Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev - Objective analysis - both evenly matched in both bouts

[Vlad_]

kovalev is the much better boxer. being neutral is not the same as being biased. neautral means you pretend everything is the same no matter what. cept it wasnt equal...

had kov winning 9-3 in first fight or 8-2 with 2 even at best for ward. now lets also admit that the only thing that kept ward in that fight was his illegal grappling tactics. without those its a wash. people scoring it for ward are using comparative scoring and thats the only reason they have it for ward. oh ward got dominated in the first 2 rounds but after that only lost most of the rounds by being outboxed i guess he wins? no thats poor scoring. also round 10 to ward is laughably one of the worst things since hopkins-taylor 1 round 12 was given to taylor to give him the win.

fast forward to second fight. had it 5-2 kovalev before the low blow stoppage. once again the only thing that kept ward in the fight were his grappling tactics which he increased in order to try and give himself a better chance. some people seem to think that because kovalev wasnt destroying him ward was actually winning the fight? nope kovalev was outboxing him and i think ward was getting desperate and thats why he went low more.

there were 5 clear low blows just in the last 2 rounds and thats not counting the somewhat borderline ones which could have been low as well. 5 low blows in less than 2 rounds and no point deductions, no rest for the fighter being low blowed. oh yeah and the fight was stopped on a low blow. ward never proved he could hang with kovalev in a boxing match.

Sharp and on point as usual. But you won’t be able to change the minds of those few who are firmly set on their “Kovalev quit” rhetoric.
Even when shown replays of the multiple lowblows throughout the fight, even as early as round 2, they remain in denial. Dude got hit in the nuts and bent over in agony, and these armchair champions still call it quitting.

[Vlad_]

As someone who has watched Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev's first bout and rematch multiple times without any bias, without being a fan of either boxer, whilst being totally neutral. Can we objectively all agree that both Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev were evenly matched by stalemating each other without either showing any real superiority over the other when it came to a clean boxing contest for most parts of the 2 bouts?

Irrational and nonobjective fans of either boxer are going to exaggerate the superiority of their boxer over the other boxer. However, from a neutral perspective, there wasn't any superiority shown by either boxer over the other.

I had the first bout a draw excluding the knockdown. Including the knockdown, I had Sergey Kovalev winning by a small margin.

I had the second bout also near dead even at the time of the stoppage with Kovalev winning only one or two rounds more but Ward adjusting and both ending up neutralizing each other, to the point where the last 2 or 3 rounds before the stoppage were even in my scorecard.

However, if we are going to be objective, let's not pretend that the stoppage came from illegal moves which Andre Ward used and which the referee allowed. Excluding without those illegal moves, Andre Ward was dead even with Kovalev and neither showed to be better than the other. So it would've led to another close decision which most likely would've been a draw. What caused Andre Ward to win were illegal punches which resulted in the stoppage victory.

My point is, neither showed any superiority over the other when it came to a clean boxing contest, excluding illegal moves. In other words, we never truly found out who the better boxer was (because neither was better than the other). Thus, it's best to avoid claims about one being better than the other.

If you want to be fair and unbiased, then Kovalev clearly and soundly outboxed Ward for a majority of the rounds throughout both fights.

[Legendary Hater]

How did Kovalev win 5 rounds in the 1st fight if after the 2nd round it was all down hill?

You are a fool.

Calling me a fool, eh?...you must be an anti-American garbage fan, and Kovalev is/was one of your favOUrites...

Note the OU spelling of the word...your country's fighters are not top tier, Kovalev is The Son of Ward, and there's nothing you can do about it...

To the young man, Ganstaz, who admitted his mistakes earlier...I will leave you be and just let our posts stand...you're a good kid, and you have some potential...you just need some experience...

[BM dnobagaV]

Calling me a fool, eh?...you must be an anti-American garbage fan, and Kovalev is/was one of your favOUrites...

Note the OU spelling of the word...your country's fighters are not top tier, Kovalev is The Son of Ward, and there's nothing you can do about it...

To the young man, Ganstaz, who admitted his mistakes earlier...I will leave you be and just let our posts stand...you're a good kid, and you have some potential...you just need some experience...

You did not answer my question.



Fool.

[Vlad_]

Calling me a fool, eh?...you must be an anti-American garbage fan, and Kovalev is/was one of your favOUrites...

Note the OU spelling of the word...your country's fighters are not top tier, Kovalev is The Son of Ward, and there's nothing you can do about it...

To the young man, Ganstaz, who admitted his mistakes earlier...I will leave you be and just let our posts stand...you're a good kid, and you have some potential...you just need some experience...

You think yourself to be so wise. Yet claim that a man getting hit in the balls several times consecutively, and bending forward as a result of the agony, is a quitter.

Truth alert. Kovalev made Ward retire.

[Mr Objecitivity]

If you want to be fair and unbiased, then Kovalev clearly and soundly outboxed Ward for a majority of the rounds throughout both fights.

That is an exaggeration of what truly occurred. Nearly every round, apart from the first 2 rounds of the first bout and the last round of the second bout were near dead even to the point where it was practically a stalemate.

Neither clearly or soundly out-boxed the other in any round, except the ones mentioned. Sergey Kovalev's offense was better than Andre Ward's offense. However, Andre Ward's defense was better than Sergey Kovalev's defense. The ultimate factor to the stalemate was due to Sergey Kovalev's offense (Kovalev's main strength) being equal to Andre Ward's defense (Ward's main strength).

Sergey Kovalev soundly and clearly out-boxed the likes of Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal. That wasn't the case against Andre Ward.

At best, one might argue that Kovalev was slightly better than Ward (because his best rounds were better than Ward's best rounds and also because he won more rounds more dominantly than Ward). Otherwise, in most rounds, both stalemated each other where neither looked to be superior than the other.

[Mr Objecitivity]

Kovalev started fast in the first fight, Ward made his adjustment, and Kovalev never really got back into the fight.

Kovalev came out faster in the second fight, a sharper Ward again made his adjustments, and Kovalev never really recovered.

No need to try and spin it.

Kovalev started fast in the first fight, Ward made his adjustment, and Kovalev never really got back into the fight.

What does 'never really got back into the fight' even mean? Before Ward made any adjustment, Kovalev was dominating Ward. After Ward made his adjustments, the only thing he was able to do was bring the bout to a stalemate. Nothing more than that! That was the case in both bouts.

[Jimmy 23]

You think yourself to be so wise. Yet claim that a man getting hit in the balls several times consecutively, and bending forward as a result of the agony, is a quitter.

Truth alert. Kovalev made Ward retire.

Ward ruined your life

[Vlad_]

Ward ruined your life

Nah, Kovalev ended his career and in the process he learned valuable lessons that make him a better fighter and human being.

But those petty attacks are all you can come up with because you clearly can’t provide any arguments to defend Ward’s fouling.

[club fighter]

My views of those fights haven't changed no matter how many times I could rewatch those bouts.
To me:
Ward lost the 1st fight and was gifted with a decision that most of the boxing fans and boxing community wasn't happy with.

In the rematch Kov got rocked by a decent head shot and even though a few of the bodyshots were low in the ending flurry, there was no doubt in my mind that he was going down or could not continue.

I know there were a lot of Kov fans that hated the outcome of both bouts, and I consider the decision of the 1st fight a clear robbery, but face facts, he was going down in the 2nd match low blows or not.