Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward RBR

Yeah I agree in those close rounds Ward steals em by cleaner work even though Kova wasn't hurt and you're right those body shots go unnoticed

 

Had it 9-3 116-111 or 8-4 115-112 for Ward. Ward damn near swept the second half of the fight, while Kovalev didn't sweep the first half. Kovalev decided to wrestle himself out of contention, not realizing that when he was wrestling he took his effective offense down to zero. Great discipline, heart and determination from Ward. That body work really paid dividends.

 

I had Kovalev pitching a shut out. But, I watched in a bar. I need to go home and watch the fight again.

 

Nothing about Ward is clean, what little boxing actually took place, Kovalev won convincingly.

 

It's the perfect response. Fighting on American soil wasn't a problem until he lost. Think about that.

 

Better man won tonight. Ward seemed to start off cold. He wasn't used to that type of footwork, and reach, paired with good boxing ability, and I think also the ground Kovalev covers with his footwork also posed a serious problem for Ward early on. He adapted though, and showed that thing that the great ones show. There are plenty of arse sore haters out there right now mad that Kovalev lost. This was no robbery. The judges got it right. Kovalev's punches don't have x3 multipliers on them. He hurt Ward and put him down early. He didn't do that sh!t again the rest of the fight. Ward was working the whole time, jabs to the body, jabs upstairs, hard body shots, the occasional power shot upstairs. What was Kovalev doing? Wrastlin. Not realizing that while he is Wrastlin, his effective offense is zero. Kov should have boxed and stayed at a distance all night. His reach was significant. His jab was more powerful. He wanted to prove that he could outmuscle Ward on the inside though. Have to stay focused, don't let pride throw you off your gameplan. Ward cleaned up the second half of the fight fairly clearly in my opinion. I gave Kovalev the 10th I think. Great fight. I'd like to see the rematch. Props to Ward. Props to the judges for getting it right.

 

Somehow you gave Ward 10 & 12 ? What part of oakland are you from?

 

Kovalev landed 126 of 474 (27%) of his total punches, including 48 of 242 (20%) of his jabs, and 78 of 232 (34%) of his power punches. Ward landed 116 of 337 (34%) of his total punches, 55 of 168 (33%) on jabs, and 61 of 169 (36%) of his power shots. And he was the champion, Ward should have done more to win this in reality. This is bull**** and will keep me away from this sport for a while.

 

well you fcked this one up...next time turn off the godamn commentary so they don't brainwash your stup9id asss

 

You're argument is hypothetical. Why on earth would Ward face him in russia? Kovalev doesn't even fight there.

 

No I gave Kovalev the 10th.

 

These numbers are never accurate and you shouldn't go by them.

 

****en Bootney Farnsworth ass. ****en Boxing24's minstrel show. Eat a dick *** boy. You probably had Ward winning all 12 and scored Kovs knockdown for Ward. Fake ass *****.

 

Kovalev - Ward

10-9
10-8
10-9
9-10
9-10
9-10
9-10
9-10
9-10
10-9
9-10
10-9

113-114

Rare for me to agree with the judges, but I think they got this one right. Some of the rounds could go either way, but overall I think Ward managed to take control of the fight. You can make and argument for both, but I think most would agree that Ward would have won a 15 round bout, so he clearly had the momentum at the end and calling this a robbery is definitely going too far.

Kovalev dominated the first three and Ward looked cautious (and even a bit desperate in the third). The following rounds were close and neither did much damage. Even though Kovalev in general was the one moving forward, Ward was the one dictating the fight during the majority of the bout following the fourth. Ive never been a fan of Ward per se, but I was impressed with his ability to weather the storm and take control from the outside (I was expecting more clinches from him).
The surprise of Ward coming back into the fight in this manner and Kovalev becoming less active might honestly have played a part in me giving Ward some of these close rounds. Round six for example was a bit of a toss-up, but Kovalev was more aimless and instigating the clinch (imagine that in a Ward fight). He did better work in the seventh, but Ward did more. Quantity and quality can be hard to balance, but apart from the knockdown Kovalev didn't really threaten Ward, whereas Ward clearly managed to drain Kovalev by going to the body.
Looking at my scoring, the middle of the bout kinda looks more one-sided than it was, but I do think that Ward slightly bettered Kovalev by dictating the pace and the range and working the body of his opponent.
Kovalev had some succesful rounds later on, especially when Ward started showboating in the tenth, but I was not at the edge of my seat, waiting for a KO punch, like I was in the first half of the fight. Ward's better conditioning became apparent and he got very comfortable in there, taking control of the ring and outscoring Kovalev for most of the rounds.

I was a bit surprised by the CompuBox stats though, so I might rewatch and re-score this fight. In any case it is worth rewatching.

Im from northern Europe and thus consider myself rather impartial in regards to both of these fighters. If anything I feel bad for Kovalev getting an inferior purse and now losing his belts too...
But I liked what I saw from Ward in this fight. I am still appalled by the headbutts and the number of instigated clinches in the Kessler fight, but thankfully I saw no headbutts tonight and the amount of clinches were at a reasonable level and instigated by both fighters (only in the third did Ward get a bit desperate with the spoiling clinches and some shoving). This surprised me even more as the clinches are only a problem when the referee allows it to be, and had Ward gone down that route I doubt Byrd had been successful in stopping it, he lacked authority in the ring throughout.

Overall a great fight. I think Stevenson will have to wait, a rematch seems inevitable. Tough to favor Kovalev in a rematch though, Ward demonstrated once again that he is among the absolute elite when it comes to adapting and figuring out his opponent.