Concerning Clinching in the fight...

[asgarth]

There was a debate in the first fight about who iniated the clinches. From my perspective Kovalev did his fair share, because he cant fight on the inside and Ward has a weird form of infighting, where he doesnt give the other guy room to punch at all.
But Ward also did his trademark clinches. He applied them to stop Kovalev from sustaining a consistent offense. He evades the jab or right hand, but also steps in and clinches to not give Kovalev room to work from midrange.

This time, for the rematch, Kovalev used less clinches, and tried to fight back on the inside, but that was a big mistake from Kovalevs side. He is not accustomed at all, to find the right positioning in close distance to get the better in exchanges. On the other hand, Ward still did his fair share of clinches to stop Kovalev from attacking. It wasnt excessive, but its still one big part of his defensive arsenal.

[ΣNΣMY]

I agree with the part about Kovalev not being accustomed to infighting. He would square up and and kind of pity pat punch with both hands sometimes.

I don't get the part about Ward's infighting being weird by smothering the other guy. That's how you fight on the inside. Nothing weird about it.