Hello ESB, Im a long time boxing fan. And a former, sometime, boxing forum lurker. I realize that last Saturdays fight may have caused some major friction between online boxing fans. Im sure there are many who arent willing to accept the results. My question is this. What will become of Kovalevs career now? It seemed in a matter of about 8 months he went from being one of the most feared men in the sport to a guy whos career might now be footnote. I personally saw nothing wrong with anything Ward did himself in that fight and would rate it as a great win for him. Kovalevs career still had its luster after the first fight. But to me his showing in the second stanza took some of the shine off. But is there anything Kovalev can do to restore that luster? It would almost all seem moot. Surely Ward is done with him. He could probably go through any of the top guys in the division. He could beat Stevenson. But what would it mean? What would it do. I think at the end of the day people will always remember Ward beating him up in the rematch and owning 2 wins over him. It will be hard for him to do anything that can erase that in my opinion What do you guys think?
No, it's not. Kovalev will fight on HBO later in the year and should be fine, particularly given that no one knows how much longer Ward will continue his career or stay in the division. Kovalev has two tasks now to keep his career moving (well, three): - Figure out if you have the right training team (the Kovalev/JDJ drama) - Get the overtraining/stamina issue under control - Manage and work on your body punch resistance weakness Otherwise, Kovalev should be in good shape. In the Ward fights, he outlanded, out-threw and outlanded-in-power-punches Ward. So it's not like there is some big issue here. The core issues are stamina and body punch resistance. Get that under control, Kovlaev should be fine.
Good post my man Few things to add -From what Ive been hearing it seems Kovalev trains himself or has his ideas and doesnt take much advice or direction. But Im not sure how true that is -Sometimes those issues arent totally able to be corrected. The stamina issues -I would agree other than those things he should be in good shape. But now there is a blueprint to beat him. But I would also say I dont know if many can follow that successfully. Ward is unique and I dont know if you can just copy what Ward does. Kovalev is extremely good at throwing 1-2s when he has ideal space. Hes usually stronger than the other guy. But my thing is. Will it matter? Is there anything he can do that can erase being 0-2 against Ward? It will be hard to erase that in my opinion
Thanks, good post yourself. Kov is 34 so the stamina issue may not improve a lot. The Ward fights were close to rational observers. Kovalev had the advantage in punch stats even if the judges were not giving him the nod. So, I don't think there is any shame for him in what happened. He did have a bad 8th round in the second fight and he does have some body punch resistance concerns. Still, he acquitted himself well against Ward overall, so just take it from here. Canelo got clowned by Floyd. That didn't end his career. No need for Kovalev to get worked up about the Ward bouts. Kovalev knows that if the first Ward fight is on neutral soil, he wins.
I would agree that there really is no shame in losing. Especially to a guy like Ward. But I'd be careful about going around quoting punch stats. Punch stats do not tell the story. And they do not matter to 3 individual judges sitting in 3 different vantage points. When I watched the fight Im hearing Harold Lederman give Kovalev all these rounds and say things like "Ward is being backed up". Im not a fan of just handing rounds to the guy who is coming forward and being more active. You can win rounds being less aggressive than the other guy. The first fight was definitley close no question. And at the time of the stoppage we saw the cards. The 2nd fight was close too. But Kovalev, if he had continued, was about to take a 10-8 round. And that would have put him down 3 points on two cards. And he was fading. Im not sure you could call the rematch "close" in my opinion. Kovalev looked beat up too. I hear what you are saying about Canelo. But I feel that isnt the best comparison. Canelo was very young and green at that point. That was a big fight. But that wasnt a fight that was supposed to define his career. These Ward fights were going to define Kovalevs career if you ask me. I sort of think this GGG fight will be Canelos career definer. If he gets beat up in that one he may not be a viable "big sell" anymore.
All of his issues in training seem to come back to the fact that he feels he's in charge and doesn't really have to listen to his trainer. He's had so much success doing things his own way, that it could be tough mentally to completely put himself in the hands of another coach. Even if he keeps doing things his own way, he could still beat Stevenson and his reputation would be right back on track. People would point to the controversies in both Ward fights, how Kovalev would technically be the linear champion and suddenly he's back where he was pre Ward I.
Punch stats matter. I often will take them over subjective judging. Particularly as the punch stats backed up what the vast majority of observers saw in the first fight, despite the poor judging. On the eighth round, not sure it's 10-8. Kovalev had not gone down and if Meeks did his job, Ward could have lost a point for low blows. So I'm not conceding that. I had Kovalev up 3 points (same as Lederman, same as one judge) heading into the 8th round. I never saw any signs of "Ward dominance" in either Kovalev fight. He did well in the 8th round of the second fight, but that's a small sample size (like Kovalev in Round 2 of the first fight) and the punch stats back up what I observed in the two bouts. Simply put, there is no evidence to support, for me, that Ward was the dramatically better fighter in the two fights. As such, no reason for Kovalev to feel bad. He does have some adjustments to make, but overall I think he got jobbed in the first fight and had a bad Round 8 in the second fight. With the admission that the body punch issue is real and put him in peril in the 8th round of the second fight.
He's done. His mental weakness is out in the open now. Until he confronts his flaws he will know deep down what's up. A guy like Beterbiev would knock him out easily. Gvozdyk and Bivol would do some damage as well. If Stevenson lands then Kovalev would be out of there. Kovalev looks like an old 34, he hasn't looked impressive in a while. He is done.
Yeah. Ward is not likely to be fighting much longer, I don't think. At least not at LHW. So Kovalev shouldn't have any real issues with, say, Ward on top in the division and Kovalev shut out. If Kovalev beats Stevenson, I agree he'd be in good shape. Kovalev is moving on and fighting again soon. He should work on his "train-ability" with his team (or get a new team), he should work on his stamina/overtraining, and he should find some solutions on the body punch resistance. Some things to work on, for sure, but no crisis. The Ward fights were controversial and I don't see Kovalev's reputation as greatly diminished from them.
He needs to win impressively against a top 5 guy to get back in the mix. If he loses again though, he's probably done. 34 is normally time to think about retiring, losing again will probably push him in that direction.
