Kovalev crushes Caparello, Rios and Vargas win

In the much-anticipated WBO Light Heavyweight World Championship bout, Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KO's*) takes down undefeated Australian challenger Blake "Il Capo" Caparello (19-1-1, 6 KO's) in the second round in the third defense of his WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. Kovalev was under a microscope these last few days with the possibility of a unification bout with Bernard "Alien" Hopkins looming. Krusher did not let the pressure get to him, he focused only on the opponent in the ring with him tonight.

Kovalev and Caparello were feeling each other out in the first round.  Caparello knocked Sergey off balance in the first and his glove touched the canvas, but Krusher got back up quickly. Blake went down in the second from a crushing body blow but beat the count.  He taunted Kovalev to come back at him which Krusher did in relentless fashion.  After two more knockdowns, referee Sparkle Lee called it off at 1:47 of round two.  

In the other part of the telecast Jessie Vargas (25-0, 9 KO’s) won a widely disputed unanimous decision over Anton Novikov (29-1, 10 KO’s). Many felt the fight could have went either way but the judges saw it as a landslide giving scores of 118-111 twice and 117-111 in favor of Vargas. 

In the Main Event of the evening, Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KO’s) defeated Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KO’s) via disqualification. The fight was an ugly affair that was even made worse by the referee. Chaves was warned numerous times for holding, both fighters fought while the referee tried breaking them up even after they were told to stop, and multiple times Rios and Chaves found themselves on the canvas but not because of knockdowns but of tackling. Scores were 75-74, 75-74, and 74-75 in favor of Chaves at the time of the stoppage.