Andre Ward survived a second-round knockdown and relentless pressure from Kovalev, doing just enough to win by a point on all three ringside scorecards. He remained unbeaten in his last 20 years in the ring, but it wasn’t without some moments of worry.

All three ringside judges had Ward winning 114-113.  Ward won all of the last six rounds on two scorecards, and five of six on a third. He won the final round on two of the scorecards.

Kovalev knocked down Ward in the second round and chased him around the ring much of the early part of the fight. But Ward dug deep and managed to land some good punches of his own in a fight that built to a climax in the later rounds.

The crowd of 13,310 at the T-Mobile Arena was on its feet in the late rounds as the two fighters went after each other, neither giving an inch. In the end, the judges favored Ward’s counter punching against the aggressive style of Kovalev.

Both fighters were unbeaten with almost identical records. Ward was 30-0 with 15 knockouts and Kovalev was 30-0-1 with 26 knockouts.

WBC cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew saw the contest as a draw and seemed to have no problem with either boxer getting the nod in victory.

"It's tough because on my scorecard I had it 114-114 but looking back I had the fifth down as an even round so it was one of them. For me, it could've gone either way. I'll give Ward great credit for getting up after that second-round knockdown; you're three points behind after two rounds but to show character and the fortitude he's got to get through that fight was unbelievable," Bellew said.

"The big point everyone is missing is the inside game that we all thought that Andre Ward was better at but, as Paulie Malignaggi said, Kovalev has been doing this inside grapling stuff for years and he nullified Andre Ward, shut him down, tied him up on the inside and roughed him up. He got him in so many headlocks, but ultimately I do think the wrestling tired Kovalev out."