Marquez: Andre Ward Adjusted, Fought Well - Kovalev Also Faded

By Miguel Rivera

Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez felt Andre Ward's boxing skills, conditioning and ability to adjust played big factors in last month's fight with Sergey Kovalev at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Ward (31-0, 15KOs) recovered from a second round knockdown to win a twelve round unanimous decision to beat Kovalev (30-1, 26KOs) and capture his IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight titles.

All three judges had it 114-113. Kovalev has exercised his right to an immediate rematch and wants to face Ward as soon as possible.

Marquez felt Kovalev's conditioning began to break down in the later rounds, and Ward began to take over the fight after the fifth round. He saw Ward getting stronger and Kovalev fading as the fight played out in the late rounds. Kovalev believes he did more than enough to get the victory and felt the judges robbed him of a win.

"Although Kovalev dominated from the first to the fifth, the difference in that fight was that Andre Ward adjusted very well in the second half of the match. He worked well from the waist, he was moving from side to side and there were even rounds that he won with just simply using his jab. He threw it very well," said Marquez.

"The conditioning of Kovalev began to decline as the fight went along and that was also an important factor, but Andre Ward handled the fight intelligently in the second half. In some rounds it was fought at the short range which suited Ward, and which is why there were so many hugs. But I think a rematch would be interesting and it would be interesting for the people."