Comments Thread For: Kovalev Says He Was Sick During Training Camp for Chilemba

[Kagami Taiga]

I don't think the excuse was needed. He was sick going into the fight. He wasn't sick on fight night.

[Daddy T]

All I know is I've gone from thinking it's a toss up fight to thinking that Ward will win a clear UD. Sick or not Kovalev looked very beatable.

[HeroBando]

Sick my ass, looked off my ass. He looked off because Chill was feeding his ass jabs. Kovalev might as well had put on a bib.. If Chill is an awkward fighter, lord knows Ward is even trickier and way more clever

Chilemba took a lot of hard punches. Ward won't take as many, but it's more than he's taken so far, from a harder puncher. Can he handle it? His next opponent won't give you any clue.

[Boxing Logic]

I'm not whining about him making excuses. He's just being honest about things. I could tell something was wrong... either he wasn't well, or he was holding back to get 12 in for better prep for Ward. Because normally he isn't that tired by mid rounds, and normally he isn't tentative. I could tell he struggled a little, vs a very awkward fighter, and I can imagine being sick while in training camp has to be tough. Bottom line though... he withstood it and won handily. I'm sure he and JDJ know they have work to do, and they'll get it done. Like others, I want the best Kov and Ward to go at it.

Agreed he looked tired to me, was blowing his nose a lot. If he was sick, that could explain it, but if this has something to do with meldonium, or Kovalev is getting old now at 33, boxing fans will be disappointed again come November, potentially.

This is why fighters like Ward wasting years in the courtroom, then demanding two years of tuneups after they get back, ruins the sport. Fans claim they want both guys at their best but Kovalev is 33 now because Ward took so long, and Ward himself is 32. We know from every other competitive sport that an athlete's prime is mid to late twenties, so why would it be any later in a sport where you literally take extra damage from the sport itself on top of the body slowing down from age? You can argue both are already on the downslope at 33 and 32, which just shows how absolutely absurd May-Pac was with them at 36 and 38.

All I know is unless Kovalev catches Ward with a few 100% clean bombs early that knock him out, which is unlikely, he's going to have to wear Ward down, and that's going to take having more than 400-500 punches in his arsenal all night. He needs to get back to having the energy to throw 600 minimum, but that energy may not be there anymore at 33. We'll see in November but fight fans clamoring about how the top two guys are finally fighting each other in their primes is not really true. They done conned us again. This fight should have happened two years ago when Ward was fighting Edwin Rodriguez.

[Sun_Tzu]

There are a lot of dumb mfers thinkin this fight was even close, im tripped straight ****** you ****in idiots think kova aint gonna bring it against Ward and visa versa. Kova was never in trouble in this fight you ****** mfers.

[Redd Foxx]

This is why fighters like Ward wasting years in the courtroom, then demanding two years of tuneups after they get back, ruins the sport. Fans claim they want both guys at their best but Kovalev is 33 now because Ward took so long, and Ward himself is 32. We know from every other competitive sport that an athlete's prime is mid to late twenties, so why would it be any later in a sport where you literally take extra damage from the sport itself on top of the body slowing down from age? You can argue both are already on the downslope at 33 and 32, which just shows how absolutely absurd May-Pac was with them at 36 and 38.

1) I didn't know Kovalev's career was waiting around on Andre Ward...
2) Doesn't really work the same in boxing. Though it varies wildly, many fighters reach their peak in their 30's. It's quite common for HW's to peak well into their 30's. In the UFC, more than half the HW's are guys who had mixed careers in their 20's and are coming into their own in their 30's. It's not just heavies though. I remember Bas Rutten (among others) saying he didn't really feel 'strong' until he was in his 30's. Slightly off subject, but bodybuilders almost always peak in their 30's. As I say, it varies and there are plenty of exceptions (no need to argue the exceptions) but it's incorrect to assume that fighters are declining when they hit their 30's.

Addendum, I think it has to do with boxing being as mental as it is physical. Guys are wiser and more experienced when they get some years on them and if they are still healthy, they can use that experience to be more efficient in their movement (Ward vs Barrera is a perfect example), deal with adversity better, set traps and predict fighter tactics, etc.

[Sun_Tzu]

Note i said Ward is bringing it to, this should be the fight of the last 5-6 years.

[ggg_kz]

So Kova's hindered performance was an equivalent of GGG fights against Ouma and Rosado.

[Redd Foxx]

So Kova's hindered performance was an equivalent of GGG fights against Ouma and Rosado.

Rosado went the distance, won a few rounds, landed cleanly often, and had a lot of people questioning GGG??
Fk, that's news to me! I though I remembered Rosado getting obliterated.

[Boxing Logic]

I'm not whining about him making excuses. He's just being honest about things. I could tell something was wrong... either he wasn't well, or he was holding back to get 12 in for better prep for Ward. Because normally he isn't that tired by mid rounds, and normally he isn't tentative. I could tell he struggled a little, vs a very awkward fighter, and I can imagine being sick while in training camp has to be tough. Bottom line though... he withstood it and won handily. I'm sure he and JDJ know they have work to do, and they'll get it done. Like others, I want the best Kov and Ward to go at it.

1) I didn't know Kovalev's career was waiting around on Andre Ward...
2) Doesn't really work the same in boxing. Though it varies wildly, many fighters reach their peak in their 30's. It's quite common for HW's to peak well into their 30's. In the UFC, more than half the HW's are guys who had mixed careers in their 20's and are coming into their own in their 30's. It's not just heavies though. I remember Bas Rutten (among others) saying he didn't really feel 'strong' until he was in his 30's. Slightly off subject, but bodybuilders almost always peak in their 30's. As I say, it varies and there are plenty of exceptions (no need to argue the exceptions) but it's incorrect to assume that fighters are declining when they hit their 30's.

Addendum, I think it has to do with boxing being as mental as it is physical. Guys are wiser and more experienced when they get some years on them and if they are still healthy, they can use that experience to be more efficient in their movement (Ward vs Barrera is a perfect example), deal with adversity better, set traps and predict fighter tactics, etc.

I can buy cerebral fighters getting better in their early 30s. But what about guys like Pacquiao or Kovalev? What makes these guys great is their ability to put superhuman amounts of force, and energy, onto their opponents. Some fighters have power, some have speed, some have stamina, but from a biological perspective, it's very difficult to have all of those things in one fighter, for 12 rounds, because each one requires its own amount of energy. And to be able to impose this style against the best defensive fighters in the world, who know how to hold you and tire out your arms, you really have to be in peak, superhuman condition, and at your prime age. That's why the elite boxer usually beats the elite puncher because it's very rare that those things all come together for the puncher.

Pacquiao of course had all those things. Kovalev in the NBC Sports net days had just superhuman power, and much more stamina than you usually see with that kind of power. He didn't need to build giant muscles like Shannon Briggs to have that power. He just had that rare combination of amazing power, good stamina, and even very good combinations back then. Go rewatch the Cleverley fight and the speed and combos he puts on Cleverley are amazing to watch.

It's those certain moments in time you can see it coming together where as much as boxing favors the boxer, you see a puncher so special and at the top of his game that even the elite boxing tricks are not going to stop him. Pacquiao in 2009, you could see why Mayweather wanted no part of him at that time, he had all those things going at an elite level on all cylinders, and I don't think anything was going to stop him. And then Kovalev, when he first came over the US, and then as dominant a world title fight as you will ever see against Nathan Cleverley, throwing combinations that made him look more like a Manny Pacquiao than just another power puncher. At that moment in time you could see a peak physical specimen in boxing where intelligence and boxing trickery were not going to be enough to stop him. He also had it going on all cylinders to the point where biology would take over in any fight and Andre Ward, as talented as he is, was not going to beat a wrecking ball like that.

I'm not sure I see that guy anymore... guys who don't rely on superhuman athleticism can get better well into their 30s. I'm not sure guys like Kovalev can, and if the Chilemba fight is the start of a trend, I'm pretty sure he's already getting worse.