Kovalev vs Ward

Ward was dealing with the adversity that Kovalev created. Merely "dealing with it" and not creating equal or greater adversity for your opponent is not good enough. Kovalev did not require a Plan B because his Plan A was working well enough.

 

I think a rematch should prove very interesting...I think a more motivated Kovalev, with some fine tuning to his strategy, should beat Ward, and maybe even by a ko...he knows he can hurt Ward...and Ward knows it too.

 

I'm pretty sure he knew he could hurt him before the fight, could he hurt him enough is the thing?

 

I think Ward won and that Kovalev wasn't very effective after rd 2, so I don't agree with you. If the whole fight had been like the second half it wouldn't have been far from a shutout on my card. The rounds were all close, but I think Ward had just the edge in almost all of them (the last six that is).

 

As Kellerman stated, "over time, the difference in class starts to show." That is exactly what happened. Ward showed rust and nervousness in the early rounds. He was getting beat up. But then he figured Kovalev out and dominated from the middle rounds on. It was clear to me that Ward is the superior fighter.

 

I was thinking about Benvenuti-Griffith from '67 for some reason,....Benvenuti clearly won their first bout in April and a rematch was set...and most everybody figured that Nino would do it again in that rematch in September...but Griffith retooled, and with the guidance of Gil Clancy, tried other things, tweaked his style very effectively and won that rematch. I don't see why Kovalev can't do that same thing and turn the tables in a rematch.

 

I don't see that happening. The way Ward took over the fight after he became more relaxed and was no long intimidated by Kovalev's power. What else can he do? He looked exceptional early on, but Ward did what great boxers do and took him to school.

 

I've just rewatched the fight with the sound down, this is my scorecard. Even the rounds I've given Ward could very easily have been even and the even rounds could have gone to Kovalev as he was pressing the action. I've scored the close rounds even.

Kovalev Ward


1 10 9
2 10 8
3 10 10
4 10 9
5 10 10
6 10 9
7 9 10
8 10 10
9 9 10
10 10 10
11 10 10
12 10 10

Total. 118 115


I've no idea how my format is all over the place, on the iPad it looks fine.

 

Don't be such a prat Mr Ward Fanboy, Ward took no one to school. Kovelav won that fight clearly and was robbed end of story most boxing fans besides Ward fanboys like yourself know it, 90% of boxing writers know it, the majority of other boxers know it, the referee knows it and even the pro Ward crowd knew it, they booed the decision ffs.

 

Ward may have won some rounds in the second half of the fight. But, he certainly didn't "dominate" Kovalev at any point.

 

I'm being generous to Ward there I feel, the only punches that he cleanly landed were a few jabs throughout the fight and some body shots. Even his body work was scrappy with barely a few landing clearly.

 

No, I am not a Ward fanboy. In fact, imo, he would have been above average in other eras. However today, his boxing skills stand out. I don't know how you feel that Kovalev clearly won. If I felt that Kovalev did enough to win, I would admit it. It's not that big of a deal to me. Check to see how long I've been a member of ESB compared to how many comments I made. I don't get emotional over fighters and post comments over and over because I have to be right.

Ward showed his mettle by getting roughed up early by a stronger man, gritted his teeth then proceeded to grind out a win. He should be respected for that.....You can save your made up stats (90% of boxing writers, blah, blah, blah) for someone else.

 

i agree with this, i think that kovalev is mad and probably will look for the ko aggresively

 

you must have been looking to the sky instead of the fight

 

Better than looking up Ward's ass I guess....