I watched a HBO feed and found the commentary to be somewhat biased in Ward's favour. RJJ, a man who knows something of being on the wrong end of a dodgy decision, called it for Kovalev.
Harold turned in a 116-111 card. You can look through the scores posted in this thread and see that that's extreme. There's one guy with it wider. Ward 114-113 happened a lot more frequently. If a journalist were referencing someone else's scorecard during the fight, it was Harold's (which I thought sucked). It's plausible considering some of the press were guys like Steven A Smith who don't know **** about boxing. I have no issue with Roy.
Kellerman should be out of a job with that blatant display of favoritism toward Ward. Just like he tries to get people to believe Brook hurt and buckled G. Come on now hes getting worse and worse
yeah, and he tried to make believe that kovalev was initiating clinches just a much as ward. the lemmings are still eating that sh** up.
Most ringside reporters had it for Kovalev. Credible people like Dan Rafael, Merchant, Roy Jones and others. As far as HBO bias it lies with Kellerman who always wants the American to win. I rolled my eyes when I heard him say at the conclusion of round 4 when I think Lampley said Kovalev cruising- Kellerman piped up and said he gave round 4 to Ward. No way Ward won round 4 so goes to show you he was in the bag. Look it was a bad decision. Life goes on. Was it the worst of all time of course not. But it's a killer when in a huge marquee fight like this. These are the ones the sport has to get right. Like Lewis vs Holyfield 1 and especially coming off the bore that was Mayweather Pac boxing needed to get it right and instead they shot themselves in the foot again.
He's horrible and the worst homer on broadcast sports. His lack of self-awareness on this topic is stunning.
I don't understand people talking about Ward's supposed great inside work. I thought he got totally dominated in that regard and it was pretty much the only thing he did in the fight as he was outright schooled when fighting at distance. Precise made a video of all the inside fighting and its far more accurate of what actually took place. Also can't understand how people don't realize that Ward slaps with his punches almost exclusively, folks talk about him as if he's a textbook example of technique which is laughable, hell half the time he doesn't even close his hand. This content is protected
Rafael is a fan of aggressive fighters. He's been dismissive of Rigondeaux and given more press to Joel Julio than the guy ever deserved. Ditto Merchant. Jones scored the fight for Kovalev but gave plenty of credit to Ward. I was watching it at Jack Dempsey's in New York. A lot of the people around me (not friends) had it for Ward, including me, and nobody there seemed outraged by the decision.
The fight was close in the 2nd half but Kovalev put a cherry on the cake in the first rd when he hurt Ward with a jab and the 2nd rd with a KD. There is no way you could give Ward the last 5 rds in a close fight and had Kovalev dropped Ward in the 9th and staggered with a jab in the 10th it may had had a more lasting impression on the judges but they forgot the early rds. I thought Kovalev won clearly
Eye On The Ring fan cards are now split close to 30/70 on this fight. http://eyeonthering.com/boxing/pound-pound-sergey-kovalev-vs-andre-ward
Agree on a number of points. Rafael was disgusting in his disrespect of Rigondeaux and panders to mainstream fans who only understand aggression and slugging. Jones gave Ward a ton of credit throughout the fight. Had he been scoring round by round, I'd bet he'd have scored it for Ward.
the absolute best you can give ward is a dubious draw. But neutrally it would be a SD win for Sergey. One cant deny Ward fought back with extraorindary skill, but Sergeys offensive was just as skilled for at least the first half of the fight. A rematch is required and ward better bring a new gameplan if he wants to win the LHW title first time this time.