For all those who complained pre-fight about Ward's clinching...

Kovalev showed last night how a fighter can prepare to deal with it and even turn it to his advantage. He spent much of the fight neutralizing Ward inside. He tied him up, met the clinch, fought him in it, pushed him back. He initiated his own clinches to stop Ward from dictating the terms of the clinches. He fought back. Yeah, clinching sucks when it's excessive, but there are plenty of ways for fighters to deal with it. Remember this fight next time you complain about a fighter you like being clinched. There are ways to deal with it during the fight, rather than just b*tch and moan afterwards. You should blame the fighter who just accepts it, not just the fighter doing it.

Comments (20)

Raonic

Clinching has always been part of boxing, though. The only difference today from 30-40 years ago is that fighters today don't know how to combat clinching the way they used to. For whatever reason trainers don't prepare their fighters to do what Kovalev did last night, and that's their fault. Yes but there's always limits and some fighters get away with it more than they need to. Same with pushing, elbows, rabbit punching, etc.

9y ago

Zaroku

Why is no one discussing Kov putting Ward on a head lock whenever he tried to work on the inside?! But, the ***** about Ward. I was surprised that kovalev was a headlock master.

9y ago

alexguiness

I have to agree 100% with Bernstein. There is (IMO) no case to give Ward the final Six rounds, however close they were.

9y ago

Bravado

And the best part about it???? Corny ass racist kids had to flip it into something black v white

9y ago

Bravado

It was an amazing fight that i refused to even judge when i first saw it. Watched it again and i felt Sergey had his success and the KD was horrible for him on a aesthetic level because everybody hinges on it like it meant he won. Ward is fricking tough.

9y ago

Real_King_Kong

That's spot on. Honestly I don't think kovalev has the stamina to punch his way out of those situations. He definitely didn't want to work his way out when ward was also tying him up...but some of those clinches he initiated simply to smother ward. In those situations he could have punched out without getting stuck on the inside. He just overdid that game plan and you could see him getting tired. The longer the ref took to break them, the more kovalev struggled and ward was able to get off body shots.

9y ago

Real_King_Kong

For me, kovalev did too much clinching. He wore himself down with the wrestling and allowed ward to land some decent body shots while he waited for the ref to break them. He would have been better of punching his way out of some of those situations

9y ago

TRTboy

He handled himself well but it cost him his energy later in the fight. That's why Ward got back in. I still thought Kov won but he did fade because of trying to outwrestle the wrestler He tried to prove to much that he could beat ward in the clinch and he did but it zapped him of his energy and Ward is used to that so he had more energy going into later rounds. With a few adjustments on Kov's part he will win a rematch even clearer. Ward had nothing for Kov on the outside.

9y ago

MOMENTO_MORI

Did anybody notice when ward went to clinch, at times he would wrap kovalev up at the thighs, knock him off balance and then work the body? That's the shyt I don't like.

9y ago

Zaroku

Worked very well for Kovalev but one would have to be as strong as him to pull it off, still it stopped working so well in the second half when Ward managed to create room on the inside and slow Kovalev down with solid body work. Man, that was a great GREAT fight man. Green k sent. Good stuff

9y ago

_original_

Ward controlled the fight after the 3rd/4th round 3rd/4th could've went either way I can say with surety that I can't give Kovalev a round after the 4th. Ward did better work on the inside/outside. Ward landed crisp head snapping jabs and punished sergey to the body. And oh yeah, Kovalev hit a lot of air after the 2nd round knockdown Ward won the fight hands down You must be related to Ward then.

9y ago

Biolink

One thing that surprised me was how ineffective Ward was on the inside. Like completely ineffective apart from a few low blows he threw at Kovalev. I thought that's where Ward would have most of his success. Kovalev realized just how easy it was to stop him. Ward isn't going to have success at CW or HW like he claims. You need to watch it again. It wasn't his usual domination from inside, but he was pounding in body shots when they were clinched up.

9y ago

Hype_job

One thing that surprised me was how ineffective Ward was on the inside. Like completely ineffective apart from a few low blows he threw at Kovalev. I thought that's where Ward would have most of his success. Kovalev realized just how easy it was to stop him. Ward isn't going to have success at CW or HW like he claims. It was hilarious how Kov was manhandling him towards the ropes with such ease.

9y ago

TheCell8

9y ago

IronDanHamza

No it hasn't, it's just become acceptable. It's technically illegal, so spare me this BS about how it's always been a part of boxing. It has though. Go and watch any fight from 1900-1960 and I bet 99% of them have more holding and clinching than most fights of the modern day.

9y ago

_original_

Very good point, Kovalev showed tremendous skills in dealing with two foulers and spoilers in Ward and Hopkins, arguably the two most notorious dirty guys in the game in recent memory. Big credit goes to JDJ for game planning.

9y ago

SkillspayBills

Because he didn't try to "work on the inside" you nimrod. He was jumping in head first to clamp his arms and spoil the action. Those tactics are illegal. He would work his was in our slip his way in to work the body, WHICH WAS HIS STRATEGY, but would almost get DDT'd by Jake the snake, you moribund dolt.

9y ago

bojangles1987

No it hasn't, it's just become acceptable. It's technically illegal, so spare me this BS about how it's always been a part of boxing. It has ALWAYS been part of boxing. It's illegal to hold excessively, with no intention of fighting. It's not illegal to clinch. Clinching is and always has been part of inside fighting.

9y ago

Hype_job

Clinching has always been part of boxing, though. The only difference today from 30-40 years ago is that fighters today don't know how to combat clinching the way they used to. For whatever reason trainers don't prepare their fighters to do what Kovalev did last night, and that's their fault. No it hasn't, it's just become acceptable. It's technically illegal, so spare me this BS about how it's always been a part of boxing.

9y ago

Hype_job

Why is no one discussing Kov putting Ward on a head lock whenever he tried to work on the inside?! But, the ***** about Ward. Because he didn't try to "work on the inside" you nimrod. He was jumping in head first to clamp his arms and spoil the action. Those tactics are illegal.

9y ago