Stevenson and Kovalev Retain Titles with Devastating Knockouts in Quebec

Whenever you have a card featuring two fighters with the type of power possessed by Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev, you can bank on it being an early night.

Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO) retained his WBC and The Ring Magazine light heavyweight titles with an impressive sixth-round stoppage victory over a game but overmatched Tony Bellew (20-2-1, 12 KO) on Saturday night in Quebec City, Canada.

The champion took a few rounds to really get going, as his opponent was content to box from the outside in order to avoid his power. The early rounds were close, but the bigger punches were clearly landed by Stevenson, and it seemed only a matter of time before something big connected.

That moment came in the sixth round, when a left-hand from Stevenson floored Bellew near the corner. The challenger beat the count, but then defenselessly swallowed a couple more left hands, which prompted the referee to stop the fight and save him from further punishment.

But that wasn't even the most impressive knockout of the evening.

In the co-main event, Russian destroyer Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 KO) took just under four minutes to absolutely obliterate Ismayl Sillakh (21-2, 17 KO) with a second-round knockout. 

After a close first-round, in which both fighters were content to box, Kovalev quickly closed the distance early in the second and felled his foe with a right hand. Sillakh beat the count, but for his trouble he was greeted with another devastating right, followed by two quick lefts, that nearly knocked him out of the ring and ended the night.

It was devastating and it reiterated what most of us already know, the Russian has scary punching power.