Russia 's Sergey Kovalev stopped Canada 's Jean Pascal early in the eighth round Saturday night to retain his three world light heavyweight titles . The large Bell Centre crowd booed when referee Luis Pabon stopped the fight , with the dazed Pascal ( 29-3-1 ) against the ropes from a series of blows from Kovalev ( 27-0-1 ) . And the Canadian was n't happy with the stoppage , immediately calling for a rematch after the bout was stopped , insisting : ' I was still in the fight . Sergey Kovalev retained his three world light heavyweight titles after victory over Jean Pascal . Kovalev 's arm is lifted aloft by the fight referee after stopping Pascal in the eighth round . Russian Kovalev retained his WBA , WBO and IBF titles during the bout in Montreal . Kovalev ( right ) lands a right to the head of Canadian Pascal during the light heavyweight bout . The Russian Kovalev ( left ) lands a left to Pascal 's body during the unified bout in Montreal . The fight was the first time that Pascal ( right ) had been stopped in his career . 'Kovalev looked to have won seven of the eight rounds in the scheduled 12-round bout . 'How I started I did n't like , ' said Kovalev . 'But after the fourth round I got control of Jean and what you saw -- I got him with a good right hand and he lost . ' Kovalev retained his WBA , WBO and IBF titles . Pascal , the former WBC champion from Montreal , was stopped for the first time in his career . Kovalev ( left ) hands a head shot on Pascal with his right during the fight at the Bell Centre . Kovalev ( right ) gets a punch with his right to the head of Pascal as his opponent tries to avoid it . Canadian Pascal ( right ) lands a body shot on Kovalev during their championship bout . Pascal looks dazed in his corner as he is given a pep talk during the fight at the Bell Centre . Pascal gets the standing count from the referee after falling in the third round of the fight .
Jean Pascal retains three world light heavyweight titles . Russian stopped Canadian Sergey Kovalev in the eighth round .