Al Bernstein's take on Kovalev-ward

At best Ward won 6 rounds which means he lost due to the 2nd round kd.

I guess it's just strange how, in such a close fight, ALL 3 judges favoured Ward AND decided he won the last Six rounds. Especially after the knockdown...

If the fight ewewas inrussia it would be 11- 3 to kov. Not a close fight.

Yeah i do agree with him. 2 judges scoring all 6 of the last rounds to Ward surprised me. As did 2 of the judges only scoring Kovalev 1 round after the 4th.

If you just look at the scorecards, you'd have to say Ward must have dominated the second half of the fight. Andre won 6 out of 6 rounds on 2 cards and 5 out of 6 on the other card. Any objective person knows this didn't happen.There was no domination. At best Ward held his own. For Ward to win the fight you have to give him every round that's even the slightest bit close and that's exactly what the judges did. It's a shame when the only way a reigning champ can win a fight is by a KO.

so i'm a troll now? lol give me a break. i don't like ward's style, never did never will (imo he is quite dirty) but did i ever say he is a bum? did i start thread after thread about how much of a bum he is (like the anti-GGG brigade does all the time for example) i think the criticism that ward has faced lately is very reasonable because of the way he handled himself outside of the ring Never said you were a troll.... Therealpuglist is not a troll but if I'm looking for a take on something Golovkin related then he wouldn't be at the top of my list. It's hard to be objective if there is nothing you like about the fighter. Not that you had to tell me that, it's apparent to me.

Respect Al's opinion. Not trolling or crying or being a bìtch about it. I disagree but i respect his thoughts.

Ward fan here, I pretty much agree with everything he said. Wanna see it again.

It's important to recognise why that happens too. There's a huge problem with narrative bias when a guy like Ward fights. If the round is low action, he seems to win by default, without actually having to score himself. He gets credit for defence. But Kovalev gets no credit. When Kovalev blocks and slips shots, making Ward miss, it doesn't matter. Kovalev's defence is not part of the narrative. Only his offence. Whereas Ward gets credit for both. So Kovalev can only win rounds by landing heavy flush shots. Whereas Ward can win the round with a couple of spear jabs. I'm sick of seeing it. Both guys should have to score at the same level to win. In boxing at the moment it's like a soccer team playing ultra defensive against an attacking team, and being awarded the win without actually having to score themselves. That pretty much sums it up just like my other post. They should just have called it a draw. Even a boxer like Malignaggi, who was at ringside, kept saying every round was extremely hard to score because of the ugly nature of the fight. And in this case respect from the judges for the current champion was ignored. Kovalev has to be the one who's supposed to win by KO or landslide, not the challenger. It's not fair, I know.

Don't make it sound like you're a beacon of fair and unbiased posting because you aren't, you pretty much sh1t on Ward whenever you post about him. Wouldn't surprise me if you were part of the "He will never fight Kovalev" brigade. Al Bernstein is one of the voices I always trust in the sport and he's not really saying anything I disagree with apart from the decision being bad, it's controversial not bad. While I had Ward edging it there was more evidence of Kovalev winning especially when I looked at compubox because before seeing those stats I was convinced Ward had landed more total punches. Honestly you would have thought that no one credible had Ward winning this fight but that's not the case, it just seems that most of the people that thought Ward won (like myself) accept that he just nicked it and readily admit the decision could have and traditionally would have gone the other way, where as the most of the Kovalev support is on the robbery tirade. We just need the rematch to happen as soon as possible and this time I hope there is a case for only one winner. so i'm a troll now? lol give me a break. i don't like ward's style, never did never will (imo he is quite dirty) but did i ever say he is a bum? did i start thread after thread about how much of a bum he is (like the anti-GGG brigade does all the time for example) i think the criticism that ward has faced lately is very reasonable because of the way he handled himself outside of the ring

But Kovalev didn't win the first 4 rounds....

It's important to recognise why that happens too. There's a huge problem with narrative bias when a guy like Ward fights. If the round is low action, he seems to win by default, without actually having to score himself. He gets credit for defence. But Kovalev gets no credit. When Kovalev blocks and slips shots, making Ward miss, it doesn't matter. Kovalev's defence is not part of the narrative. Only his offence. Whereas Ward gets credit for both. So Kovalev can only win rounds by landing heavy flush shots. Whereas Ward can win the round with a couple of spear jabs. I'm sick of seeing it. Both guys should have to score at the same level to win. In boxing at the moment it's like a soccer team playing ultra defensive against an attacking team, and being awarded the win without actually having to score themselves. Fantastic post. Took the words right out of my mouth. This x10000. Like somebody made a post today that said "It was Kovalev's job to KRUSH Ward, and he didn't do that" Something along those lines. I'm like, when did having power become a non-asset to have in combination with your boxing skills if you have it like that, and become "you have to KO the guy if you have any kind of power, or else you lose, just because," type of thing?

It's important to recognise why that happens too. There's a huge problem with narrative bias when a guy like Ward fights. If the round is low action, he seems to win by default, without actually having to score himself. He gets credit for defence. But Kovalev gets no credit. When Kovalev blocks and slips shots, making Ward miss, it doesn't matter. Kovalev's defence is not part of the narrative. Only his offence. Whereas Ward gets credit for both. So Kovalev can only win rounds by landing heavy flush shots. Whereas Ward can win the round with a couple of spear jabs. I'm sick of seeing it. Both guys should have to score at the same level to win. In boxing at the moment it's like a soccer team playing ultra defensive against an attacking team, and being awarded the win without actually having to score themselves. Good post.

that guy is an awful troll man. just like bernstein says, 2 of the judges gave kovalev just one round after the first 4. so 1 out of the last 8, ward fans will just troll, they can't do nothing more because they can't argue with objectivity this BS scorecards, not even the serious posters that support ward can. Don't make it sound like you're a beacon of fair and unbiased posting because you aren't, you pretty much sh1t on Ward whenever you post about him. Wouldn't surprise me if you were part of the "He will never fight Kovalev" brigade. Al Bernstein is one of the voices I always trust in the sport and he's not really saying anything I disagree with apart from the decision being bad, it's controversial not bad. While I had Ward edging it there was more evidence of Kovalev winning especially when I looked at compubox because before seeing those stats I was convinced Ward had landed more total punches. Honestly you would have thought that no one credible had Ward winning this fight but that's not the case, it just seems that most of the people that thought Ward won (like myself) accept that he just nicked it and readily admit the decision could have and traditionally would have gone the other way, where as the most of the Kovalev support is on the robbery tirade. We just need the rematch to happen as soon as possible and this time I hope there is a case for only one winner.

Kovalev won a relatively close fight, but the fact that he is a champ and you supposed to beat champion convincingly, makes judges decision a bad robbery.

It's important to recognise why that happens too. There's a huge problem with narrative bias when a guy like Ward fights. If the round is low action, he seems to win by default, without actually having to score himself. He gets credit for defence. But Kovalev gets no credit. When Kovalev blocks and slips shots, making Ward miss, it doesn't matter. Kovalev's defence is not part of the narrative. Only his offence. Whereas Ward gets credit for both. So Kovalev can only win rounds by landing heavy flush shots. Whereas Ward can win the round with a couple of spear jabs. I'm sick of seeing it. Both guys should have to score at the same level to win. In boxing at the moment it's like a soccer team playing ultra defensive against an attacking team, and being awarded the win without actually having to score themselves. Boxing judges have been feeding off of this for 20 plus years. A defensive fighter automatically wins rounds if nothing flashy happens in the round. Having said that, Kovalev easily out landed Ward in the early rounds and then bullied him at times in rounds such as round 8. I don't even see the defensive scoring narrative being an issue here. It was a blatant robbery and there should be an investigation as to how the NSAC and the promoters/managers/network executives involved in the fight allowed 4/4 American officials for what is a world title bout. I don't think I've seen anything like it in recent years.

It's important to recognise why that happens too. There's a huge problem with narrative bias when a guy like Ward fights. If the round is low action, he seems to win by default, without actually having to score himself. He gets credit for defence. But Kovalev gets no credit. When Kovalev blocks and slips shots, making Ward miss, it doesn't matter. Kovalev's defence is not part of the narrative. Only his offence. Whereas Ward gets credit for both. So Kovalev can only win rounds by landing heavy flush shots. Whereas Ward can win the round with a couple of spear jabs. I'm sick of seeing it. Both guys should have to score at the same level to win. In boxing at the moment it's like a soccer team playing ultra defensive against an attacking team, and being awarded the win without actually having to score themselves.yeah kovalev has to do twice the work to get credit. its nonsense.

that guy is an awful troll man. just like bernstein says, 2 of the judges gave kovalev just one round after the first 4. so 1 out of the last 8, ward fans will just troll, they can't do nothing more because they can't argue with objectivity this BS scorecards, not even the serious posters that support ward can.ward fans know kovalev won the fight they might not admit it but they know.

Im with Berstein here, the right man should of won

that guy is an awful troll man. just like bernstein says, 2 of the judges gave kovalev just one round after the first 4. so 1 out of the last 8, ward fans will just troll, they can't do nothing more because they can't argue with objectivity this BS scorecards, not even the serious posters that support ward can. It's important to recognise why that happens too. There's a huge problem with narrative bias when a guy like Ward fights. If the round is low action, he seems to win by default, without actually having to score himself. He gets credit for defence. But Kovalev gets no credit. When Kovalev blocks and slips shots, making Ward miss, it doesn't matter. Kovalev's defence is not part of the narrative. Only his offence. Whereas Ward gets credit for both. So Kovalev can only win rounds by landing heavy flush shots. Whereas Ward can win the round with a couple of spear jabs. I'm sick of seeing it. Both guys should have to score at the same level to win. In boxing at the moment it's like a soccer team playing ultra defensive against an attacking team, and being awarded the win without actually having to score themselves.