Comments Thread For: A Redo For Andre Ward, Sergey Kovalev and Their Promoters

[Gillie]

I give the edge to Kovalev. I thought Kovalev won a close fight watching it live. Every time I've watched since, I've scored it for Ward. The fight played out about like I expected. I thought Kovalev would take the early rounds, even hurt or drop Ward. But I thought once Ward figured him out, Ward would take over and separate himself. And there's the problem I see for Ward. Wars figured Kovalev out. But when he did, he never seperates himself. Kovalev very much held his own in the "boxing match." And that's what surprised me. Ward's bodywork went very much unnoticed by Kovalev's supporters. And I think it was that bodywork that slowed down Kovalev enough for Ward to edge him in several rounds down the stretch.

I'm giving Kovalev the edge in this one because I just think it means more to him. Kovalev is a fighter. And he's not thinking about anything but fighting. Ward's has a lot of other interest. And he's already thinking about his post-boxing life. Plus, I don't think Ward can do much better than he did in the first fight. To me, Ward's performance in that fight reminded me of Roy Jones in the first Target fight. A great champion that's never been challenged. Having to dig down and gut out a win against a guy that's all he can handle. Roy didn't have much left after that fight. I have a feeling that Ward may have emptied his tank in the first fight and doesn't have much left to offer. Or at the very least I'm not sure boxing means enough to him at this point to wanna dig down that deep again.

Your comparison to Jones vs Tarver is interesting. I supposed the main argument against that would be that Jones melted off 25 lbs of muscle (which effectively ended his superman era )for the first Tarver fight while Ward went up by 7lbs. However, you might be right in terms of where Ward's head is at. Kovalev seems like he is frothing at the mouth for this so it will be one hell of a tussle. Fyi....I also score the fight for Kovalev everytime I watch it. Peace.

[hitking]

Your comparison to Jones vs Tarver is interesting. I supposed the main argument against that would be that Jones melted off 25 lbs of muscle (which effectively ended his superman era )for the first Tarver fight while Ward went up by 7lbs. However, you might be right in terms of where Ward's head is at. Kovalev seems like he is frothing at the mouth for this so it will be one hell of a tussle. Fyi....I also score the fight for Kovalev everytime I watch it. Peace.

I think a lot of Kovalev's bravado has more to do with psyching himself up more than anything. Contrary to what a lot of his supporters think. That was a tough fight for both guys. One that was physically draining for both guys. Ward was up against a naturally bigger guy that hits like a mule. So the stress on him was probably more mental. Kovalev got beaten up to his body pretty badly. If that were a 15rd fight, I think Kovalev would have gotten stopped. He knows what's in front of him is no joke.

[Szef]

I loved the way they built up the first one. Classy, focusing on the merits and significance. But, I'm in the minority and most seem to want drama. So, they need to sell the drama this time. People will say Ward isn't doing his part but he already is to a great extent. There's a bit of Mayweather in the way that he's become the villain. Those who deny it are the ones that are screaming the loudest about how much they hate him so it's been effective thus far. What he's lacking is the braggadocio that really made Mayweather so polarizing. I just don't think that's Andre's style so he will likely never hit that super stardom but he's definitely been more vocal lately.

This isn't your typical fight where you have the good guy and the bad guy like Floyd/PAC for example.

You have two fighters who are bad guys, but for completely different reasons. Only of them is genuine, though.

Also, one of them has always been the bad guy while the other one has been calling himself Son of God since he became a pro.

What Ward is doing isn't promoting the fight, it's just what he is and always has been. A fake.

[Edward90]

I loved the way they built up the first one. Classy, focusing on the merits and significance. But, I'm in the minority and most seem to want drama. So, they need to sell the drama this time. People will say Ward isn't doing his part but he already is to a great extent. There's a bit of Mayweather in the way that he's become the villain. Those who deny it are the ones that are screaming the loudest about how much they hate him so it's been effective thus far. What he's lacking is the braggadocio that really made Mayweather so polarizing. I just don't think that's Andre's style so he will likely never hit that super stardom but he's definitely been more vocal lately.

For real. This forum and many other are full of venom talking about how Ward is a coward, ducker, self-righteous, etc. He's definitely been getting the villain treatment and I think he and Hunter have been doing a bit more talking to get it going. However, I don't think many people are thinking about it in this way. It's to get the fight promoted.

[Smosh]

What do you people think would be a great undercard for this fight?

[Edward90]

This isn't your typical fight where you have the good guy and the bad guy like Floyd/PAC for example.

You have two fighters who are bad guys, but for completely different reasons. Only of them is genuine, though.

Also, one of them has always been the bad guy while the other one has been calling himself Son of God since he became a pro.

What Ward is doing isn't promoting the fight, it's just what he is and always has been. A fake.

Only one of them is genuine? They both come off as pretty authentic and real guys to me. Aside from the little Twitter trolling or whatever, they have seemed pretty sincere about their situations. What about Ward has been fake?

What's wrong with calling yourself Son of God? It says pretty clearly in the Bible that we're all God's children. If you don't believe in that, cool, but there's no need for knocking a guy because he does and has used it as a source of strength.

[Szef]

Only one of them is genuine? They both come off as pretty authentic and real guys to me. Aside from the little Twitter trolling or whatever, they have seemed pretty sincere about their situations. What about Ward has been fake?

What's wrong with calling yourself Son of God? It says pretty clearly in the Bible that we're all God's children. If you don't believe in that, cool, but there's no need for knocking a guy because he does and has used it as a source of strength.

It wasn't a knock at his religious beliefs, I would never do that.

Ward is fake because he calls himself that but then sues his dying promoter. A guy who basically build his career, got him big paydays, bigger than he deserved. Not to mention all the stalling and talking about retirement even though he was obligated to give Kovalev a rematch.

[Redd Foxx]

This isn't your typical fight where you have the good guy and the bad guy like Floyd/PAC for example.

You have two fighters who are bad guys, but for completely different reasons. Only of them is genuine, though.

Also, one of them has always been the bad guy while the other one has been calling himself Son of God since he became a pro.

What Ward is doing isn't promoting the fight, it's just what he is and always has been. A fake.

There are no good/bad roles any more. From what I understand, even WWE ditched that vehicle. It's about appealing to one fanbase while antagonising another.

Your comment at the end pretty much destroys any value in your argument as it's clear that a guy with his accomplishments isn't a fake. You're saying/thinking that because he's gotten to you. You dislike him so you'll say anything to disrespect him. Again, goes back to what I said about the roles these guys play.

[Szef]

There are no good/bad roles any more. From what I understand, even WWE ditched that vehicle. It's about appealing to one fanbase while antagonising another.

Your comment at the end pretty much destroys any value in your argument as it's clear that a guy with his accomplishments isn't a fake. You're saying/thinking that because he's gotten to you. You dislike him so you'll say anything to disrespect him. Again, goes back to what I said about the roles these guys play.

When I said he's fake I wasn't talking about his accomplishments and you know it.

You just can't be objective when it comes to Ward, you say you are, but you're not. That's OK though.

[Redd Foxx]

When I said he's fake I wasn't talking about his accomplishments and you know it.

You just can't be objective when it comes to Ward, you say you are, but you're not. That's OK though.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but it's a hard sell to say "it's just what he is and always has been. A fake." is not discrediting his accomplishments. Especially considering he was nearly mute until the Kovalev fight.

Well just have to settle on the opinion that you'll never respect him and I'll never criticize him (which isn't true but for the sake of putting this to bed we can just pretend for a minute).
Fair enough.