Undefeated Unified WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) retains all three of his titles as he makes short work of former light heavyweight world champion, Jean Pascal (30-4-1, 17 KOs), again.
The crowd was deafening as Michael Buffer announced Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev and Jean Pascal and everyone at Centre Bell was on their feet. Through the first five rounds Pascal weathered the flurry of punches handed out by The Krusher. However, by the fifth round Pascal seemed to be barely able to stay on his feet. Pascal’s trainer Freddie Roach stopped the fight just prior to the start of the eighth round.
After the fight Kovalev said, “I don’t think Freddie Roach changed him at all. He was actually easier for me. I hurt his ego the most because they stopped the fight when he was sitting in the corner on the bench. I hurt my left hand a little from a very hard punch. I broke his nose, maybe that is when I hurt my hand. I don’t like him. I punish him. Merci! I love you Canada!”
Pascal added, “Regardless of what he is as a person, Sergey Kovalev is a great champion. I give him all the credit he deserves. This is the first time he showed he is a clean athlete and I was pleased to prove this by paying for his VADA drug testing. I will be back and better than ever, but as always I know my performances dictate my narrative so I will let my next fights do all my talking. I feel like I let myself, my team and my close family at Interbox down, but we will continue to work together and build our companies, our fantastic market and, God willing, my next title fight in the process. Thank you to all my fans that came out to support me. I will be back. Don’t worry guys.”
When asked about a potential fight with Andre Ward, Kovalev said, “I am very happy this fight will happen.” He also added that in the mean time there is one more fight he wished would happen when he said, “I want to unify all four titles. I want to fight Adonis Chickenson.”
The HBO World Championship Boxing telecast began with a 10-round welterweight battle for the vacant USBA Welterweight Title between Dmitry “They Mechanic” Mikhaylenko (21-0, 9 KOs) of Gelendzhik, Russia and Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield (19-3-1, 17 KOs) of San Francisco, California.
Mayfield came out of the gates swinging so hard he nearly fell over. Both fighters threw wild punches in the first two fast-paced rounds. The Mechanic dominated through nearly the entire fight. He secured the USBA Welterweight Title and two judges scored his unanimous decision victory a perfect 100-90 and the third judge gave one round to Mayfield 99-91, keeping Mikhaylenko’s undefeated record in tact.
After the fight, Mikhaylenko said, “It was a lot of hard work in the ring. Mayfield was tougher than I thought he was going to be. He hung on me too much but I was able to throw more punches. I am happy with my performance.”
Mayfield added, “He is tough, very durable. He was able to absorb my punches. He took some good shots from me, but he was able to recover very well. Really tough guy. Future champ. You need more time to prepare for a guy with Mikahaylenko’s style. I would like a rematch and have the proper time to prepare.”
The Canadian pay-per-view telecast began with a scheduled 10-round bout for the IBF International Middleweight Title between Renan St. Juste of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and Francis Lafreniere of Quebec, Canada. The packed crowd at the Centre Bell was hyped for this fight from the first bell. This fight was a battle with both fighters trading big shots. At the close of the ninth round, Lafreniere unloaded a flurry of punches on St. Juste and the crowd exploded. These two warriors continued to trade punches until the final and brought the crowd at Centre Bell to their feet. Even with the referee deducting a point in the eighth round, Lafreniere still won by unanimous decision (99-90, 97-92, 97-92).
The final swing bout of the evening came after the main event. It featured welterweights Sebastien Bouchard (12-1, 4 KOs) of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada against Damian Mielewczky (9-2, 7 KOs) from Piaseczno, Poland in six rounds of action. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Bouchard 59-55, 50-56, 50-56.
Undefeated super bantamweight prospect Vislan Dalkhaev (5-0, 1 KO) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kept his perfect record in tact. He defeated Alan Salazar (5-2, 2 KOs) of Mexico City, Mexico by a perfect unanimous decision; all three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Dalkhaev.
Super lightweight Joel Diaz Jr. (21-0, 17 KOs) of Palmdale, California made quick work of Abraham Gomez (13-21-3, 5KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico. Diaz stopped Gomez at 1:45 of the second round and Diaz grabbed the victory via TKO.
Welterweights David Theroux (9-1, 6 KOs) of Sorel, Quebec, Canada and Juan Armando Garcia (12-3-2, 5 KOs), of Michoacan, Mexico were scheduled to face each other for 6 rounds of action. However, after Theroux delivered a brutal knockdown in the third round. Garcia managed to get back to his feet and resume the fight. Then seconds later he was in trouble and the referee stopped the fight. Theroux was declared the winner by TKO at 2:46 of the third round.
Heavyweights Cassius Chaney (6-0, 4 KOs) of New London, Connecticut and Zoltan Csala (9-5, 7 KOs) of Hungary were scheduled for four rounds of action. The 6″6′ Chaney towered over his Csala. Chaney dominated his opponent until he knocked him down at 2:52 of the third round and the referee stopped the fight.
After the fight Chaney said, “I feel like I learned more tonight. He was a tough opponent. He came to push me and I think that I could have done better. I could have eased my way into it. I threw a lot of bombs early. I give myself a D. I have a lot to learn. I will continue to get better and continue to improve, but the important thing is: I got the win. That was the first time I have ever been booed in my life but they cheered for me in the end.”
Quebec, Canada native Steven Butler (14-0-1, 11 KOs) sought to make quick work of Antonio Hoffman (13-1, 9 KOs) of Angola in the second fight of the evening. Butler scored his first knockdown in the first round of the contest. The super welterweights were scheduled for eight rounds of action. Butler came out of his corner with a vengeance in the second round. The next several rounds were uneventful until Butler scored a hard knockout just before the end of the eighth and final round. Hoffman managed to get back on his feet before the bell rang to end the fight. Butler handed Hoffman his first career loss via a unanimous decision victory with two judges scoring the fight 78-72 and one judge scoring it 79-71.
In the first fight of the evening, Virgilijus “The Terminator” Stapulionis (17-3-1, 13 KOs) of Lithuania faced Laszlo Fazekas (27-24-1, 17 KOs) of Hungary for a scheduled ten-round junior middleweight battle. “The Terminator” knocked down Fazekas twice in the first round. He started the second round with another quick knockdown of Fazekas. Stapulionis landed his fourth knockdown in the second round and the referee stopped the fight.
“I felt good. I had good training, and I have a good team. When I go to ring I know I am ready. I go to the ring only to win. He was not a better opponent. He was a good fighter. I have good training every day and I know I am strong. I want to thank my coach, Robert Garcia, and my team, Main Events and my manager, Egis Klimas.”
