Las Vegas, NV ( June 17) – Before Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev 2 The Rematch, the overwhelming, yet quiet consensus was Kovalev was robbed in the first match, but he will find a way to beat Ward this time. I personally had it as a toss up and wanted to see what adjustments both fighters would make to secure a victory.
Well, Andre Ward did just that as he came out with a strong body attack to take a victory by 8th round TKO tonight at the Mandalay Bay arena.
Ward came out with energy and stepped to Kovalev to keep the big puncher from landing long clean shots. On the inside, Ward worked the body and held, but it paid off in the eighth as Ward repeatedly landed body blows. Kovalev kept stopping and turning away and eventually the referee stopped the fight as Kovalev was left bent over on the ropes hurt from body work.
Unde rcard Action
Guillermo Rigondeaux 18-0 (11 KO’s) displayed masterful defensive skills for 2:58 of the first round then landed a clean right hand before the bell and a crushing left hand clearly after the bell that put Moises Flores 25-1 (17 KO’s) to sleep. The referee Vic Drakulich and the NVSAC took 12 minutes to decide if the punch was legal or not. After a long deliberation, Rigondeaux was awarded a first round KO.
John Bauza 7-0 (4 KO’s) scored a second round TKO victory over Brando Sanudo 5-5 (2 KO’s).
Tramaine “Mighty Midget” Williams 11-0 (4 KO’s) stopped Christopher Martin 30-8-3 (10 KO’s) by TKO at 1:44 of the second round. Martin called the stoppage “Bullshit” while Williams said, “He was going to take a beating if they let it go for all eight rounds. He has a family he has to get back to. It’s a good thing the ref stopped the fight. If there were 10 more seconds in the first round I would have had him. It would have been over! I’m pretty happy with my performance but I am I am always going to work to be better. Thank you to everyone for tuning in. I hope to be back in the ring next month. In the meantime, I plan on staying in shape and ready to fight. Thank you to Roc Nation Sports for the opportunity to be on this great card.”
Vaughn Alexander 10-0 (7 KO’s) dished out punishment for four rounds forcing Fabiano Pena 16-8-1 (13 KO’s) and his corner to stop the fight after the fourth round.
Luis Arias 17-0 (9 KO’s) lived up to his hype as he stopped Arif Magomedev 18-2 (11 KO’s) by 5th round TKO. Arias displayed strong technical skills and resolve as he worked behind his jab and used body work to overcome excessive holding by Magomedev. Arias is definitely one to watch in the future.
Dmitry Bivol 11-0 (9 KO’s) is the complete package. The disciplined stalker walked Cedric Agnew 29-3 (15 KO’s) down scoring a knockdown in the first round and then he applied relentless pressure over the next three rounds to force a fourth round stoppage. Agnew was outclassed and outgunned.
