Former two-time champion John David Jackson speaking in Miami, FL (Photo: Hustle Boss)

By Chris Robinson

There’s no denying that former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev had a great run in the sport.  Kovalev, a Russian fighter who burst onto the scene due to his great ability to chop opponents down and register brutal highlight-reel knockouts, captured the IBF, WBA, and WBO titles at light heavyweight during his successful march up boxing’s ranks.

It was only when we saw Kovalev face off with two-division world champion, Andre Ward, who is now retired, that we saw him suffer his first defeat. That took place in November of 2016 in Las Vegas, as Kovalev scored a second-round knockdown, only to see Ward escape with a narrow unanimous decision after rallying over the second half of the fight. The two men rematched immediately after, with Ward scoring an 8th round TKO victory.
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