When Andre Ward stopped Sergey Kovalev he became the first man to so so to the Russian in his professional boxing career.

It was a fight that was competitive for the most part up until the round where it ended.

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A bout that entertained and as big fights in boxing tend to do on a regular basis, provided plenty of talking points and controversy afterwards.

Full credit must be afforded to Andre Ward for breaking down a man as ferocious as Sergey Kovalev but many after the fight did also point to Ward landing a number of low blows prior to taking Kovalev out.

There is little doubt in this writer’s mind however that Ward was on route to stopping Kovalev anyway, low blows or not.

Kovalev looked to be tiring badly and was in there with a man who was boxing as well as he ever had.

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Many believe that although the stoppage was premature that Kovalev was on his way out and Ward was in the process of closing the show.

A sentiment shared by Welsh boxing legend Joe Calzaghe no less:

Definitely a premature stoppage! Was turning into a great fight. Think Ward was getting on top and Kovalev was tiring. #WardKovalev2

— Joe Calzaghe (@RealJoeCalzaghe) June 18, 2017