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

[bojangles1987]

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.

[Fr3$h]

But apparently the judges still counted wards love taps inside the clinch and gave him the decision (he definitely did not win the clena trades)

I guess in the rematch kovalev will have to literally throw him on the ground and risk DQ to force him to box

[Doctor_Tenma]

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.

[Raonic]

I'm sure there's ways to deal with elbows too but at the end of the fight, fighters shouldn't be doing it to begin with.

[SkillspayBills]

Why is no one discussing Kov putting Ward on a head lock whenever he tried to work on the inside?! But, the ***** about Ward.

[TripleGFightFan]

Why is no one discussing Kov putting Ward on a head lock whenever he tried to work on the inside?! But, the ***** about Ward.

Pretty much...

[bojangles1987]

I'm sure there's ways to deal with elbows too but at the end of the fight, fighters shouldn't be doing it to begin with.

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.

[koolkc107]

That was one of the big surprises of the night for me.

Sergei reaching out and grabbing Ward time after time as a tactic to avoid fighting inside.

He was warned for it twice, actually.

And he was also cautioned about the headlocks he was often employing as well.

I am amused that a lot of the folks who clearly were rooting for Kovalev are not even mentioning this.

But, in addition to him not keeping the right distance, not jabbing consistently, and not staying busy enough, you can also mention his excessive holding as a factor in his loss.

The judges are right there and they are hearing all of it. And if they hear a guy constantly being warned for holding and they see it happening every time the fighters get close, they may start to think there is a good reason one fighter is avoiding fighting inside...and score accordingly.

It can't help but give the impression that one guy doesn't want any- especially if he isn't real busy at long range either.

[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.

[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.