Ward held his own

I remember a moment when Kov feinted and Ward flinched, Ward immediately feinted and Kov flinched. They can each say what they want but there was mutual respect during the fight.

 

Yup .

This can't be denied whether i feel he won or not .

Ward refused to let Kovalev take his soul like he does to every other fighter .

He stood his ground and actually fought back .

 

I guess it's only the casual fans who didn't enjoy this fight!!

 

I enjoyed and respected that he held his own, but to be honest, I placed a bet on Ward expecting him to perform much much better than he did. Obviously you can't fault Ward for that really because Kovalev erased any doubts I had he's up there with the big dogs.

To keep his composure against a beast like Kovalev is something i doubt many fighters can do. I think only Beterbiev from 175 down could perform as well as Ward did and that's a big maybe still. For now it seems Kova and Ward are the two top P4P dudes. But I had been expecting a much more crisp, clean counter punching from Ward and much more effective work on the inside.

But in all honesty, if you hooked me to a lie detector test I don't think I could pass it saying I thought Ward won that fight. I'm happy that I got my money, but waiting for the cards to be called I'd already basically accepted I'd lost it.

Regardless for me I think I have them both tied P4P still, and the winner of the second fight I'm going to accept as the winner to the first.

 

Yep. I just re-scored it myself and I had a much better opinion of Ward's performance the second time around.

 

Yeah, he held his own after the disastrous start, but he didn't do any more than that, which means he lost.

 

Totally correct.
Kovalev won the first 2 rounds clearly but the rest Ward showed heart, smartness and even ring generalship. Kova did not know what to do let alone cut Ward off. Kova's stamina faded as well.
Ward will always beat Kovalev even in a rematch.
The smarter fighter won and will always win. the bigger and supposedly stronger fighter will tire up as always.

 

I don't agree that Ward will always beat Kovalev .

Lets make no mistake about it , Ward put up a really solid performance against Kovalev .

But he still clearly lost that fight .

Kovalev was outboxing Ward for the majority of the night which I never even thought he was even capable of doing .

Kovalev did fade We all saw it .Yet he still got the better of Ward in a few of those late rnds despite being the faded fighter .

 

That's ok. Different person different opinion.
Everyone was making fun of me before that fight when I predicted Ward via SD. Well, now I'm saying that Ward's style will always give problem to Kova and Kova may not be able to beat him, people will again say I am wrong.
It remains to be seen. All I know is that I was correct the first time. 1-0.

 

Rematch in Vegas with Swedish judges

 

You do know you are in the minority right .

Only 25% of the media felt Ward won . That an extremely small handful of people .

You really believe you were correct ?

 

25% of what media?
The fight was close and the scorecards reflected it. Some of the supposed media had Ward winning only 3 rounds and that´s insane.
Sometimes that majority can be in the wrong. Sometimes there is no clear answer.
Let´s just wait for the rematch.

 

I just rewatched the fight with a sober mind, am on vacation in HI right now so have been pretty buzzed lately lol, but my initial impression was it was a tight contested fight didn't score it live but thought Kova dominated early and Ward late figured a close win for either would be a good call.

Watching it again and scoring it I actually thought Ward did way better than given credit for and believe he won the fight, my pick was Kovalev to win thought he would too much but Ward showed big heart and skill.

I took a few notes after every rd which apparently I didn't save but my scorecard reads like this.
Rd1 Ward
Rd2 Kovalev
Rd3 Kovalev
Rd4 Ward
Rd5 Ward
Rd6 Kovalev
Rd7 Ward
Rd8 Ward
Rd9 Ward
Rd10 Kovalev
Rd11 Ward
Rd12 Ward
115-112 ward

My thoughts a lot of good bodywork by Ward, 2 or 3 rds were razor close and could change the outcome depending on what you like, Kovalev is way more skilled than given credit for he showed he is a elite boxer and not just a puncher. Between the two I'm more of a Kovalev fan, but felt Ward took the fight to him in the trenches the fight had constant momentum swings from rd to rd even during the course of a singular rd huge shifts from one to the other occurred which change a few rd for me from leaning one way to the other.
I think Ward should be commended for his grit and toughness and Kovalev for his skill and patience, hats off to both for competitive fight and a good scrap overall cheers to a rematch.

 

Does it matter what I believe in ? It's the fact of the matter that counts.
Ward won UD and nobody can change that. It's done. We collected our winnings.
Minority does win sometimes and that's why we won more money by betting on the underdoggie.
I may be in the minority but I am the one collecting winning$. Minority rules this time and the majority have to accept or keep hurting their b@tts. No offense...