I don't think Ward broke down Kovalev psychologically at all. For one thing, Kovalev probably didn't understand half the things Ward said. And secondly, in my opinion, Kovalev "storming out" of the press conference was a planned stunt to recover the attention that was taken away from the fight when Mayweather-McGregor was announced.
I don't see anything pointing to Kovalev's career being over from his back to back losses to one of the top 2-3 fighters in the world. More people than not thought he won the first fight and he was ahead or even, according to most, when he got stopped in the second one. Outside of a really bad round in the rematch he fought even up with Ward through almost 20 rounds and looked good doing it. He should probably replace his trainer since that just seems like its run its course. He has an HBO date lined up for later this year and I see no reason he shouldn't be back to his former self. There's a number of nice matches at 175 for him and he could always think about cruiserweight, not sure how he handles that move though. I think the bigger issue that could effect Kovalev going forward is age, he's already 34 and possibly out of his prime years or atleast ready to be. He's going to be on the decline when guys like Gvozdyk and Bivol are hitting their peak.
You people are too emotionally invested in these athletes. It's like they are superheroes to you. Literally writing essays about how a man ended another's career. Kov lost two close fights controversially. Fighters lose, big deal.
True, but he's also just a fighter with limitations that were exposed by another fighter thus he lost.
I agree. Whether Ward's gamesmanship aided or not is another story, but there's no denying that Kovalev and his entire camp was off their game. Just look at the final conference, even the post-fight conference. Duva lost her ****, telling people to shut up and spontaneously laughing. Kovalev and his manager were crying injustice and didn't have much words before the fight, then stormed out (which should have received just as much attention as Ward not showing up for a face off or whatever.) John David Jackson was entertaining offers and addressing **** that doesn't even matter before the fight. I like Kovalev, and I'm just giving my opinion, they lost focus. Plain and simple. Ward may not have ruined Kova's career or destroyed him mentally (I exaggerate on that for fun) but Ward and his management caused Kova & co. to lose focus, to bleed internally, to collapse, if you will. I don't believe anything Kovalev did was staged.
It's your right to have an opinion about Kovalev's mental preparation for the rematch. But if you look at the fight IMO Kova was focuses, determined and ready to win the fight. He came out the more aggressive, hungrier and active fighter in terms of what happened in the boxing ring. But he wasn't landing big right hand and then he gassed out. Kovalev's gassing issues are more a genetic limitation rather than a focus issue.
Exactly, he came out more aggressive. Too intent to land the right and missed way too many punches just trying to hurt Ward rather than box him. Boxing Ward seemed to work for him in the first fight.
Kovalev simply had to say a few generic lines and then walk off the stage instead of sitting down. He wasn't doing MacBeth Act 2 Scene 1... LOL!
Kovalev wasn't ruined but he lost even if Ward used his illegal staff. He won the first one. He can still beat ward and the rest if he focus more.
Ward didnt ruin Kovs career but those low blows may well have ruined his chance of another child. you could have saved yourself a lot of typing by just posting Ward is a dirty cheating scumbag you said basically the same thing