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(Photo Credit: David Spagnolo/Main Events) Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev stopped the unstoppable Jean Pascal, but not before Pascal gave him his toughest fight to date. Pascal’s hometown capacity crowd at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada were in shock when, in the eighth round, Referee Luis Pabon waived an end to Pascal valiant efforts to continue. Loyal Pascal fans were muted as they witnessed Kovalev’s powerful and efficient dispatch of their hero.

As loyal as they are to Pascal, they were obliged to respect Krusher. He had vanquished their champion. He did it by overcoming, overpowering and quashing all Pascal had to offer, which was considerable. His victory came with a price in the form of some bumps and bruises, but the Krusher proved yet again that he is a helluva fighter. Ringside analyst Bernard” Alien” Hopkins explained that Sergey continues to improve with each fight, adding “That’s scary!”

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Kovalev defended his WBO, WBA Super and IBF light heavyweight titles with a substandard performance vs. a durable but technically and tactically bridled strongman. Both competitors were one-dimensional in their own way and showed little capacity or tendency to adapt or at least modify their efforts according to the flow of battle. Pascal had not been stopped or knocked down as a pro and was expected give the “Krusher” a run for his money.

Round 1: Kovalev moved forward in a straight line trying to walk down Jean Pascal to the ropes or to get him to fight. Pascal would not take the fight and bounced around ducking low whenever he felt threatened. Kovalev did not advance indiscriminately, his basic skills are rock-steady and he is very particular in observing range. He does not care too much about the opponent’s range; he is preoccupied with his own comfort zone as he is tall and has long arms. If he is in range, the opponent often isn’t and when the opponent tries to get close, Kovalev’s best defense is his frontal punch power. Pascal was met by rapid fire upstairs and downstairs whenever he tried to get into position. His rally in the end of the round was more of distress call than a serious attack.

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(Photo Credits: David Spagnolo/Main Events) Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) gave it a game effort tonight, but he just wasn’t able to handle WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev’s power, as Kovalev dropped Pascal twice in the process of halting him in the 8th round in their fight on Saturday night on HBO Championship Boxing from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

Pascal visited the canvas in the 4th and the 8th rounds. Referee Luis Pabon pulled the plug in the 8th shortly after Pascal was dropped with a left hook by Kovalev. Pascal sprang to his feet, staggered to the ropes for a last stand. Kovalev then nailed the near defenseless Pascal with two hard right hands to the head that had Pascal’s eyes rolling around in his head. The fight was stopped at 1:03 of the round. Not surprisingly, Pascal protested the stoppage, even while staggering around.

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This Saturday night live on HBO from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, Sergey Kovalev takes his show on the road to face former lineal 175 pound champ Jean Pascal. Can Pascal pull off another upset on his home turf or will the Krusher continue his winning ways? Plus, heavyweight contenders collide in the co-feature when Steve Cunningham and Vyacheslav Glazkov meet in the squared circle.

If there was any question of his supremacy Sergey Kovalev made it crystal clear who the top light heavyweight in the world was in his last outing. In the process the “Krusher” delivered a performance for the ages dominating future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins.

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