By Ryan Burton
Former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (21-1-2) was in the building Saturday night when Andre Ward stopped Sergey Kovalev in eight rounds to retain his WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight titles.
The fight headlined a HBO pay-per-view card that took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Ward stopped Kovalev with three successive body shots. There was controversy as Kovalev sat on the ropes but never went down and some of the punches that landed appeared to be low.
Prior to the fight, Jack, who thought Kovalev edged Ward in their first encounter, correctly predicted Ward would make the necessary adjustments to come out with the victory in the rematch.
"I was impressed. Good body shots by Ward. I didn't think it would be a knockout but he is a better inside fighter than Kovalev. He did his homework," Jack explained.
As for what is next for Jack - who moved up to the light heavyweight division after his January draw against James DeGale - he expects to face WBA "regular" light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (30-3) on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view undercard on August 26th.
"They are still working on it I guess. I am ready. Floyd told me yesterday that I am fighting on his undercard. It isn't 100% yet but I think it will get done," said Jack who hasn't spent much time studying his opponent yet.
"I haven't seen too much of him but he is a two-time champion so obviously he is doing something right. He isn't on Kovalev or Ward's level but he is a champion."
The 33-year-old Jack believes a formal announcement of the fight will take place this week.
"Hopefully this week we will be able to announce it," Jack told BoxingScene.com.
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