Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev retained his WBA Super, IBF and WBO light heavyweight titles with a highly impressive eight round stoppage win over Jean Pascal.
Kovalev made a good start to the fight which led to him putting Pascal through the ropes at the end of the third round. Pascal was still unsteady on his feet by the time the fourth round started and Kovalev went for the jugular but the Canadian weathered the storm and even landed the punch of the round with a vicious right which shook the Russian.
Pascal took the fight to Kovalev in the fifth and sixth rounds but Krusher managed to swing the fight back in his favour with some big shots in the seventh. Pascal was still struggling when the eighth began and this time Kovalev wasn't going to be denied. He had Pascal scrambling with a three shot combination but just as he went into the corner to finish the job he slipped on some water which gave Pascal a few seconds of recovery time. As the referee was making sure Kovalev was ok, Pascal was stumbling around the ring clearly feeling the affects of the previous shots. The referee did allow the fight to continue but only for a few seconds with Kovalev landing another two big shots before the ref stepped in to stop the fight.
It was a hugely impressive performance from Kovalev who now has twenty-four stoppages in his twenty-seven wins. The fight everyone wants to see now for Kovalev is a meeting with another Canadian, Adonis Stevenson. Stevenson holds the WBC light-heavyweight belt and both fighters have suggested they would like to unify the division so the fight remains a possibility. However, before that fight can take place Stevenson has a defence in April against Sakio Bika. Stevenson should win that one and then it will be up to HBO and Showtime to work out a deal to get the fight on.
Another possibility for either man is a fight with Isaac Chilemba who handed Vasily Lepikhin the first defeat of his career in a one sided fight on the under card. Lepikhin was hugely disappointing and was completely dominated throughout the whole fight but credit to Chilemba who deserves praise for such a comfortable win.
There was a controversial decision in the heavyweight dual between Steve Cunningham and Vyacheslav Glazkov. Cunningham looked to have edged it but Glazkov was awarded the decision and will now be in contention for a shot at Wladimir Klitscko which based on this performance could be a short fight.
Earlier on the under card there were wins for Dierry Jean (28-1-0), Nadjib Mohammedi (37-3-0), Dmitry Mikhaylenko (19-0-0), Yves Ulysse Jr (6-0-0) and David Theroux (6-0-0) but the night belonged to Sergey Kovalev who once again proved himself to be one of the most dangerous men in boxing.