LAS VEGAS – One righteous right was the beginning of an end to the fight. But there was no end to the controversy. It rages on.
It looked as if the Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev rivalry had finally reached a conclusion in the eighth round Saturday night in a HBO pay-per-view fight at Mandalay Bay.
Ward, who calls himself Son Of God, landed a lightning bolt of a right. He came out of a slight crouch with a strike that traveled up-up-up-and-over a drooping left onto the side of an exposed chin that sent Kovalev stumbling across the canvas, on to the ropes and into defeat Saturday night in a light-heavyweight rematch at Mandalay Bay.
Referee Tony Weeks ended it at 2:29 of the round with Kovalev bent over in pain. The Russian looked weary. Looked finished. But he, his manager Egis Klimas and promoter Kathy Duva weren’t. They promised to carry on the fight.
They alleged that Ward got away with low blows. Duva said Ward landed four of them in the eighth, one early in the round and three more in the corner in the seconds before Weeks waved if off.
At the post-fight news conference, Duva promised to file a protest with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. She said she asked the Commission for a video review. The regulatory agency said no, she said. A formal protest would be the next step, she said.
Ward didn’t want to talk much about the latest wave of controversy that has separated the two camps since he won a hotly debated decision over the Russian in November.
“Now, we have quieted all the whining,’’ Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) said before Ward and his camp ignited the low blow controversy during the post-fight news conference.
“If I rob a bank and get away it, I’m a lucky millionaire,’’ Klimas said. “He’s a lucky champion.’’
When asked if Ward is the world’s best light-heavyweight, Kovalev (30-2, 25 KOs) said: “As a dirty fighter, yes, he’s the best at 175.’’
Tension between the two fighters and camps grew and spilled over into interviews and a news conference during the days before Saturday’s opening bell. One insult followed another. It got ugly. It’s no surprise, perhaps, that fight did too. Ward was warned for throwing a low blow in the second round. Kovalev acted as if he had been hit low repeatedly during the next several rounds.
All the while, Ward kept his distance, moved away, then ducked in for a quick exchange and never allowed Kovalev to set his feet long enough for him to gain the kind of leverage he needed to unleash his power. Then, there was the cleanest shot of the night, a thing of beauty and the beginning of painful end for Kovalev, who at the time of the stoppage trailed on two scorecards, 4 rounds to 3. He led on the third, 5 to 3.
In the end, Ward’s big right hand was the fight’s decisive moment. It made him look prophetic. He promised a stoppage. He said cornerman Virgil Hunter had trained him to win by knockout. He promised. He practiced. He delivered.
“A third fight?’’ Ward said when asked the inevitable question. “Nah, I don’t think so.’’
For now, at least, it looks as if this rivalry will resume at a Commission hearing. That means more talk. Ward made it sound as if he has heard enough.
On The Undercard
Wait a Second: Guillermo Rigondeaux wasn’t dull this time. But he was controversial. Or, at least, the Nevada State Athletic Commission was.
It took the Commission 15 minutes to rule Rigondeaux’s knockout punch of Moises Flores (25-1, 17 KOs) landed before the fist round ended.
Rigondeaux (18-0, 12 KOs), the WBA’s 122-pound champion, threw a hook as referee Vic Drakulich stepped in between the super-bantamweights. HBO video shows the blow was thrown after the round ended. But, no, the Commission deliberated, presumably viewed its own video and said the shot landed before the bell, or at 2:59 of the first.
Wonder how long it will take Flores to file a protest?
The Noisiest: San Diego Christopher Martin (30-9-3 10 KOs) got rocked, dropped and beaten, but Trevaine Williams (11-0, 4 KOs) of New Haven couldn’t knock the wind out of him. Martin did plenty of huffing and puffing in profane at referee Kenny Bayless for his decision to stop it at 1:44 of the first round.
The Rest: Russian light-heavyweight prospect Dmitry Bivol (11-0, 8 KOs) pounded Cedric Agnew’s right eye into swollen mess for a fourth-round TKO over the Chicago fighter (29-3, 15 KOs); Cuba middleweight Luis Arias (18-0, 9 KOs) opened the PPV part of the card with a fifth-round TKO of Russian Arif Magamedov (18-2, 11 KOs); New Jersey junior welterweight John Bauza (7-0, 4 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a second round TKO of Mexican Brandon Sanudo (5-5, 2 KOs); welterweight Enriko Gogokia (5-0, 2 KOs) of Central Asia’s Georgia scored a unanimous decision over Johnathan Steele (7-1, 5KOs); Middleweight Bakhram Murtazaliev (9-0, 7 KOs), also of Goergia, blew out Brazilian Alex Sandro Duarte (6-1, 4 KOs) in first round stoppage; and unbeaten St. Louis middleweight Vaughn Alexander (10-0, 7 KOs) pushed his victory total into double digits with a fourth-round TKO of Mexican Fabiano Pena ( 17-8-1, 13 KOs).
