*****Video: Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward - Post Fight Recap*****

Great breakdown Rums.

 

Agreed, and I would add, although I know Kovalev is more than a puncher - in fact he is an excellent technician - his whole method is based on knowing his opponent is intimidated by his crushing power, which keeps them away from working inside where he's not so effective and leaves them to try box at range, a range he's expert at closing. But after last night he knows Ward can take his power - and he took it early with most of the fight still to navigate. How would Kovalev deal with executing a refined game plan where he knows his power might not be able to define it? And more's to the point: Ward knows he can take Krusher's best shots too. It will be hard for Kovalev to find a different approach against a inevitably better-prepared Ward.

 

Kovalev can come away from this with full confidence though, maybe the nerves got to him now and he played it a bit careful with Ward showing him too much respect, in the next fight it could be very different.

 

Yeah, I'm honestly more intrigued by the potential second fight than the first one. In the first one you had some doubt that you know, Kovalev would get outboxed badly or that Ward couldn't take Kova's power and get bodied early. Ain't the case, it was competitive all the way through (other than the shaky start for Ward).

The potential adjustments that each guy will make for the second fight is what interests me.

 

It's interesting to note that most people who scored it 113-114 for Ward and are open about their scorecard all seem to have a round or two that they disagree on. With it being Rummy and many peoples belief that Kovalev won the 10th or the one judge who thought he won the 12th it just shows how close this match really was. It checked the box on my number one criteria I asked for and that was a close competitive match. Unfortunately the second box which was there being a clear winner wasn't checked. There's a lot of debate and most points on both sides are valid. Time to make like Pacquiao and clear up any doubt in a rematch, and if that's not enough do it again.

As far as I'm concerned Ward and Kovalev are neck and neck on the p4p list and both outbox anyone 175 and below. Only Kovalev does it with power and aggression making him the more exciting fighter to watch in the process. I'd love Kovalev vs Stevenson if the rematch doesn't happen.

 

Youre not supposed to be here. Man up and do your 1 month ban.

 

Great vid. We agreed on most rounds especially the 3rd which everyone but me at our party gave to Kov. Our score cards differed on the 12th. I gave that to Kov giving him the 1 point victory.

All these people who tell others they DKSAB then post your own analysis not just scores.

 

I scored it similar to you for a change, Rummy. CST, as usual, is way off. But I think you throw the word "great" around too loosely at the end. Neither fighter is great yet, just potentially great, and we'll see in the next few years. But this fight was just alright. If it weren't for the caliber of the opponents nobody would give a ****. While I envy your enthusiasm, I don't share it. Ali/Frazier 3 was great. Hagler/Hearns was great. Pryor/Arguello 1 was great. Kovalev vs Ward was acceptable. Don't lower the bar just because we rarely see top level champions facing off in their prime these days.