By Luke Furman

Last Saturday's fight between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev is still generating a lot of debates between fans and industry experts alike.

Ward (31-0, 15KOs) had a disastrous start after going down in the second and Kovalev (30-1, 26KOs) controlled most of the first six rounds. He boxed his way to a close twelve round unanimous decision to capture the WBA, IBF, WBO light heavyweight titles.

All three of the official Las Vegas judges had Ward winning by a point, 114-113.

Another person who had Ward winning by a single point, was promoter Yvon Michel, who handles several top light heavyweights including WBC world champion Adonis Stevenson.

Michel felt it was Kovalev, not Ward, who held quite often to avoid an inside fight as the strong Russian boxer was more comfortable from the distance.

"It was a fight like the first between Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins. You get a pretty quick idea of ??how things will unfold. After four rounds, Pascal had sent Hopkins twice to the floor. After four rounds, I thought the fight was in my pocket and I remember that I was already making plans for the future in my head," Michel explained to RDS.

"I was chatting with the people around me and it was during one of the late rounds that I woke up realizing that it had been a long time since Pascal had won an actual round. It's the same thing that happened with Kovalev and Ward. You watch it closely at the beginning and if you do not pay attention later on - which is quite normal - you realize that the fight has taken another direction."

"Kovalev displayed that he does not make adjustments and that he is not capable of fighting inside. [Kovalev's promoter] Kathy Duva has criticized Ward forholding - but if you look carefully, Ward clings to get inside and it's Kovalev who grabs him in order to prevent the hand-to-hand exchanges. I do not know why he never developed [an inside game]. "

"The majority would have said that Kovalev was too strong. But Ward had the courage, intelligence and mental strength to grab rounds, one by one. He did not lose hope and beautifully ascended the slope afterwards."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org