Ward destroyed him in that last round and Kovalev basically gave up. He was badly hurt from the first good bodyshot and Ward let him off the hook for a few seconds and the proceeded to beat his ass. Props to Ward. Kovalev will never be the same after this fight.
Straight up bitched out, couldn't handle the presser or the lead up, and begging the ref to stop the pain. Hell I gave him too much credit thinking it would go to another UD.
Those initial shots were on the upper belt line and Sergey wanted to take a knee right there and almost did. Ward simply just put it on him and the bully quit.