Kovalev / Ward round 3 only

I'm well aware of the fact that we're discussing Round 3 only. Kovelev simply followed Ward around the ring in the second minute and didn't really land anything of consequence, while Ward landed a hard jab that stopped Kovalev in his tracks at about the halfway, a hook in close, and a hook off the jab and then a couple of jabs to the body. Plus he landed a couple of glancing rights at the start of the round. Again, you can give the round to Kovelev, but you're doing so on the basis of what he did during a 45 second stretch where he landed a sharp one-two and a couple of hard jabs. But though he was landing single shots at a time, Ward still did well enough that giving him that frame isn't out of the question.

It's one of the two real swing rounds in the fight, imo.

 

I also had round 3 to Kovalev. Ward was competitive in it though, which is maybe why people felt he'd nicked it, due to the contrast with 2 where he looked like getting stopped.

The first real Ward round was 5. Kovalev came back to nick 6, but it was clear he was gassing. 7,8, were clear Ward rounds imho, and I thought Ward nicked 9 as well, though it was close. 10 saw Kovalev get his second wind, and 11 was a tossup. I gave it to Ward but it could have been a Kovalev round too. 12 I saw as a Kovalev round. 7-5 Kovalev + KD.

 

The only significant punch in the round resulted in Kovalev's head being snapped back. Other than that there was nothing of note. In the beginning of the round Kovalev attempted to land on Ward but he was rather effective blocking the shots, I suppose you could give him credit for making Ward shell up in that sequence but still wasn't anything clear cut to win the round.

 

Yes.

Somehow I get a feeling that the judges sort of decided that if a round COULD be given to Ward without too much outcry, then they WOULD.

12 rounds later, they managed to excrete the sloppy, smelly decision that we sit with today.

If they had taken the same approach favouring Kovalev, Ward would have won like maybe 3 rounds if that.

 

Ward won that round going away. Kovalev had one series of combinations. The rest was all Ward.

 

Minute one: Agree. Ward lands a glancing right hand and then bulls Kov into the ropes. Exchange of jabs, more clinching, and then another right hand from Ward. Kovelev steps back, establishes the jab and then fires off his best sequence of the round- a five punch combo; the one two seems to connect, but the remaining shots are blocked. Still enough for Kov to seem in control at that point.

Minute two: Disagree. Ward lands the jab about 25 seconds in after being backed up, forcing a clear reset. and then blocks or rolls with the majority of Kov's attempts to retaliate. Kov is obviously the harder puncher but he isn't landing cleanly at this point. Ward backs up Kov and lands a hook off the jab. Another hook when Sergei is on the ropes. The cleaner work is done by Ward and he takes that part of the frame (arguably the first part of the frame he's taken since shading the very first minute of the fight).

Minute three: Neither agree nor disagree. Ward lands a couple of jabs downstairs which score while circling the ring. Kovalev follows and feints, but can't really seem to track Ward down. Not much contact either way. Kov's more aggressive but it's not effective, imo. He does fire off a combo, but none of the punches appear to make count. Defense is a criteria for scoring and Ward displayed better D in the last third...But, not much happened and Kov was moving forward and more active. As close to even as you'd get, really. Gun to my head, I might give the edge to Ward, based on the defense.

They should really go to half point scoring, though. Ward would have shaded most his rounds by .5, while Kov had more clear 10-9 rounds banked. But this frame was a half-point round either way under that system of scoring, imo.

 

Round 3 was where Ward showed us his world class single leg takedown attempt...

 

The jab to the body makes contact with 40 seconds remaining. Kovelev misses a hook-uppercut combo with 30 seconds remaining and takes a jab in return. Kov throws a 1-1-2 with about 20 seconds left and doesn't connect with that. In fact, Kovelev doesn't seem to land anything in the last minute, bailey. He's more active, but he ain't landing- at least from that angle. I know the fight is shown from another angle and I'd like to check it out...But based on this viewpoint, after repeated viewings, it always seems a very close round.

 

What you looking for is somebody to agree with you, I don't. I think that he won that third round from what I saw. Just my opinion and probably the judges also.