Comments Thread For: Ward: Kovalev Not Same Fighter, But He'll Be Hard To Deal With

[landotter]

The part I love about Ward saying anything about Kovalev (or Kovalev saying anything about Ward) is the new and improved ways of rehashing 2 fights that were good, but nowhere near great either time. Ward can talk some boxing, but the threads on here are GREAT reading when Krusher comments commence from him.

Kovalev is boxing's great question mark right now. I am glad he won. The 175 pound division is more interesting with him being relevant. But if there is anyone out there that thinks they know which Kovalev shows up in which fight, get your tush to Vegas because this guy is all shades of hot and cold and you could win some cash.

[aboutfkntime]

Again shooting off your mouth because you like the sound of your own voice. Speaking for myself I have stated in the past that Golovkin would lose to Ward because of Ward"s cheap shots. I also stated that in a fight with by the rules I would favor Ward to win. You're so in a rush to criticize Golovkin you don't stop and think. Why are these mindless Golovkin fans not calling Canelo a dirty fighter also. By your logic they should be all over him. The reason they don't is because Canelo is pretty much a clean fighter. This critisism of Ward has a factual basis..

there is a small amount of truth in what you say

and, to a certain extent..... I can see why the hardcores are big Ward fans..... and the casuals, not so much

but yea, that does not explain - OR JUSTIFY - the MASSIVE amount of irrational hatred regularly directed toward Andre Ward

but Ward giving lil'G his shiny new nickname sure does lol

THAT, is the root cause of the larger part of this issue

that..... and the fact that Golovkin fans ALL know exactly what would have happened had G actually attempted to back up his big mouth

[Ake-Dawg]

Again shooting off your mouth because you like the sound of your own voice. Speaking for myself I have stated in the past that Golovkin would lose to Ward because of Ward"s cheap shots. I also stated that in a fight with by the rules I would favor Ward to win. You're so in a rush to criticize Golovkin you don't stop and think. Why are these mindless Golovkin fans not calling Canelo a dirty fighter also. By your logic they should be all over him. The reason they don't is because Canelo is pretty much a clean fighter. This critisism of Ward has a factual basis..

Lol...cheap shots. You sound like a wuss. This is a fkn gladiator sport. The hurt business. FYI, the same fans not calling Alvarez dirty are crying that the judges robbed GGG. Its lame excuse after lame excuse for why GGG isn't the ATG they made him out to be before he proved it.

[aboutfkntime]

The part I love about Ward saying anything about Kovalev (or Kovalev saying anything about Ward) is the new and improved ways of rehashing 2 fights that were good, but nowhere near great either time. Ward can talk some boxing, but the threads on here are GREAT reading when Krusher comments commence from him.

Kovalev is boxing's great question mark right now. I am glad he won. The 175 pound division is more interesting with him being relevant. But if there is anyone out there that thinks they know which Kovalev shows up in which fight, get your tush to Vegas because this guy is all shades of hot and cold and you could win some cash.

good post !

especially the bold

[aboutfkntime]

Again shooting off your mouth because you like the sound of your own voice. Speaking for myself I have stated in the past that Golovkin would lose to Ward because of Ward"s cheap shots. I also stated that in a fight with by the rules I would favor Ward to win. You're so in a rush to criticize Golovkin you don't stop and think. Why are these mindless Golovkin fans not calling Canelo a dirty fighter also. By your logic they should be all over him. The reason they don't is because Canelo is pretty much a clean fighter. This critisism of Ward has a factual basis..

I said that there is a small amount of truth in what you say

but I think we all know the REAL cause of this irrational hatred

if what you said is true, then there must be genuine boxing fans who hate Ward..... guys who are not - coincidentally - also HUGE fans of Golovkin..... right?

well, let that man step forward now

let him be known

I want to see this new subset, if he exists ???

because all I see are the SAME guys who are in every thread bashing fighters who either..... 1) could have been a Golovkin opponent..... 2) were critical of Golovkin at some point..... 3) are genuinely great middleweights

that is all I see

[Boxing-1013]

You're one of these guys who is able to fool yourself into believing nonsense and you act shocked when others aren't as gullible.

Kovalev was absolutely fearless before. Now, he's VERY mindful of both his cardio and of getting hit. Both of which are good things. But, after losing to Ward twice he had to accept that his cardio is not on that level. That his body is soft. That his inside game isn't on that level.
After getting ko'd by Alvarez, he accepted that his chin isn't impervious.

It's so obvious that he and his trainer are compensating for these things. You can HEAR it in the way Buddy instructed him during the fight. Get educated in the science and this stuff will become petty obvious.

Another guy who doesn't really know much about boxing - watch those two Ward fights again, specifically for the inside fighting done by each guy. Kov gave as good as he got on the inside.

Kov boxed more or less the same against Chilemba, Ward and Hopkins as he did against Alvarez in the second fight. He, as he and his trainer said, went back to the basics and started boxing instead of looking for a KO. All the Ward robbery did was piss him off and he went headhunting for his next 4 fights. It took the Alvarez KO to really let him know he needs to change. Pretty obvious stuff here as far as analysis goes.

But anyone who co-signs the robbery in the first Ward/Kov fight is not anyone to take seriously as far as boxing analysis goes, and is clearly someone who backs fighters and results purely on skin color. Root for whoever you want, but as far as analysis goes your opinion is obviously biased and irrelevant.

'The fact that Kovalev can no longer krush and has had to take a much safer approach proves he's not the same fighter. That said, I'm really glad to see him adapting.' - RedFox

Giving that worn out line tries to give credence to the belief that the Ward fights took anything out of Kov, when, as he showed against Alvarez, he is actually better than ever.

It is fair to say the 2nd Ward fight and the Alvarez fight changed Kov's approach somewhat, and forced him to change his mindset and consider his weaknesses and adapt his game. But to say that 'Kovalev can no longer krush and has had to take a much safer approach proves he's not the same fighter. That said, I'm really glad to see him adapting.' shows that you are not a serious person analytically as Kov did as much damage against Alvarez in fight 2 as he did against Ward (1), Chilemba, and Hopkins.

He went back to doing what he always did and clearly the Ward fights had a mental impact on him but just as clearly they had no physical impact on him. The Ward stans seem to be having a hard time with that.

[Boxing-1013]

Lol...cheap shots. You sound like a wuss. This is a fkn gladiator sport. The hurt business. FYI, the same fans not calling Alvarez dirty are crying that the judges robbed GGG. Its lame excuse after lame excuse for why GGG isn't the ATG they made him out to be before he proved it.

Ward being a dirty fighter is not really a subjective thing - that's how he fights. If he was from South America or Saudi Arabia or South Africa he would have had no promotional angle and would have never been able to get away with the stuff he did in the ring, and also wouldn't have won about 95% of close rounds like he did. Just the way it was - anyone hyping Ward up as a boxing talent is just not anyone to take seriously on boxing.

[Boxing-1013]

Watched plenty of Kovalev fights. Was a fan. Pascal 1 and 2 were great examples of Krusher. Chilenba and Hopkins he tried to crush but they both held and clawed. Ward 1 he came in Krusher and left out wondering. By the end of Ward 2 Krusher is gone as Ward alluded to. I'm assuming you watched the entire interview.

Your information isn't new. It's not even detailed or nuanced. Here is your issue, you dislike Ward and favor kova. As such any analysis Ward provides is either wrong or biased.

So you acknowledge that Kova fought different. You acknowledge that the Kova from this weekend can box with the young crop of LHWs. That's what Ward said. He just thinks Kova won't go back to Krusher due to his fights with him and Alvarez.

That win against Alvarez was about as good as Kov has ever looked. He pretty clearly to me went back to doing what he did against Chilemba Hopkins and Ward (1), which is boxing his way in and not solely relying on looking for big shots.

You can argue he was the 'Krusher' against those 3 guys, but if you watch the fights he fought the same way against Alvarez in fight 2 as he did against those guys. Against top tier competition you aren't going to KO everyone. Not KOing or dropping Alvarez doesn't mean he wasn't just as dominant or didn't inflict as much damage. He looked better and did better against Alvarez than he did against Chilemba - yet you say he was the Krusher then? So he is better than the Krusher now? Wow that is pretty high praise.

If Ward had legitimately outboxed Kov at all in their 2 fights I would give him full credit - it just didn't happen. Unlike most people on this site, when two guys step in the ring, I don't care if the white guy or black guy wins, I score it for the guy who deserves it. I do generally favor the work done by the more aggressive fighter vs the defensive fighter, but that means favoring Wilder over Fury as well, which I did moreso compared to most.

It also doesn't mean I neglect the work of a skilled defensive fighter, as I give Floyd a lot of credit for winning cleanly a lot of his fights. But Andre Ward has never impressed me in the ring and it has everything to do with his talent, or lack thereof, rather than anything particular to his color. Outside of the ring he seems like an OK family man, but he also is a halfway crook who talks out of both sides of his mouth. But personally I don't view Kov much better outside the ring as he seems to be at best a serial philanderer on his wife.

[Boxing-1013]

You're one of these guys who is able to fool yourself into believing nonsense and you act shocked when others aren't as gullible.

Kovalev was absolutely fearless before. Now, he's VERY mindful of both his cardio and of getting hit. Both of which are good things. But, after losing to Ward twice he had to accept that his cardio is not on that level. That his body is soft. That his inside game isn't on that level.
After getting ko'd by Alvarez, he accepted that his chin isn't impervious.

It's so obvious that he and his trainer are compensating for these things. You can HEAR it in the way Buddy instructed him during the fight. Get educated in the science and this stuff will become petty obvious.

This is what you said about Kov on fight night against Alvarez though?

"Kovalev did all the things I used to love about his style; crisp shots with good technique. Glad to see him back to that. People thought he was great because he was a monster puncher. That was never it. It was his technique and accuracy." - RedFox

[Boxing-1013]

The fact that Kovalev can no longer krush and has had to take a much safer approach proves he's not the same fighter. That said, I'm really glad to see him adapting. If he continues to stay with Buddy and his mind holds up, I think he might be able to make it back to the top again.

Damn boy you talk out of both sides of your mouth, remind me of Andre Ward. Or maybe you're a transgender or something.


"Kovalev did all the things I used to love about his style; crisp shots with good technique. Glad to see him back to that. People thought he was great because he was a monster puncher. That was never it. It was his technique and accuracy." - RedFox