Ward and Rigondeaux Victorious on a Show With Plenty of Controversy

LAS VEGAS — Andre “S.O.G.” Ward separated himself from Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev with emphatic body shots to win by technical knockout and retain the WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles on Saturday.

“I’ve never been the most talented, never the biggest, but we keep knocking down giants,” said Ward.

After two fights totaling 20 rounds Oakland’s Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) emerged the clear winner against Russia’s Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas to prove his first win was no fluke.

In their first fight last November, most felt Kovalev was the winner despite Ward emerging with a unanimous decision victory. In this fight it looked to be headed in the same direction for seven rounds.

Kovalev fired his first blow to Ward’s body and once again the two became entangled after each exchange. The lanky Kovalev landed jabs and occasional rights and was the busier fighter. Ward landed the counter left hooks and rights to the body.

Round after round the two light heavyweights mirrored their first encounter, but Ward’s body shots, though seemingly on the belt and sometimes lower, affected Kovalev who looked to the referee for assistance.

It never came.

After the fifth round, body shots were “the tell” and Ward took advantage of it when the opportunities emerged.

“I felt like I was up I don’t know by how many. I could tell he was getting a little tired. When I saw him reacting to body shots that were border line I knew I had him,” said Ward.

Finally, in the eighth round, a Ward right cross connected and Kovalev looked visibly shook. Ward attacked the body with Kovalev in full retreat and looking to survive. There was no place to hide and Ward pummeled the body as Kovalev leaned against the ropes. One, two, three left hooks to the body left the Russian fighter slumped on the ropes and referee Tony Weeks stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:29 of the eighth round.

Kovalev looked surprised by the stoppage.

“He punched me but he didn’t hurt me. I don’t know why they stopped the fight,” Kovalev said adding that he wants another rematch.

Ward praised the fallen Russian fighter.

“Kovalev fought a good fight but I’m a computer fighter and I knew what I had to do,” said Ward.

Rigondeaux Win Not Final

WBA super bantamweight titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux (18-0, 12 KOs) defeated Mexico’s Moises Flores (25-1, 17 KOs) by knockout at the end of the first round. Or did he?

The real fight between Cuba’s Rigondeaux and Mexico’s Flores took place after the match was completed as Nevada State Athletic Commission ringside officials scrambled to determine if the knockout was legal or not.

During the last 10 seconds of the first round the two super bantamweights fired combinations with Rigondeaux holding the back of Flores neck and when the bell rang both fired one last blow with the Cuban connecting and Flores going down. He would not get up.

Referee Vic Drakulich did not make a ruling. Instead, he walked around the ring looking for NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett who could not be found. Several minutes later, he was finally discovered and when told of the possibility that an illegal blow could have been the culprit for Rigondeaux’s knockout, they looked at a monitor provided by HBO to look at a replay. Bennett told Drakulich his finding and the referee told announcer Michael Buffer what to announce: Rigondeaux was the winner by knockout at the end of the first round.

Later, after HBO’s Jim Lampley and Bennett made erroneous comments regarding the timing of the blow, Max Kellerman advised everyone that the punch did connect after the bell rang. But also added both fired blows simultaneously after the bell. When Bennett was shown another replay and saw for himself that the blow was after the bell, he told HBO that it should be ruled a disqualification.

We’ll see.

Rigondeaux was nonchalant about the result and controversy.

“The Mexican was a brave kid. I commend him for getting in the ring with me. He has more guts than a lot of these other guys. We both threw combinations at the same time at the end of the first round. But mine was quicker and more accurate. It was only a matter of time,” said Rigondeaux.

Flores cried foul.

“It’s not fair. It’s clear that the bell rang. He didn’t throw a punch the whole round,” said Flores. “I was winning the round and he waited for after the bell to throw punch when I dropped my hands down.”

NSAC’s Bennett told HBO they will review the fight and see if changes are necessary.

Undercard Addendum (Arne K. Lang at Ringside)

In a 10-round light heavyweight match, Dmitry Bivol of St. Petersburg, Russia, overwhelmed Chicago’s Cedric Agnew in bout that was stopped in the fourth round with Agnew signaling that he wanted no more. It was an impressive showing by Bivol, who was reportedly 268-15 as an amateur. That being said, Agnew (29-3) fought a survivor’s fight, repeatedly allowing Bivol to corner him against the corner posts in neutral corners and fire away.

In the first of the four TV fights, Milwaukee’s Luis “Cuba” Arias (18-0, 9 KOs) successfully defended his  USBA middleweight title with a fifth round stoppage of LA-based Russian Arif Magomedov. Two chopping right hands put Magomedov (18-2) on the canvas. Magomedov beat the count, but was clearly hurt. When the action resumed, Arias resumed his attack, forcing referee Robert Byrd to call it off.

In an 8-round super middleweight bout, Vaughn Alexander, the older brother of former two-division world champion Devon Alexander, halted Mexico’s Fabiano Pena who retired after the fourth round claiming an injury. The undefeated Alexander (10-0, 7 KOs) has won five straight since returning to the ring in 2016 after serving an 11-year prison sentence for armed robbery and the assault of a policeman. Pena (19-8-1) was game, but Alexander, with his chiseled physique, landed the harder punches throughout.

In an 8-round featherweight match, New Haven, CT southpaw Tramaine Williams advanced to 11-0 (4) with a second round stoppage of San Diego’s Christopher Martin 30-9-3. Williams was credited with a knockdown in the first round after pinning Martin against the ropes with a barrage of punches. He kept up the pressure in the second round and referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight.

The San Diego man reverted to form after scoring a third round knockout of Daniel “Twitch” Franco in his previous bout, albeit the stoppage did seem a bit premature. Martin sure thought so.

By David A. Avila

LAS VEGAS — Andre “S.O.G.” Ward separated himself from Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev with emphatic body shots to win by technical knockout and retain the WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles on Saturday.

“I’ve never been the most talented, never the biggest, but we keep knocking down giants,” said Ward.

After two fights totaling 20 rounds Oakland’s Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) emerged the clear winner against Russia’s Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas to prove his first win was no fluke.

In their first fight last November, most felt Kovalev was the winner despite Ward emerging with a unanimous decision victory. In this fight it looked to be headed in the same direction for seven rounds.

Kovalev fired his first blow to Ward’s body and once again the two became entangled after each exchange. The lanky Kovalev landed jabs and occasional rights and was the busier fighter. Ward landed the counter left hooks and rights to the body.

Round after round the two light heavyweights mirrored their first encounter, but Ward’s body shots, though seemingly on the belt and sometimes lower, affected Kovalev who looked to the referee for assistance.

It never came.

After the fifth round, body shots were “the tell” and Ward took advantage of it when the opportunities emerged.

“I felt like I was up I don’t know by how many. I could tell he was getting a little tired. When I saw him reacting to body shots that were border line I knew I had him,” said Ward.

Finally, in the eighth round, a Ward right cross connected and Kovalev looked visibly shook. Ward attacked the body with Kovalev in full retreat and looking to survive. There was no place to hide and Ward pummeled the body as Kovalev leaned against the ropes. One, two, three left hooks to the body left the Russian fighter slumped on the ropes and referee Tony Weeks stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:29 of the eighth round.

Kovalev looked surprised by the stoppage.

“He punched me but he didn’t hurt me. I don’t know why they stopped the fight,” Kovalev said adding that he wants another rematch.

Ward praised the fallen Russian fighter.

“Kovalev fought a good fight but I’m a computer fighter and I knew what I had to do,” said Ward.

Rigondeaux Win Not Final

WBA super bantamweight titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux (18-0, 12 KOs) defeated Mexico’s Moises Flores (25-1, 17 KOs) by knockout at the end of the first round. Or did he?

The real fight between Cuba’s Rigondeaux and Mexico’s Flores took place after the match was completed as Nevada State Athletic Commission ringside officials scrambled to determine if the knockout was legal or not.

During the last 10 seconds of the first round the two super bantamweights fired combinations with Rigondeaux holding the back of Flores neck and when the bell rang both fired one last blow with the Cuban connecting and Flores going down. He would not get up.

Referee Vic Drakulich did not make a ruling. Instead, he walked around the ring looking for NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett who could not be found. Several minutes later, he was finally discovered and when told of the possibility that an illegal blow could have been the culprit for Rigondeaux’s knockout, they looked at a monitor provided by HBO to look at a replay. Bennett told Drakulich his finding and the referee told announcer Michael Buffer what to announce: Rigondeaux was the winner by knockout at the end of the first round.

Later, after HBO’s Jim Lampley and Bennett made erroneous comments regarding the timing of the blow, Max Kellerman advised everyone that the punch did connect after the bell rang. But also added both fired blows simultaneously after the bell. When Bennett was shown another replay and saw for himself that the blow was after the bell, he told HBO that it should be ruled a disqualification.

We’ll see.

Rigondeaux was nonchalant about the result and controversy.

“The Mexican was a brave kid. I commend him for getting in the ring with me. He has more guts than a lot of these other guys. We both threw combinations at the same time at the end of the first round. But mine was quicker and more accurate. It was only a matter of time,” said Rigondeaux.

Flores cried foul.

“It’s not fair. It’s clear that the bell rang. He didn’t throw a punch the whole round,” said Flores. “I was winning the round and he waited for after the bell to throw punch when I dropped my hands down.”

NSAC’s Bennett told HBO they will review the fight and see if changes are necessary.

Undercard Addendum (Arne K. Lang at Ringside)

In a 10-round light heavyweight match, Dmitry Bivol of St. Petersburg, Russia, overwhelmed Chicago’s Cedric Agnew in bout that was stopped in the fourth round with Agnew signaling that he wanted no more. It was an impressive showing by Bivol, who was reportedly 268-15 as an amateur. That being said, Agnew (29-3) fought a survivor’s fight, repeatedly allowing Bivol to corner him against the corner posts in neutral corners and fire away.

In the first of the four TV fights, Milwaukee’s Luis “Cuba” Arias (18-0, 9 KOs) successfully defended his  USBA middleweight title with a fifth round stoppage of LA-based Russian Arif Magomedov. Two chopping right hands put Magomedov (18-2) on the canvas. Magomedov beat the count, but was clearly hurt. When the action resumed, Arias resumed his attack, forcing referee Robert Byrd to call it off.

In an 8-round super middleweight bout, Vaughn Alexander, the older brother of former two-div. world champion Devon Alexander, halted Mexico’s Fabiano Pena who retired after the fourth round claiming an injury. The undefeated Alexander (10-0, 7 KOs) has won five straight since returning to the ring in 2016 after serving an 11-year prison sentence for armed robbery and the assault of a policeman. Pena (19-8-1) was game, but Alexander, with his chiseled physique, landed the harder punches throughout.

In an 8-round featherweight match, New Haven, CT southpaw Tramaine Williams advanced to 11-0 (4) with a second round stoppage of San Diego’s Christopher Martin 30-9-3. Williams was credited with a knockdown in the first round after pinning Martin against the ropes with a barrage of punches. He kept up the pressure in the second round and referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight.

The San Diego man reverted to form after scoring a third round knockout of Daniel “Twitch” Franco in his previous bout, albeit the stoppage did seem a bit premature. Martin sure thought so.

Other Bouts:

175 LBS 6 RDS: Junior Younan TKO 1 Zoltan Sera
147 LBS 6 RDS: Enriko Gogokhia UD Jonathan Steele
160 LBS 6 RDS: Bakhram Murtazaliev TKO 1 Alex Duarte
147 LBS 4 RDS: John Bauza TKO 2 Brandon Sanudo

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.