In Hindsight, Should Kovalev have avoided Andre Ward?

[BostonGuy]

I watched and enjoyed Sergey Kovalev's tremendous accent to the top of the LHW division. Kovalev was an absolute destroyer as he KO'd most of his opponents and developed an 'air of invisibility' like that of a young Mike Tyson. Kovalev was also a real 'bad a.ss' as he seemed to enjoy dishing out punishment to his opponents.

Then came Andre Ward. Before they fought, my gut told me that Ward would win via decision and that's exactly what he did.

In hindsight, was facing a prime Andre Ward the smartest career move for Sergey Kovalev? Perhaps, he could've faced Stevenson, Beterbeiv or some of the other top guys at LHW.

Right now, that 'air of invisibility' is long gone and Kovalev is not the draw that he once was, pre Ward.

In hindsight, if you were Kovalev's promoter, would you have still made the Ward fight? What could have been done differently?

[The Big Dunn]

I watched and enjoyed Sergey Kovalev's tremendous accent to the top of the LHW division. Kovalev was an absolute destroyer as he KO'd most of his opponents and developed an 'air of invisibility' like that of a young Mike Tyson. Kovalev was also a real 'bad a.ss' as he seemed to enjoy dishing out punishment to his opponents.

Then came Andre Ward. Before they fought, my gut told me that Ward would win via decision and that's exactly what he did.

In hindsight, was facing a prime Andre Ward the smartest career move for Sergey Kovalev? Perhaps, he could've faced Stevenson, Beterbeiv or some of the other top guys at LHW.

Right now, that 'air of invisibility' is long gone and Kovalev is not the draw that he once was, pre Ward.

In hindsight, if you were Kovalev's promoter, would you have still made the Ward fight? What could have been done differently?

Yes, because IMO he beat Ward in the 1st fight.

What could've been done differently is not re signing with HBO. It seems clear they forced Duva to withdraw from the mandatory position, which would've set up the Stevenson fight. Being a TV free agent would have Also made Bieterbiev and Alvarez fights possible.

[Larry the boss]

I think the entire issue is Kovalev,he started believing his own hype and stopped listening to the person who helped get him there

[KingTito]

Of course not. That fight was great because those were two top fighters at their peak or near it fighting. I don't want a fighter avoiding someone because he might lose. The best fight each other and we see who's left standing. As far as Stevenson, that fight was and is going nowhere for a number of reasons.

[djtmal]

Of course not. That fight was great because those were two top fighters at their peak or near it fighting. I don't want a fighter avoiding someone because he might lose. The best fight each other and we see who's left standing. As far as Stevenson, that fight was and is going nowhere for a number of reasons.

what he said....

[mlac]

Yes he should of avoided the robbery in the first fight when we all know Kovalev won ?

[BostonGuy]

Good responses in this thread. I don't follow boxing as much as I once did, but it seems to me that Kovalev has lost all his superstar luster. A few years back, he was the man to beat and a mega superstar in boxing; right now, he's seems irrelevant and somewhat forgotten.

[Rip Chudd]

Good responses in this thread. I don't follow boxing as much as I once did, but it seems to me that Kovalev has lost all his superstar luster. A few years back, he was the man to beat and a mega superstar in boxing; right now, he's seems irrelevant and somewhat forgotten.

He was the man to beat at 175 but at no time was he ever a superstar let alone a mega superstar

[j0zef]

No, he shouldn't have avoided him, but he's responsible for screwing up both his career and his fights. There are so many things he should have done differently.

If you go back to the Chilemba fight, what was his problem? He gassed hard. That should have been his #1 issue to address, instead what does he do? Gasses harder next 2 fights.
In the first fight, his strategy was all wrong. He knew Ward is gonna fight inside and get a little dirty. What does Kovalev do? He welcomes it and tries to show him he can beat Ward at his own game. That strategy ends up quickly draining his stamina and he loses a close, controversial decision. In that first fight, Ward was not at the top of his game. He was very vulnerable. Kovalev's jab was destroying Ward's offense. If he fought intelligently and not try to show off, he could have cruised to an easy decision victory, or forced Ward to take more risks and catch him coming in and possibly knock him out.
Kovalev had 5 different ways he could have won the 1st fight, and there were 5 dominating adjustments he could have made for the 2nd fight.

Then comes the promotional part before fight 2, which Kovalev f'd up badly. He showed his cards early, let Ward's team get in his head, and apparently even took $0 guaranteed to fight Ward. All he got was a split of a semi-failed PPV. Horrible, horrible promotional decisions.

Then comes the 2nd fight. Ward shows up in excellent shape, WAY better than the first fight, he's way fitter and looks MUCH more sharper. Kovalev comes in looking worse than before, his technique is shabbier and he learned absolutely nothing from the first fight. His jab, aggression and even his fitness is not there, despite all the trash he talks about "now I'm in best shape, I was not in good shape 1st fight". What a bunch of BS. He gassed after round 3.

Yeah, in the 2nd fight Ward fought mad dirty and hit him with quite a few low blows. But the reason for them is because Kovalev showed bad body language after getting hit to the body. Ward was dominating that fight, and maybe in a clean fight he doesn't stop Kovalev, but he would have easily won that.


In short, Kovalev himself is the only one who's to blame for both the fights and the promotional mishaps.

[The Big Dunn]

He was the man to beat at 175 but at no time was he ever a superstar let alone a mega superstar

Yeah, I agree with this. He was the #2 guy at HBO, but he wasn't anywhere near a star. He needed either Ward or Stevenson fights to propel him up the "star" ladder.