By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Sergey Kovalev was a lot less diplomatic about the judging of his first professional defeat than his promoter.
Kovalev questioned how all three judges – Reno, Nevada’s Burt Clements, New York’s John McKaie and Las Vegas’ Glenn Trowbridge – scored his light heavyweight title fight against Andre Ward by the same score, 114-113, for Ward.
“It’s the wrong decision,” Kovalev said. “I don’t want to say my opinion. The witnesses are here. They saw it.”
McKaie and Trowbridge scored each of the final six rounds for Ward, who was behind on all three scorecards through the first six rounds (59-54, 59-54, 58-55).
Clements scored five of the final six rounds for Ward (31-0, 15 KOs). He scored the 12th round for Kovalev (30-1-1, 15 KOs), which brought Kovalev within one point on the scorecard Clements submitted.
McKaie and Trowbridge scored the 12th round for Ward. Had they joined Clements in scoring the 12th round for Kovalev, the Russian knockout artist would’ve won a split decision.
“It was the fight of my life,” Kovalev said. “I am disappointed in the judges’ decision.
“He got maybe a few rounds. I agree with that. I kept control. I lost maybe three rounds the whole fight.”
The Russian-born Kovalev also insinuated that having three American judges score the fight prohibited him from winning. Ward was raised in Hayward, California, considers Oakland his adopted hometown and won the 178-pound gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
“It is the USA and all the judges were from the USA,” Kovalev said. “It’s a sport. Don’t make it politics. It is a sport and I won the fight.”
Kathy Duva, Kovalev’s promoter, said she disagreed with the scoring as well. She made it clear, however, that she feels the scoring simply is a difference of opinion about what happened in the ring, not the byproduct bias or impropriety.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
