In Hindsight, Should Kovalev have avoided Andre Ward?

[Tom Cruise]

How many profitable options did he really have at the time though?

He was exclusive to HBO so that ruled out many of the top LHW's.

The two fights vs Ward were probably his biggest earners by quite some distance.

If he cant come back from those losses then you have to say that is more due to his lack of dedication and his stubborn refusal to take on board his trainers ideas (not just JDJ, but also Don Turner and Abel Sanchez have said the same things).

[Scipio2009]

Depends on how much money they are working with

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?

If Kovalev hadn't fought Andre Ward, he would've been utterly compelled to fight Adonis Stevenson, who would've likely soundly beat him (real flashes were shown in the Chilemba fight, but the two Ward fights exposed that Kovalev has real issue with boxing craft and his stamina).

The Ward fight got him two bump paydays (maybe he got $5m between the two fights) before being exposed.

Would Kovalev have gotten more to get KO'd by Stevenson. if not, he made a good deal.

[Dean_Razorback]

no, it was the fight to make and in the first one he put up almost a perfect performance. you can't prevent being robbed

[Jewish-Reptile]

Interesting topic. Kovalev definitely lost the aura he once had. Could he have avoided this? Probably not.
Best case scenario; he could have taken his mando w/ Barrera, pursued a fight with Stevenson (which he'd likely never get), among other things, while pushing Ward off until he was a mando. Then, claiming the money wasn't right and stalling longer.

But, that's not Kovalev. He did what he was always going to do and lost to the better man. I think he's currently the best in the division but he's going to have to earn the fan respect back because nearly everyone bailed on him, unfortunately.

Oh yikes you had to say it didn't you. Jesus I made that mistake once today already. Daggum is in for a torrid day.

[Redd Foxx]

Oh yikes you had to say it didn't you. Jesus I made that mistake once today already. Daggum is in for a torrid day.

I think a lot of "those guys" on here are getting bored with me because they can't get me triggered.
I miss the days when we can people that could offer a stimulating debate, and mentally challenge you. Now, they all just repeat the same shyt that they learned off each other.

[RedZmaja]

No because boxing is about challenging yourself and Kovalev understood it. It's not about greed. He also learned some lessons about his preparation and training in these fights as well as learning things about himself. It's all about how he comes back now.

He drank alcohol and was betrayed by his trainer. Now he ditched both of these problems.

[Scipio2009]

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.

Saying that Kovalev had 5 ways to win the first fight is either dissing Ward's skills, inflating Kovalev's or a likely combination of the two.

Kovalev had the jab, and that straight right, with nothing else to follow it. Took Ward some time, but he was able to largely neutralize that jab, leaving Kovalev with few remaining weapons.

[SUBZER0ED]

It's good that Kovalev faced Ward twice. Even though I feel like the outcomes of both fights were controversial, at least Kov had the nuts to face the proclaimed best P4P. This is boxing and anyone who ducks is a disappointment to the sport and the fans. He should have learned from the experiences. Getting knocked down from his pedestal may have awakened him to his flaws & make him want to improve his technique.

[-Antonio-]

No he should have gotten the nod in the first fight like he deserved to. The better fighter won the 2nd fight but Kovalev peaked the first 5 rounds food the first Ward fight and that guy was as good of a Light Heavyweight as there has been since Roy Jones Jr.

[Sid-Knee]

Considering Ward cheated in both fights, then yes, it would have been a good idea to swerve the dirty bastard.