Which boxer do you feel is most difficult to get a good read on as a viewer ?

You beat me to the punch. In addition to the reasons you listed above, I think Ward has an unparalleled sense of distance He intuitively gets to positions where he's able to deliver effective, albeit non-concussive punches on his opponents. Meanwhile his opponent are in positions where they can't land anything meaningful.

 

Watching the first fight live, I expected Kovalev to either finish the job or do enough damage to send Ward into survival mode for a convincing UD. However, hindsight reveals two things. First, Kovalev is a bully in every sense of the word. With the exception of an old Hopkins, if Kovalev can't intimidate his opponent, he begins to doubt himself. Second, Ward's intelligence really shined through. He understood that subjecting Kovalev to sustained mental pressure would take a toll on him. Although I thought Kovalev won the first fight, I think he entered the rematch psychologically defeated.

 

Nope.
He never was most athletic LHW lad from top 15 then, there is reason why he never had fights vs prime shape Gvozdyk and Beterbiev.
They both had finished him for sure and maybe even Yarde if they had rematch.

Home town referee and judges for Ward. Sure.

The only thing that might impact Kov was vodka. Looks that he never ever had used substances like narco stuff, while vodka, it most likely was even before this fight.

Kovalev long ago was a bit weird.
He might had been even very polite and nice gentleman, might had been angry and nervous.
In his prime he was very hard working, talented and really diligent boxer.

 

According to Abel Sanchez, Kovalev had conditioning issues long before the Ward fight. Consuming alcohol surely hurt as well.