By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America

Sergey Kovalev faced Andrew Yarde but it also appears that he was facing Father Time as an opponent for at 36, he has been involved in a few wars recently and in the eighth round, he nearly saw his boxing career ended.  The eighth round was the dramatic round of the fight as Kovalev came within a punch or two as former champion and Andre Ward observed from being stopped.  Yarde dominated the round and hurt Kovalev with a series of punches including body shots.

Kovalev used his jab effectively in the beginning of the fight but as the fight wore on, Yarde used a body shot, a strategy that worked for Ward in his two fights against Kovalev, and started to make an impact.

The eighth round looked like a repeat of his first fight with Eleider Alvarez who won by a stoppage in their first bout, but Kovalev survived the round. Buddy McGirt told his fighter, either show signs of life in the next round or he stops the fight.  Kovalev went on the attack and it was the older fighter who started to wear out the younger challenger as a left jab in the eleventh round stopped Yarde.  From the ninth to the end, Kovalev looked like the Kovalev of old, using his jab to set up punches and it was a slam hammer left jab that ended the fight.