Sergey Kovalev vs. Blake Caparello & Brandon Rios vs. Diego Gabriel Chaves RBR

Round 8

Vargas is working right hand leads, often in multiples, and backing away consistently. Novikov is walking through fire willingly, looking to double his left hand on the chest of Vargas and occasionally nicking the bottom of his chin. Vargas keeps using movement, firing off the right but kept on alert by the 1-2-1-2 of Novikov, left with no margin of error when pulling his fists back into defensive form after punching.

10-9 Novikov, extremely close

77-75 Vargas

 

Yes, because South Korea is part of Russia.

 

Round 9

Vargas is throwing a left uppercut behind his frequently blocked 1-2. Novikov ducks away from it, then boomerangs in with more forward pressure. Novikov is finding a regular home for his left on the body as Vargas' movement begins to slow. Vargas is pausing to flurry high into Novikov's guard every so often but not getting through with much. Novikov does have a seemingly new cut in his nose, however. Body shots traded.

10-9 Novikov

86-85 Vargas