By CompuBox

Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward became a two-division champion when he scored a comeback unanimous decision victory over Russia’s Sergey Kovalev to claim the defending champion’s unified light heavyweight title.

Ward, the 2004 Olympic champion, recovered from a second round knockdown to defeat Kovalev by 114-113 on all three judges cards after a gruelling battle at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena.

The win saw Ward, 32, improve his unbeaten record to 31-0 with 15 knockouts. It was defending WBA, WBO and IBF champion Kovalev’s first defeat, leaving him at 30-1 with 26 knockouts.

Tale of Two Fights for Ward 

Punches Per Round (Lnd/Thrown/Pct.)

Rounds 1-6: 6/22/27.3%   --  Rounds 7-12: 13.3/34.2/38.8%

Note: Like all great champions, Ward made adjustments.  SOG more than doubled his landed punches in rounds 7-12 and landed 11.5% higher

Kovalev- Punches Per Round 

vs. Ward:  10.5/39.5/26.6%  -- prev. 5 fights: 16.4/52.1/31.5%

Note: Kovalev may we wishing he threw his hands more vs. Ward.   Krusher threw 12.6 fewer punches per round vs. Ward than in his previous 5 fights and landed 5.9 fewer per round.

Ward-  Punches Per Round 

vs. Kovalev:  9.7/28.1/34.5%  --  prev. 10 fights: 18/47/4/38%

Note: After tasting Krusher's power early, Ward's output was way down from his previous 10 fights.  He landed nearly 50% fewer punches and threw 19 fewer per round.