovalev continued to have his way in the fourth round, when he continued to find a home for his chopping right hand, one of which rocked Pascal with a minute to go.
Kovalev nearly finished Pascal in the fifth round, which was so one-sided that all three judges scored it 10-8 without the benefit of a knockdown.
Kovalev dished out wicked punishment. He nearly dropped him with a right hand and battered him along the ropes as Griffin looked closely. Only a desperation clinch kept him from going down. Then Kovalev landed four consecutive right hands that did more damage moments later.
Kovalev landed 31 of 73 punches in the round, according to CompuBox punch statistics, and Roach threatened to stop the fight before the beginning of the sixth round.
Kovalev seemed to derive pleasure from giving Pascal a beating.
"I would fight more rounds and make him more pain and punish him more," Kovalev said with a laugh. "Oh, wait, they stopped the fight before the eighth round. I don't respect him at all."
After the sixth round, Pascal asked Roach for one more round, but he did not do much, as Kovalev continued to beat him up to the head and body. When the round was over, a weary Pascal returned to his corner and plopped down on his stool, and Roach signaled to Griffin to halt the fight, which Kovalev was leading 70-62 on all three scorecards.
Kovalev's dominance was reflected in the CompuBox statistics. He landed 165 of 412 punches (40 percent), while Pascal connected on only 30 of 108 blows (28 percent).
ESPN
1/31/2016
MONTREAL -- Unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev had a much easier time in Saturday's rematch with Jean Pascal than he did the first time he knocked Pascal out.
Ten months ago, Kovalev knocked Pascal out in the eighth round of a fairly dominant performance, but he totally outclassed Pascal in the rematch Saturday night before 9,866 at the Bell Centre.
Kovalev beat, battered and bloodied Pascal in a one-sided destruction in front of Pascal's hometown crowd before Freddie Roach, working as Pascal's trainer for the first time, stopped the fight in the corner after the seventh round.
It was a virtually flawless performance from the fearsome Kovalev, who retained his three world title belts and continued to power his way toward an expected fall showdown with Andre Ward. Ward, the undefeated former super middleweight champion who is moving up to light heavyweight, was ringside to observe his likely future foe.
Kovalev gave him a lot to digest as he clobbered Pascal, the former light heavyweight world champion, from start to finish.
The fight was a rematch of Kovalev's March 14 defense, also at the Bell Centre, which was an exciting but ultimately one-sided fight.
The rematch was finalized and was a big deal in Montreal, where it dominated sports media coverage all week, especially after Pascal and Kovalev got very personal with each other in their prefight comments. But when they got to the ring, it was all Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs).
"No, I don't like rematches, but this was a personal fight because Pascal was a special person," Kovalev said sarcastically after the fight. "I mean, he's not polite with anybody around him and don't respect fighters. Anybody he don't respect, believe me. When I'm in Montreal, everyone said to me, 'Kick his ass.'"
That is exactly what he did. Kovalev, 32, a Russian living in Los Angeles, dropped Pascal (30-4-1, 17 KOs), 33, with a jab in the center of the ring in the first round, but referee Michael Griffin called it a slip. Replays showed it was a clean knockdown. Kovalev also steadily worked Pascal to the body with hard jabs in what should have been a 10-8 round.
Kovalev seemed to have Pascal in some trouble during the third round, when he hurt him with a chopping left hand that Pascal leaned into. Pascal got off a hard left hand at the end of the round, but he was basically landing one punch at a time.
Kovalev continued to have his way in the fourth round, when he continued to find a home for his chopping right hand, one of which rocked Pascal with a minute to go.
Kovalev nearly finished Pascal in the fifth round, which was so one-sided that all three judges scored it 10-8 without the benefit of a knockdown.
Kovalev dished out wicked punishment. He nearly dropped him with a right hand and battered him along the ropes as Griffin looked closely. Only a desperation clinch kept him from going down. Then Kovalev landed four consecutive right hands that did more damage moments later.
Kovalev landed 31 of 73 punches in the round, according to CompuBox punch statistics, and Roach threatened to stop the fight before the beginning of the sixth round.
Kovalev seemed to derive pleasure from giving Pascal a beating.
"I would fight more rounds and make him more pain and punish him more," Kovalev said with a laugh. "Oh, wait, they stopped the fight before the eighth round. I don't respect him at all."
After the sixth round, Pascal asked Roach for one more round, but he did not do much, as Kovalev continued to beat him up to the head and body. When the round was over, a weary Pascal returned to his corner and plopped down on his stool, and Roach signaled to Griffin to halt the fight, which Kovalev was leading 70-62 on all three scorecards.
Kovalev's dominance was reflected in the CompuBox statistics. He landed 165 of 412 punches (40 percent), while Pascal connected on only 30 of 108 blows (28 percent).