Comments Thread For: Fighting Words - Kovalev-Ward: The Fight is Over, The Fighting Isn't

[Real King Kong]

However you scored the fight, i think we can all agree, it's a shame to see a man lose his titles in that fashion. Whether you like kovalev or not, in a close fight like that, it just feels right for the champion to retain his titles...especially when he scored the only knockdown and did more damage.

[Metho_4u]

So you acknowledge that he cheats to win. Congratulations. First time I've seen anyone actually admit that.

Congratulations, you admit he won

[..David..]

Great read and perfectly summarizes how I feel.

There's no robbery, just a bunch of close rounds. It's easier to give the fight to Kovalev due to the number of the close rounds and his dominance in the beginning of the fight. Ward got almost all of the swing rounds in his favor and thus won. There are many possibly reasons why the judges decided to give Ward those close rounds.

Some people will say it's because they were all Americans. It's possible.
Others will point to the crowd's reaction, which was almost entirely pro-Ward and anti-Kov.
A few will say it's because Ward deserved them.

I have a personal theory of why Kovalev got virtually shut out in 2nd half of the fight. It has everything to do with expectations. We all know that Ward is the technician and Kovalev is the puncher. When Kovalev performed like Kovalev, the judges swung in his favor. As soon as he played Ward's game, no matter how successful he was, judges assumed that Ward won those rounds because that's what they expected. After all, how could Kovalev hope to match Ward on the inside and throwing counters?


You can write 1000 articles arguing for one thing or another. Fact is it was a fight decided by 1 point. I scored the fight a draw, and that's what it was. The rematch will tell us everything we need to know. Either Ward makes the adjustments to make it look easy, or Kovalev will show that he's no longer playing. Rematch will be 5 times better than the original!

Great point, i did feel that way too, also it was so impressive to see ward fighting on even terms with kovalev after the start of the fight, that its easy to get carried away and give those close rounds to him.

[aboutfkntime]

However you scored the fight, i think we can all agree, it's a shame to see a man lose his titles in that fashion. Whether you like kovalev or not, in a close fight like that, it just feels right for the champion to retain his titles...especially when he scored the only knockdown and did more damage.

hard to argue with that, good post

[aboutfkntime]

I have a personal theory of why Kovalev got virtually shut out in 2nd half of the fight. It has everything to do with expectations. We all know that Ward is the technician and Kovalev is the puncher. When Kovalev performed like Kovalev, the judges swung in his favor. As soon as he played Ward's game, no matter how successful he was, judges assumed that Ward won those rounds because that's what they expected. After all, how could Kovalev hope to match Ward on the inside and throwing counters?

Great point, i did feel that way too, also it was so impressive to see ward fighting on even terms with kovalev after the start of the fight, that its easy to get carried away and give those close rounds to him.

it is also hard to argue with those comments, good call

[The D3vil]

So you acknowledge that he cheats to win. Congratulations. First time I've seen anyone actually admit that.

Clinching is cheating?

Somebody better tell Bernard Hopkins & Floyd Mayweather

https://commandoboxing.com/content/b...p-11-clinching

Boxing Tip #11: Clinching

If you've watched a boxing match, then I'm 99% sure you've seen clinching in action. It happens in every fight and to someone who doesn't know any better - it's annoying as hell because it breaks up the action.

Clinching is an essential part of your competitive game so if you're aiming to become a competitive boxer, you have to understand clinching: when to clinch, how to clinch, what to do in a clinch, and how to get out of a clinch.

[SweetPbfAli]

Part of the reason everyone has their ass in their hands about the scoring is the incredibly biased HBO commentary. Lederman's card was a disgrace, he wouldn't give Ward an inch and was favoring Kovalev even when he did nothing. Lampley couldn't have favored Kovalev any more if he'd bent over for him.

Once again HBO favour the puncher, they literally do not pick up on the sense of momentum, control of pace and tempo, the inside work and the subtleties, and the building feeling that Ward started to control the fight from the mid rounds. They only seem to see hard punches, and even if the last one landed 3 rounds ago they still give the guy credit. The only one who actually seemed to give Ward any credit- and he had to disagree with his fellow pundits to do so- was Kellerman. He at least acknowledged Ward's successes.

Sky Sports in the U.K. had Ward winning the fight and Paulie made a really good point about the fight seeming to drain from Kovalev as the rounds went on. Ward took over mentally.

I thought it could have gone either way, it felt to me like Ward had the momentum so I felt he did enough to eek it out, but a draw could've been fair. If it had gone to Kovalev by a wide decision I'd have felt that was giving too much credit to his strong opening rounds, carrying a bias mentality across all rounds and wouldn't have reflected the whole fight.

Can't believe more people haven't pointed this out. The commentary was bush league. Kellerman did acknowledge Ward's success, even countering Lampley and Lederman directly at times which was very much welcomed. Lampley is the worst!