2. TKO Jean Pascal
Photo by Richard Wolowicz
In Sergey Kovalev’s most recent outing, he traveled to enemy territory in Quebec, Canada to defend his newly acquired WBA and IBF light heavyweight belts against former champion Jean Pascal.
The action was blistering. Often do Kovalev’s opponents go down—as Pascal did in Round 3, nearly knocked out of the ring, at that. But rarely do the Krusher’s opponents fire back with such abandon.
Pascal, no stranger to warfare, showed extreme athleticism and courage making this a real fight while being pegged as a huge underdog.
Kovalev controlled the action through the first three rounds behind one of the heaviest jabs in the sport. But Pascal answered back in the middle rounds successfully baiting the Russian into overcommitting before firing back strong right hands.
The offense was flowing both ways however. Pascal’s right eye was swollen by the end of Round 5 and the left side of Kovalev’s face was bruising all the same.
The Krusher took back control of the melee in the seventh round, utilizing a bolo punch to reestablish his long, straight lefts. A left hook shook Pascal at the end of the round and set up the pivotal eighth and final stanza.
Pascal had lost all the bounce to his step, resting on the ropes as Kovalev bludgeoned his body with right hands. A minute into the round, Kovalev slipped and an unattended Pascal stumbled around the ring clearly out on his feet.
As the action resumed, Kovalev slammed two overhand rights into Pascal’s head and referee Luis Pabon had seen enough.
The fight will remain a strong candidate for Fight of the Year and serves as a reminder to any light heavyweight thinking about going toe-to-toe with the Krusher.
