Sexton was rocked in the sixth, and in the eighth he looked "gone", as they say in Britain, but the ref interrupted Rogan's offensive to caution him for hitting on the back of the head, and then a recovering Sexton spat out his mouthpiece and made a nodding gesture to the canvas, whereupon Rogan amateurishly dropped his hands, stepped back and turned to look at the referee. While Rogan was doing this, Sexton had the presence of mind to hit Rogan with a few pushing-type punches, and then the referee called for a time out and had Sexton's mouthpiece rinsed and replaced, Rogan's chance had now gone, and within moments the referee was calling in the doctor, and the fight was stopped due to Rogan's badly swollen eye.
If it hadn't been for the closed eye, I had the sense that Rogan would likely have clubbed Sexton to defeat in about 10 rounds -- I think he would have outlasted him -- but this is boxing, the fact is that Rogan's eye WAS badly swollen, and things like eye injuries are part of the business. (Without the warning and then the mouthpiece-rule time out, maybe Rogan could have got the job done in the eighth, because for a moment there Sexton looked out on his feet, but we will never know.)
