Al Bernstein's take on Kovalev-ward

[Kagami Taiga]

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

[hhs661]

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

[NaijaD]

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.

[ruedboy]

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.

[Teetotaler]

Seriously how do u give ward ALL six of the last rounds?

[Chrismart]

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.

[hugh grant]

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

[Lester Tutor]

Again the facts are, it was round 3 that turned it around for Ward to make the intelligent adjustment. We can debate 4-6, but it was APPARENT that Ward in the second half was classic and different than the first two rounds. Then you have Kovalev, who in all his fights withered away in his tradition, abandoned the jab, the second half, and looked gassed out by missing, with Ward's defense superiorly closer in range that Pascal, Bhop, nor Chilemba dared not attempt by skills alone.

The problem with Al's assessment is that he's not stating the fact their performances were inverted throughout the fight. Ward's conditioning and hits to Kova's body on the inside messed up his game plan. Plus HBO should feel salty as hell where you have Virgil Hunter stating what needs to be done, whereas you have JDJ just holding a water bottle, mute, and staring at Krusher with no recommended strategy. At least Roach is active in his corner...

It was a close fight. But Ward closed the second half to his favor. Therefore, did Ward win any round from 1-6.

This isnt difficult. People are just upset that Kova looked worse in performance than in the Chilemba bout since he wasn't the offensively dominant boxer the second half.

[alexguiness]

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...

[Deevel916]

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