Was last night the last time we ever see Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev in the ring? Time will tell but much of the boxing community feel it might be a likely scenario.

Kovalev has had an excellent career by any professional boxer’s standards but perhaps if there is to be any regrets, they will come with the Andre Ward fights.

Say what you want about the scoring in the bouts, which caused a lot of controversy in the first fight – the bouts never got as much publicity as they should have.

Two of the sports’ pound for pound top fighters at the time and the pay per view numbers both events generated did not compensate them anywhere near what they deserved.

Money aside, perhaps Kovalev will also be waking up today wondering more about the risk to his health if he chooses to box on following last night’s stoppage defeat in Atlantic city to Alvarez.

Here is how some of the boxing world has been reacting to the loss thus far:

I dont think the Ward fights had anything to do with tonight. Kovalev was doing really well, and then got absolutely destoyed by a shot. Wasnt a confidence thing, just got owned by a power punch. That’s boxing.

— adam abramowitz (@snboxing) August 5, 2018

? So it sounds like everything was on track for Sergey Kovalev v Dmitry Bivol in December… and then came Eleider Alvarez’s overhand right. Stunning victory for him. Kovalev now has 60 days to decide if he wants the rematch in Canada.

— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) August 5, 2018

Wow! Wasn’t expecting that! Kovalev KO’d!#KovalevAlvarez @HBOboxing

— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) August 5, 2018

Intriguing night of boxing. light heavy division gets a jolt in Kovalev loss, Bivol rolls on, Berto & Quillin keep careers alive,

— Al Bernstein (@AlBernstein) August 5, 2018

Is this the end for Kovalev? He’s 35, and it won’t be easy to rebuild.

— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) August 5, 2018

It was sad to see Kovalev go down like that. No disrespect to Alvarez but a prime Krusher would have walked right through him. His timing looked painfully off, it’s deffo the end for him

— Boxing Legends TV (@BoxingLegendsTV) August 5, 2018