By Ryan Burton
One of the central themes of the January 30th rematch between WBA/IBF/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and former champion Jean Pascal is that Pascal had some early success in the fight and that he was stopped on his feet. Pascal still believes that the fight was stopped prematurely.
Kovalev on the other hand thinks the Haitian-Canadian should thank the referee for letting him survive to fight another day.
"I think he should thank Luis Pabon for saving his life so that he can still see this world around him," cracked Kovalev.
The Russian power puncher believes his power was starting to take a toll on his opponent and that the punches were beginning to accumulate. He said that most of his opponents just aren't the same anymore after they face him and pointed out a few examples.
"Usually fighters who fight with me - where are they? (Blake) Caparello, Cedric Agnew, where are they? I didn't finish my job and my goal in the last fight because the referee saved his health. It was the right stoppage. Throughout the fight he took a lot of hard punches. One shot in the 10th or 11th fight could have finished him. The ref saved him. People can die from one punch or from taking a lot of shots and losing a lot of blood. Accumulating punches can destroy the brain," Kovalev stated.
"From when the fight starts till it's over you don't think about this. After the fight you think about these things. In the fight you have the adrenaline and you don't feel any pain. After the fight is when you feel sore. After the fight I am sure he felt a lot of pain in his head and in his body. Even me, I felt it."
When asked to rate Pascal's punching power, Kovalev simply said, "He has a hard punch but not as hard as me."
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