Photo by Vincent Ethier
Much like the superfluity of the fight itself, the January 30 rematch between Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) and Jean Pascal (30-4-1, 17 KOs) went on a few more unnecessary rounds than it should have. Kovalev, after Pascal’s corner stopped the fight, earned a seventh-round TKO victory as it headlined an HBO doubleheader at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The scheduled 12-round fight, which was for Kovalev’s WBA, WBO and IBF crowns, was just another dominating performance by Kovalev, who seemed to have figured Pascal out by the opening round.
Or perhaps Kovalev figured him out in their first fight, and Pascal just didn’t have enough time between fights to make any significant changes, even with the addition of his new trainer, Freddie Roach.
So, from the opening round, Kovalev, a 32-year-old native of Russia, began stalking Pascal, a 33-year-old native of Haiti, with his signature jabs to the head and body. One jab, though not counted as a knockdown, actually dropped Pascal in Round 1.
For the next few rounds, Kovalev began systematically breaking Pascal down with hard right hands to the chin and shots to the body. By Round 5, after an assault to Pascal’s liver, Kovalev seemed to be on the verge of a stoppage.
Kovalev even managed to find Pascal on the ropes a few times to land combination punches before stepping back to regain his distance–perhaps, it seems, he was trying to avoid any crazy countershots from Pascal.
According to Kovalev himself, however, he was merely taking his time to punish Pascal, something he said with a sinister smile on his face.
Pascal, for all his efforts, could do nothing to stop Kovalev, though he assured the crowd of almost 10,0000 boxing fans that he’d be back soon. Under the auspices of Roach, he may come back a better fighter, but he’ll need some time.
As for Kovalev, he has two appealing options ahead of him: a fight with Adonis Stevenson or a fight with Andre Ward.
Stevenson: "I'm the champ!" | Kovalev:🖕🏼#Boxing @KrusherKovalev @AdonisSuperman pic.twitter.com/hoNBT00mxC
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) January 31, 2016
The former man walked into the ring to accost Kovalev after being called a chicken.
“I’m the real champ,” yelled Stevenson to Kovalev as others tried to separate the two.
All the WBC champion got in return from Kovalev was a Russian middle-finger.
As for Ward, we may see him fight Sullivan Barrera on March 26, but, according to his interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman, we’ll probably have to see two more tune-up fights.
Kovalev, when asked by Max Kellerman, even said that Ward could take his time, suggesting that although he wants a big fight, he’s willing to wait the extra time for the superfight with Ward.
After all, he has been calling out Stevenson for quite sometime now. At least with Ward, there’s an agreement on paper.
Round 5 #KovalevPascal2 pic.twitter.com/hLOdEz2fNM
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) January 31, 2016
Mikhaylenko Decisions Mayfield
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
In the televised co-main event, Dmitry Mikyalenko scored a 10-round unanimous decision against Karim Mayfield in a Welterweight fight.
Mayfield took the fight on short notice after Philadelphia’s Ray Robinson injured his back in a car accident.
Mayfield, taking advantage of being on HBO, was clearly unprepared for the fight as he looked exhausted by Round 4.
However, his exhaustion was also caused by Mikyalenko’s constant pressure, which forced Mayfield to move around the ring constantly–a position he is not used to being in.
Mayfield did not have the power nor the conditioning to stop Mikyalenko’s constant pressure, and thus lost by two scores of 100-90 and one score of 99-91–a complete shutout.
Mikyalenko is a dominant and precise technician, but a lack of finishing power may hurt him in the future as he steps up in opposition.
