Expected Ward to win. He definently..

[Ray*]

It's honestly mind boggling that you find it funny that someone would oppose that ridiculous garbage.

Please point to me in the any set of rules where you have to win in a certain way to "take the belt from a champion"? Please, do that.

It is an ancient, ****** and completely made up ideology that was probably said by a commentator in the early 1900's or something and still to this day we have people saying it and using it and you find it funny that someone opposes it?

It only takes a grain of sense to see that surely all you have to do to beat a champion or "take a belt" is win the fight regardless of how close.

How did Ward beat Kovalev? This is boxing and the history of the sport. Doesnt matter if it's an ideology from 1700. You got to take the belt from the champion, what happened tonight is the opposite.... giving the belt to the challenger.

[b00g13man]

It's honestly mind boggling that you find it funny that someone would oppose that ridiculous garbage.

Please point to me in the any set of rules where you have to win in a certain way to "take the belt from a champion"? Please, do that.

It is an ancient, ****** and completely made up ideology that was probably said by a commentator in the early 1900's or something and still to this day we have people saying it and using it and you find it funny that someone opposes it?

It only takes a grain of sense to see that surely all you have to do to beat a champion or "take a belt" is win the fight regardless of how close.

I can't stand hearing that. How does it work? Do you score the fight, and then apply a "champion bonus" after the fact? Do you give the champion every close round? A specific percentage of close rounds?

It's dumb is what it is.

[DJ Enerate]

Well according to some you can.... lol

Obviously.

I like Ward he's tough and has great ring IQ. I just thought the fight should have been a draw and Kovalev should have kept his belts. It is what it is though. It certainly wasn't no robbery like some are claiming.

Tbh all that fight did for me is prove how overrated those two are in skills. You could combine both their attributes and you still couldn't get a fighter good enough to beat the great Harold Johnson.

[IronDanHamza]

How did Ward beat Kovalev? This is boxing and the history of the sport. Doesnt matter if it's an ideology from 1700. You got to take the belt from the champion, what happened tonight is the opposite.... giving the belt to the challenger.

Because be won an extremely close fight by 1 point, that's how.

It actually does matter. Because it's bogus and completely made up. It is not a rule and never has been.

If you win, you win. Whether it's 1 point or 12 points. You do know this, right?

Why do you keep saying "you got to take the belt from the champion" give me a source for this information.

All you have to do to beat the champion, as crazy as it sounds, is win the fight. Shocking, I know.

[IronDanHamza]

I can't stand hearing that. How does it work? Do you score the fight, and then apply a "champion bonus" after the fact? Do you give the champion every close round? A specific percentage of close rounds?

It's dumb is what it is.

Champion bonus

"Well you know the guy won 7-5 but you have to take the belt from the champion so I had him losing"

I'd like to know what the rule is for "taking the belt from a champion" when a fight is 7-5 to the challenger? Who wins then?

It's so dumb. I actually can't believe people still use it as a reason to score a fight for a fighter. The actual ideology itself is dumb and always has been and literally makes no sense. But the fact I still see it being says baffles me.

[786]

Because evidently you can score.

This fight had way too many close rounds to be a robbery. It's really that simple.

This happens all the time, everytime a fight has lots of close rounds it's called a robbery.

This is because for example someone may have it scored 8-4 Kovalec with a KD, and have a wide score for Kovalev and this isn't necessarily wrong but most of the close rounds have been given to Kovalev, that's fine. But the rounds are close and could be scored the other way and that's how Ward could have and did get the victory.

Kovalev didn't dominate or clearly win enough rounds for it to a robbery.

I had Kovalev winning 114-113 with the KD being the difference. This fight had a lot of rounds that could've gone either way, was difficult to score at times. I felt Kovalev won his rounds more clearly but scored an equal amount of rounds to Ward. Not a robbery by any means and wasn't surprised when they announced Ward's name but I think everyone can agree the fight definitely warrants a rematch.

[fighter1234]

How did Ward beat Kovalev? This is boxing and the history of the sport. Doesnt matter if it's an ideology from 1700. You got to take the belt from the champion, what happened tonight is the opposite.... giving the belt to the challenger.

There is no criteria in the judge's score sheets that rewards the champion. They score on a round by round basis. They saw Ward win 7 rounds.

[mannyman]

Same here... I was supporting Ward and expected him to win but thought he lost a close fight.

I had Kovalev winning the first half of the fight... He also won in the ring generalship department and of course got the KD.

It was close and they say that in order to become the champ you have to snatch the title from the champ which definitely didn't happen.

I can't understand how it was a UD as well. Ward winning is one thing but a UD? come on.

[b00g13man]

Champion bonus

"Well you know the guy won 7-5 but you have to take the belt from the champion so I had him losing"

I'd like to know what the rule is for "taking the belt from a champion" when a fight is 7-5 to the challenger? Who wins then?

It's so dumb. I actually can't believe people still use it as a reason to score a fight for a fighter. The actual ideology itself is dumb and always has been and literally makes no sense. But the fact I still see it being says baffles me.

I blame the commentary teams. They keep rehashing it.

[krazyn8tive]

The judges gave Ward the last 6 rounds. Let that sink in. This is why boxing has become a niche sport.