What an amazing fight

[Flemming]

Kovalev had a great start and I actually thought that he would destroy Ward after the knockdown. Instead, Ward proved to have the heart of a warrior and he came back, managing to win the vast majority of the rounds, IMO. I thought the 114-113 scores were fair, though, as a lot of rounds were subjective.

Ward is clearly a bit past his prime after his long break from boxing, but he won the fight, fair and square. Kovalev simply couldn't catch him properly in the latter half of the fight, with Ward constantly evading his attacks, peppering him with body shots and roughing him up on the inside.

It was a great and close fight. I was not exactly a Kovalev fan before, but I am now. Congratulations to Ward, who now is the rightful P4P #1, and I'm sure that we all look forward to the rematch. IMO, the rematch is even more exciting than this.

Has Ward figured out Kovalev to such a degree that the rematch will just be a replay of the latter half of the first fight? Or have Kovalev discovered some weaknesses in his punching arsenal that made him unable to finish Ward when he had the chance? MANY things could go differently in the rematch and I can imagine anything from an early Kovalev KO victory to a complete shutout performance by Ward.

Again, great fighters, great fight. This was just what boxing needed

[bojangles1987]

It was a great fight. Two great fighters that gave their very best. It's a damn shame someone has to lose a fight like that, but such is the way of sports.

[*TonyMontana*]

Kovalev had a great start and I actually thought that he would destroy Ward after the knockdown. Instead, Ward proved to have the heart of a warrior and he came back, managing to win the vast majority of the rounds, IMO. I thought the 114-113 scores were fair, though, as a lot of rounds were subjective.

Ward is clearly a bit past his prime after his long break from boxing, but he won the fight, fair and square. Kovalev simply couldn't catch him properly in the latter half of the fight, with Ward constantly evading his attacks, peppering him with body shots and roughing him up on the inside.

It was a great and close fight. I was not exactly a Kovalev fan before, but I am now. Congratulations to Ward, who now is the rightful P4P #1, and I'm sure that we all look forward to the rematch. IMO, the rematch is even more exciting than this.

Has Ward figured out Kovalev to such a degree that the rematch will just be a replay of the latter half of the first fight? Or have Kovalev discovered some weaknesses in his punching arsenal that made him unable to finish Ward when he had the chance? MANY things could go differently in the rematch and I can imagine anything from an early Kovalev KO victory to a complete shutout performance by Ward.

Again, great fighters, great fight. This was just what boxing needed

Nice write up
Most fans are salty as fxck today
In the rematch kov will gas quicker trying to ko ward
This was kov's fight to lose

[Flemming]

It was a great fight. Two great fighters that gave their very best. It's a damn shame someone has to lose a fight like that, but such is the way of sports.

Yeah. I felt that Ward won, but again, it's kinda subjective. I wouldn't have minded a draw. Both were winners just for giving us this awesome fight.

[Sparked_26]

Great fight.

Two elite fighters for me boxing at their best.

You can have an opinion on the scoring but to call it a robbery is actually a bit disrespectful. It is not like we are spoiled with good fights either. 2016 has been a horrific year of inactivity and mismatched fights. In my head until yesterday I was going to remember Gary Russell Jr vs Patrick Hyland as the gold standard to remind me of what a terrible year of fights there have been. With any named fighter moving hell and high water to arrange a fight with their window cleaner.

Thank God for these two. We just need to clamour for the rematch and as a result hope both guys are soundly remunerated for it and actually risking a defeat. But the way boxing goes that is not a guarentee.

[deathofaclown]

I didn't think it was an amazing fight in terms of action in general, but it was very good and intriguing and of course had the knockdown. Obviously it was very high quality at times though.

I thought Ward showed great determination and spirit to make it competitive after the first 2 rounds but there's no way i can give him enough rounds to win and overcome a knockdown.

Wrong decision but it was a pretty good fight.

Those saying "you can't call a 114-113 a robbery" are wrong though. Just because it's scored close doesn't mean you can use the close scorecards to justify a wrong decision. The wrong person won, and that's how it is.

I'm a neutral but that's how i see it.

[Gonzalez_Boxing]

I didn't think it was an amazing fight in terms of action in general, but it was very good and intriguing and of course had the knockdown. Obviously it was very high quality at times though.

I thought Ward showed great determination and spirit to make it competitive after the first 2 rounds but there's no way i can give him enough rounds to win and overcome a knockdown.

Wrong decision but it was a pretty good fight.

Agree. I thought it was going to be a stinker, but it turned out to be a good fight, far from amazing though.

[Flemming]

Nice write up
Most fans are salty as fxck today
In the rematch kov will gas quicker trying to ko ward
This was kov's fight to lose

Thanks.

I think that people who complain about the score in this fight are hurting the sport without being aware of it. Ward did great and he deserves respect here. It was a close fight and the scores were fair and due to some subjective rounds, I wouldn't whine about a draw.

[NEETzsche]

Those saying "you can't call a 114-113 a robbery" are wrong though. Just because it's scored close doesn't mean you can use the close scorecards to justify a wrong decision. The wrong person won, and that's how it is.

agreed, i hate that ****ty argument

seems like only americans and matthew macklin are happy with those scorecards

[-PBP-]

The only unfortunate part was that somebody had to lose