Kovalev Conditioning Was ****

[JimRaynor]

Yes, Ward landed a lot of low blows, but he also landed some decent body shots, however not nearly enough from his feather fists to put a fighter whose in shape into trouble. Kovalev was gassed by round 5! Whoever he hired to be his new conditioning coach did a terrible job. He had two options going into this fight, option 1 be in great shape to go 12, or option 2 limit your punches per round so you don't gas your out of shape a$$ out. He didn't do either! Props to Ward, but Kovalev was up on my card, and would've won if he was fit, but none of that matters now.

[bigbawse]

anyone who defends low blows is a batty

[Golden Boi 360]

I can't imagine a fighter gaining stamina as he ages.

Honestly, I think both Ward and Kovalev have a few fights in them before they should retire. Can't see them fighting for more than 2 years.

[ironmt]

He certainly has stamina Issues.

[CatchAndShoot]

What??? He made an actual THUD sound on impact at the end of round 2, and landed at least 30 body shots throughout the fight. He landed a **** TON of body shots on Kovalev, and Kovalev COULD NOT handle them.

[Jubei]

Kovalev outlanded Ward in 5 of the 7 rounds, Ward landed like 2 more bodyshots after 7. Lederman had and most others had Kovalev ahead by a couple rounds. Ward landed tons of lowblows throughout the fight and the ref (obviously a brother) played along nicely.

What drained Kovalev was the lowblows, if it was the other way around Kovalev would have been deducted a point already and at the end would have been DQed.

But we are in America right.

[BrometheusBob.]

Kovalev outlanded Ward in 5 of the 7 rounds, Ward landed like 2 more bodyshots after 7. Lederman had and most others had Kovalev ahead by a couple rounds. Ward landed tons of lowblows throughout the fight and the ref (obviously a brother) played along nicely.

"most others"

Like who?

Here is the live boxingscene scorecard, 67-66 Ward http://www.boxingscene.com/scorecards

[Russian Crushin]

he's always had this issue. if he doesnt get the ko by 4, hes gonna gas

[Eff Pandas]

I don't think you can change your stamina from subpar to good all that quick is the problem. Kov fights like he fights. And its worked greatly for him just to get where he's at. But when he's missing a record number of punches for him like Ward made him do then its gonna gas you the f#ck out.

I'd argue the bigger problem with Kov is he's a one man team. Thats been made obvious with him controlling everything in his camp like he's some sorta Floyd Mayweather of being in shape & fighting optimally whatever situation arises. He's not that guy. He's a talented guy, but he needs people on his team who he trusts & can steer him in the right direction when he's not as knowledgable as he thinks he is about things. And maybe he's not capable of even being that type of guy idk, but he's reached his ceiling, a high & respectable one don't get me wrong, if he continues to operate like he's been operating.

[-Hyperion-]

the way he trains reminds me of back when Cotto thought he could fight with a cheerleader as lead trainer and when he ignored everything his uncle told him........no pace to it....Kovalev has great talent with how he manages distance and leading/countering with the jab, but is soft otherwise because he doesn't like getting pushed in training.....