Ward vs Kovalev results: Round-by-round analysis, winners and reaction

Sergey Kovalev started strong but faded late, and eventually lost his second consecutive fight to Andre Ward, this one a lot less controversially than the first one. Ward scored a knockout in the eighth round, after about a half a minute of Kovalev stumbling and dazed from some powerful shots landed.

Ward is now 32-0, while Kovalev has two fresh losses on his record. This goes down as his 16th career knockout. Kovalev complained about low blows multiple times in the match, and it looked like Ward may have went low shortly before the barrage that ended the contest.

Kovalev controlled the first few rounds and had Ward frustrated with his power, but he began to gas out and was breathing heavy by the time the eighth round got underway.

In the first fight, Ward suffered just the second knockdown of his career in the second round. Many felt Kovalev controlled that and several other rounds, but later in the fight Ward did come back and looked good in the process. Ward controlled and clearly won multiple rounds, but most experts thought he clearly lost the fight, however close it might have been.

The judges apparently disagreed, all three awarding Ward with a 114-113 victory. Kovalev’s team claimed it was a hometown decision, while Ward was adamant that he convincingly won the fight. A rematch was quickly agreed upon, and now …

The co-feature on the card, a showdown between Guillermo Rigondeaux and Moises Flores, ended in controversy. Rigondeaux landed a big overhand well after the bell sounded. It stumbled Flores, who then went down as though he were knocked out. Some suggested that he took a dive. Either way, the fight likely should have been declared a disqualification for Rigondeaux or a no contest, but the referee, despite never starting a count, declared Rigondeaux the winner via knockout.

The first fight on the pay-per-view main card went four-plus rounds before Luis Arias scored a huge knockout over Arif Magomedov. Arias looked fresh and improved his undefeated record with the win. The second fight was also a knockout, with Dmitry Bivol putting together a jabbing clinic on Cedric Agnew. That one went into the fourth round, where Bivol landed a big overhand right that clearly did damage to Agnew’s eyes.

Below are the play-by-play results and below that are the full results for the card.

Round 1: About an hour after the end of the previous fight, this one gets underway. Kovalev is quick to take center of the ring. Ward is backing up, and he panics when he gets his back against the ropes. He gets out of it though, slipping a right hand from Kovalev. Kovalev isn’t landing anything, but Ward isn’t hitting anything on his counters either. When Kovalev gets close, Ward clinches up as he’s known to do. The round comes to an end with Ward backing up. It’s a tough round to score.

Round 2: Kovalev lands a nice right hand that Ward quickly snuffs out by clinching again. Ward is looking for the counter but Kovalev is throwing heavy and Ward can’t commit to any retaliation of his own. Kovalev looks like a man who doesn’t want to see another decision. The fight is briefly stopped when Ward goes low with a strike. Kovalev talked an awful lot about Ward being dirty before and after their first fight. Kovalev lands nothing huge, but keeps up the pressure and clearly takes the second round.

Round 3: Kovalev lands two nice lefts right on the jaw of Ward, who hits nothing but air as he tries to counter. Kovalev is stalking Ward down. He just misses with another left combo and Ward gets a body shot in with the right hand. Kovalev keeps landing with the left jab. Ward is protecting himself from the rights, but the left jab is landing and giving Kovalev the dominant position. Kovalev works a nice body combo with Ward against the ropes. Ward responds with a huge right hook that is his best shot of the fight. Kovalev keeps up the pressure though and might just be up three rounds.

Round 4: Ward is finally throwing, swinging wide hooks that don’t land. He’s also pushing forward more. Kovalev is off balance and isn’t throwing big shots like he was. But he is still throwing, and landing the jabs. The round comes to an end with a clinch. That was a close one.

Round 5: Kovalev is breathing heavy between rounds. There’s a lot of fight to go, but Ward’s face is showing some damage. Kovalev definitely has the upper hand, but by this point the first time around, Ward had been knocked down. Ward is backing up a lot, and clinching when things get close. Kovalev hits another big left jab and Ward’s nose is leaking blood. Ward wants to set up a body shot combo but Kovalev is defending well. Ward may not be winning this round, but he’s weathering the storm for now.

Round 6: Both fighters want to work from the inside, and neither fighter can land big there. Kovalev continues to throw well-timed jabs that make it through Ward’s guard. Ward continues to hit his body shots and short jabs of his own. Ward has spent much of this fight backing up and against the ropes. Ward is breathing heavy now. Kovalev lands a nice right hook, and Ward lands a big right hook of his own just as the round ends.

Round 7: This is about the time Ward started to take over in the first fight. Ward lands two big body shots, a right and a left. Kovalev clinches up this time and they’re separated. Kovalev feints a big right and eats a body shot for his troubles. Kovalev has a cut over his right eye. Kovalev says he got hit low again, but the referee isn’t having any of it. Ward is pushing forward a bit more. He lands a left cross. Kovalev lands with a weak left jab and misses with a right as the round ends.

Round 8: Ward lands some good left shots from range. Kovalev lands a big body shot inside and tries to work some uppercuts, but Ward slips them. There was what looked to be a low blow that hurt Kovalev, but the referee didn’t stop it. Ward throws a right hand that wobbles Kovalev. Kovalev takes a big breath. Ward is taking measured shots, heavy haymakers and hooks. Kovalev looks well out of it, and the referee comes in to stop it. Kovalev was still defending, but not very well.

Round 1: Rigondeaux is circling quite a bit and throwing little jabs from range. Flores tries to land some heavy shots, but Rigondeaux casually slips them all for the first two minutes. Flores misses with two winging hooks as Rigondeaux ducks under them. The two circle, and Rigondeaux starts to throw jabs. They are going at it near the end of the round. The bell sounds as Rigondeaux lands two huge left uppercuts followed by a big overhand. Rigondeaux’s overhand, though, was clearly after the bell, and Flores goes down. Flores starts to get up, and then falls back down ... it looks suspiciously like he wasn’t actually out of it, but Rigondeaux did clearly throw the strike after the bell.

The commission and the referee are conferring at ringside, and it’s a long, long conference. The referee is talking about a hit in the back of the head near the end of the round. He’s saying that he was stepping in to warn him about the hit behind the head when Rigondeaux landed the overhand that knocked Flores out. At this point they’re debating a no contest or a disqualification. The referee did eventually settle on a TKO victory for Rigondeaux, surprisingly. The referee didn’t start a count and the punch was way after the bell, but Rigondeaux gets a victory and Flores gets his first ever loss.

Round 1: Bivol is the aggressor early, trying to slip several jabs through Agnew’s guard. Bivol lands a hard body shot that pushes Agnew back. He gets Agnew against the ropes and continues to throw high volume. Agnew slips one jab and lands a decent right hook, but Bivol swarms him. He throws several hard shots, big shots, and Agnew is stunned. He lands right on the button multiple times and Agnew goes down. He stands back up and Bivol goes right back to work. Bivol gets him in the corner with 30 seconds to go and begins teeing off. He lands quite a few but Agnew keeps his hands in front of his face and survives to the second round.

Round 2: Bivol continues high volume, and Agnew isn’t really doing anything about it. Twice in two minutes he paws out a double-left-jab combo, and both times nothing lands. Bivol, on the other hand, is landing body shots, jabs and everything else. Agnew takes a lot less damage over the course of the round, but it’s still clearly a Bivol round.

Round 3: Agnew lands a nice left hand near the beginning of the round, but Bivol still looks fresh and in control. He hasn’t gassed himself at all despite his high volume of offense. With a little over a minute to go in the round, Bivol sneaks a left jab through Agnew’s defense and it snaps his head back. Bivol swarms and tries to get him to the ground again. Eventually, he gets Agnew backed into a corner. Agnew does have time to recover though, and sneaks a right hook in that lands and makes Bivol pause briefly. The round comes to an end.

Round 4: Bivol gets Agnew into the corner early in this one. He’s measuring up his shots, because he doesn’t want to waste his time and energy hitting Agnew’s gloves. A lot of his shots are doing just that, though. Agnew may be defending well, but he’s not responding in any way. Bivol gets another left jab through and a big overhand right. Agnew stumbles, and it looks like he’s sustained some damage to his eyes. The referee steps in and stops it before Bivol puts him on the ground.

Round 1: Magomedov immediately works an inside uppercut, throwing it hard and heavy multiple times. Arias responds with a strong body shot, and follows up with another while Magomedov is covering his head. Magomedov works a jab uppercut combo that lands flush. Arias lands a very nice overhand right that Magomedov walks right into, but but it’s shaken off. The round comes to an end — it was a competitive round for sure.

Round 2: Arias lands a huge straight to the body near the start of this round. He’s landed hard a few times there and Magomedov is doing nothing to block them. Magomedov throws a hard body shot of his own. Arias is blocking a lot more this round, and Magomedov is throwing a lot more this round. Magomedov keeps throwing hard hooks that Arias is just managing to block. Arias lands a big, big right hand that definitely hurts Magomedov as he was coming in for a shot of his own. It was near the end of the round though, and it came to an end. It was probably an Arias round.

Round 3: Arias keeps throwing while backing up — Magomedov is pushing the action but he’s not landing significant strikes. Arias throws a right straight, left hook, right straight combo, all of which land flush. Magomedov is definitely absorbing some damage here. Arias lands another big body shot and just misses with a big left uppercut. The round comes to an end, likely in favor of Arias.

Round 4: Magomedov steps up the pressure and he gets Arias backing up a lot more. Arias is blocking the hooks and the body shots, but Magomedov does clip him with a very nice left straight while slipping out of a combo. Arias has a left jab blocked, and then lands a beautiful right uppercut that does some damage. They have to be separates several times due to grabbing, and the round comes to an end. Magomedov threw a lot more in that round, but very few shots landed.

Round 5: Arias comes out with the pressure this time. He throws multiple jabs that land flush. He swings a left hook that clips Magomedov and stumbles him. Magomedov is out of it on his feet, and then he tumbles over for a knockdown after a pair of right hooks for good measure.. Magomedov gets back to his feet, doesn’t seem to get much back in him, and Arias swarms him when they restart. Not long after, the referee steps in to stop it and give Arias another knockout for his career.

PPV Card

Light Heavyweight: Andre Ward def. Sergey Kovalev via TKO in Round 8
Super Bantamweight: Guillermo Rigondeaux def. Moises Flores via KO at end of Round 1
Light Heavyweight: Dmitry Bivol def. Cedric Agnew via TKO at 1:27 of Round 4
Middleweight: Luis Arias def. Arif Magomedov via TKO at 1:16 of Round 5