why take another beating for less money? he knows after a robbery, the judges normally right the wrong in the rematch. see lewis-holyfield.
Robbery, what robbery! It was a close fight that could have gone either way. You could even say it was a bad call, but robbery would be considered something else.
A real fan would want there fighter to come back and prove he is the better man, and not run away after a fight 75% of the polled media scored against him. More like Kovalev haters that just want bragging rights, what little there is to brag about.
Ward will rematch Kovalev in my opinion but he's gunna do whatever he can to get more money. If he doesn't rematch Kovalev as a big Ward fan I'll call it a duck and have to blast him publicly.
much like fury fans bragging about the fury-klitschko debacle, then justifying his blatantly twice ducking the contracted rematch.
decisions like that have cemented boxing's place in the outhouse of american sports. about the same level as darts and bowling.
Or Golovkin haters celebrating Cotto and then Canelo ducking him and holding the "lineage" hostage. So much **** going on in the sport right now. We are least getting Klitschko vs AJ in a huge fight.
There are fights that could have gone either way, that can't be called robberies in the true sense. I think Pac vs Marquez 2 and 3 are such fights. People truly are split on how to score them and that's reflected in the media polls as well. Kovalev vs Ward is not one of them, 75% had Kovalev winning. Had Kovalev got the decision there would be no controversy.
75% in wards home country...that is when you know you lost. a foreign fighter garners 75% opinion that you got beat.
Hell, I'm an American and I saw Ward get outboxed. And I wanted Kovalev to win because it's better for the sport. I knew Ward would pull this **** if he won. Had Kovalev won, it would be on to the next challenge, now we are in god damn limbo.
Regardless of who you thought won, there is a huge amount of doubt all over the boxing world tainting his victory. If he is ok with that and wants to retire, that's his right. Just don't come back one day after the rematch clause expires to fight for even less money and expect people to not call you out.