• ’I saw someone who should have been disqualified get his hand held up’ • American won rematch in eighth round after controversial stoppage

Andre Ward proclaimed himself the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter after stopping Sergey Kovalev in a Las Vegas rematch on Saturday to retain the unified light-heavyweight world championship – but the Russian’s promoter intends to file a protest over the result.

An impressive performance from the American was marred by the ending, when a succession of borderline low blows secured an eighth-round stoppage after he had initially rocked Kovalev with a powerful straight right to the head.

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“I’m still having a hard time processing what I just witnessed,” said Kathy Duva of Main Events, which promotes the Russian. “I saw someone who should have been disqualified get his hand held up. [Kovalev] got hit with three low blows, four actually, in the last round. We asked [the Nevada State Athletic Commission] for an instant-replay analysis and they did not give it to us. We’ll file a protest on Monday.”

Kovalev was aggrieved at losing their first meeting in November, having knocked the American down in round two, and this time he was frustrated at the stoppage. “I couldn’t believe it, I could win. Only a low blow [hurt me],” he said before watching the video of the end of the fight. “Low blow – and I felt this. Again, another one. The first one was on the border and the second one a low blow.”

Ward was unrepentant when watching the same footage. “When I saw him react to the body shots that were borderline, I knew I had him,” he said. “Go back down there. Why get away from it? Then I hurt him with a head shot and I just had to get the right shots in there to get it over with. That one’s probably borderline. He was hurt, I went right back there again, he wasn’t reacting, right back there again and the referee stopped it.

Ward’s win took him to 32 from 32 in his career and the 33-year-old has set his sights on climbing the weight classes. He said to HBO: “Let me ask you the question: Can I get on the pound-for-pound list now? At the top?

“Hopefully, against a great fighter like Sergey Kovalev, we’ll get our credit tonight and get atop that pound-for-pound list.”

Ward said of his future plans: “Maybe cruiserweight, I don’t know. Cruiserweight, heavyweight, that’s always been a dream of mine. I dream big and anything is possible.”

There had already been controversy on the undercard as Guillermo Rigondeaux knocked out Moises Flores at the end of the first round to retain the WBA world super-bantamweight title. The verdict was confirmed only after a long review during which the referee, Vic Drakulich, initially suggested he would rule the fight a no-contest because of Rigondeaux holding Flores behind the head and possibly landing the crucial blow after the bell. But some criticised Flores for exaggerating the effect of the knockout punch.