Kovalev didn't do hardly any body work 1st Ward Fight

[southall]

First time posting here in awhile,but I'm 57 & have watched boxing for 40+ yrs. Glad to have a place to discuss. Back to the Ward vs. Kovalev II. I have seen about 7 or 8 Krusher fights on TV and more on You Tube. In most all of his fights he worked the body really well. Inexplicably in the Ward fight, he hardly worked the body at all. That left Ward having to only defend head shots. IMO- he needs to go early and often to the body a LOT & stick with it. This will open up all the other good stuff.

As far as Ward goes, in order for him to win again, he needs to do the same plan against Kovalev i.e.- make it ugly and hold, grab, and pummel the body. Should be interesting. Cheers!

[Ray*]

Yep he didn't but he still won that fight, anyways that fight is over now, we got the rematch and if the way Spence fought this weekend doesn't inspire any boxer to go to the body then I don't know what would.

[Mukuro]

I agree and noted that as well. Watch the 12th round again and you will see him land a left hook to the body that has Ward dropping his elbow and reeling back. One of only a few body punches he threw and it looked like it really bothered Ward.

[southall]

Ray & Mukuro- i agree on both points. Spence really worked the body of Brook pretty good. It's puzzling that fighters seem to get enamored with going for the 'Kill' head shot when just a few well placed in the body will get them that. I noticed GGG did not fire to the body of Jacobs like he normally does and the result was almost like the Krusher one. I hope both of these guys are learning to not forget what brought them there.

[John Locke]

That's true, when he did go to the body, he visibly hurt Ward late in the fight

[SkillspayBills]

He doesn't do much body work in general. He is as European as I've seen the European style. It's at an incredibly high level though so he's managed to get by with it.

[_Maxi]

"make it ugly and hold, grab"

Andre Ward, ladies and gentlemen.

[Redd Foxx]

He claimed to have all kind of body and grappling techniques ready before the first fight but as I said; you can't learn this shyt overnight. Kovalev is bound to improve in those areas but don't expect him to suddenly develop a better inside game than a man who has made a career doing this type of work.
When a fighter abandons something he's great at to try something his opponent is good at, it rarely works out well for him. Kovalev should AVOID inside work and try to keep Ward at the end of his range.

[////]

He doesn't throw them that much in general which is a shame. He put Caparello down with one of the few he bothered to try.