It was actually Kovacs who landed the first significant shot of the bout, sending out a counter right hand over Shumenov’s jab. Toward the end of the round, though, Kovacs threw a right hand and essentially posed, remaining in front of Shumenov, pulling his arm back low and basically inviting the counter left hook that dropped Kovacs down hard.

Kovacs was fortunate that the knockdown came at the end of the round. That might have been the only time in which he was fortunate. In the second round, Shumenov had Kovacs in the corner and threw a left uppercut. Kovacs seemed to take it, but as he stepped forward and clinched with Shumenov, he suddenly dropped to his knees. The referee ruled it a knockdown.

Kovacs did land a couple of left hooks in the third round that went over Shumenov’s right hands. Shumenov took them and continued to walk Kovacs down, throwing out hard punches and ultimately landing the finishing blow: a right hand that took Kovacs’ legs away.

The referee waved the bout off with five seconds left in the third.