A controversial decision isn't necessarily a robbery

[jezzamundo]

Ward-Kovalev was a great, close fight and the decision was controversial. I scored it the same as the judges, but could easily had given it close to Kovalev, had I given him one of the many swing rounds.

The word robbery is being used willy-nilly by many on this forum. There are certainly robberies in boxing and far too many of them, but this fight wasn't one of them.

Lewis-Holyfield 1 was a robbery
Whitaker-Chavez was a robbery

None of Canelo's wins are robberies - although some of the scorecards have been disgraceful - but many of them are controversial and could have been fairly scored to the other fighter.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

It seems like the people who scored it for Ward understand it was a close fight.
Where are the people who scored it 114-113 Kovalev?
I can't believe 6-6 isn't a popular scoring.

It seems to be opinions like the OP,
or Kovalev won 8 rounds and it's a robbery.

When people can't even see the middle ground in close fight,
it shows they scored the fight with an agenda.
The agenda could be anti-Ward or pro-Kovalev.
Or the agenda could be the false belief that the "aggressor" gets close rounds.
That is not true.
But HBO (Lampley/Lederman) scoring is creating a bunch of fans who can't score fights.

[ldlamb]

Boxing judging is a subjective thing.

There were at least six rounds in that fight that could legitimately be scored either way.

People are way too quick to scream robbery when someone else doesn't see those ambiguous rounds the same way.

[greg]

it's not a robbery, it's rather a christmas present

[jezzamundo]

it's not a robbery, it's rather a christmas present

Funny, but inaccurate.

[jezzamundo]

Actually does anyone have a real image of the judges' scorecards? The one in the Santa pic is too small to read properly - if it is from a real pic.

[greg]

Funny, but inaccurate.

..probably as inaccurate and funny as the final scoring

[jezzamundo]

Funny, but inaccurate.

..probably as inaccurate and funny as the final scoring

It was a very close and competitive fight. 114-113 either way is a good scorecard.

[Lackeos]

When we agree on who won and the judges gave it to the other guy, that's a robbery. When we disagree on who won and you say it's a robbery, you're being an asshole. You can't call it a robbery when real boxing fans don't agree on the score and the judges scored it exactly the same as some of the fans. Like seriously, almost half of the people in the RBR had the exact same score as all 3 of the judges, including me, and I assure you that I scored the fight objectively and completely sober.

[ValMar]

Ward-Kovalev was a great, close fight and the decision was controversial. I scored it the same as the judges, but could easily had given it close to Kovalev, had I given him one of the many swing rounds.

The word robbery is being used willy-nilly by many on this forum. There are certainly robberies in boxing and far too many of them, but this fight wasn't one of them.

Lewis-Holyfield 1 was a robbery
Whitaker-Chavez was a robbery

None of Canelo's wins are robberies - although some of the scorecards have been disgraceful - but many of them are controversial and could have been fairly scored to the other fighter.

Yes, it was great, close, but not so attractive fight (pretty boring, frankly speaking). I didn't enjoyed, at all....Kovalev won 5 rounds, clearly...........Ward won 4 rounds. The rest ? The God Almighty knows. OK, it was not robbery, but, honestly, I feel that Kovalev would have win on neutral venue, with neutral judges and referee.

[greg]

Actually does anyone have a real image of the judges' scorecards? The one in the Santa pic is too small to read properly - if it is from a real pic.

https://twitter.com/BoxingTriviaGuy/sta ... =twsrc^tfw

[jezzamundo]

Thanks very much Greg

[jezzamundo]

The only round I think the judges mostly got wrong was the 10th - all three gave it to Ward, but I had it as a clear Kovalev round as did most on the forum. Based on that, the fight probably should have gone 114-113 to Kovalev.

I gave Ward the 3rd and thought it was close and could have gone either way, but two of the judges gave that round to Kovalev.

[Blodhemn]

A hometown decision isn't necessarily a robbery, but it's still a hometown decision. Wrong fighter wins. That's never a good thing.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Exactly, like Everytime an underdog does better than expected. That being said, I believe sergey was robbed. I'll watch it again this week. I didn't see any clear rounds for ward last night. Finding 7 close rounds to give him sounds like a stretch.

[Blodhemn]

Sergey needed two knockdowns to "earn" a draw. That says it all.

The judges went to the Bradley/Pacquiao 1 school of thought, giving the majority of the close rounds to one fighter. The score wasn't out of the realm of possibilities, but it's weighed in favor of one fighter. That's home cooking 101.

[Tanzio]

Krusher has only himself to blame. He was too cautious in the rounds immediately following the KD. He should have gone for the stoppage more aggressively. Even one more KD would have likely sealed the deal. Ward was disheartened and hurt. Krusher failed to hold control.

[Blodhemn]

Oh I agree with that. Kovalev should've just KO'd Ward. But that falls in line with the "didn't do enough to take the belts from the champ" argument. One fighter shouldn't have to have an extra set of requirements just to earn a draw.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Giving ward more countering opportunities wasn't necessary when he was outboxing him behind his jab. The judges are to blame, though it's par for the course as the worst era in American boxing history continues to get worse. I can't imagine I'll ever buy another ppv, already have a UFC on my bill every month.

[Tanzio]

Oh I agree with that. Kovalev should've just KO'd Ward. But that falls in line with the "didn't do enough to take the belts from the champ" argument. One fighter shouldn't have to have an extra set of requirements just to earn a draw.

That is not what I said. Krusher was too cautious from round 3 on.

[Blodhemn]

Giving ward more countering opportunities wasn't necessary when he was outboxing him behind his jab. The judges are to blame, though it's par for the course as the worst era in American boxing history continues to get worse. I can't imagine I'll ever buy another ppv, already have a UFC on my bill every month.

Kovalev ain't a boxer, doe. If he's not dropping folks, then he's lost the round, cos you know, he can't box. Takes me back to when the crazy Brits thought Cleverly was the better boxer of the two.

Oh I agree with that. Kovalev should've just KO'd Ward. But that falls in line with the "didn't do enough to take the belts from the champ" argument. One fighter shouldn't have to have an extra set of requirements just to earn a draw.

That is not what I said. Krusher was too cautious from round 3 on.

On foreign soil, agreed. Handicapped boxing 101.

[Impractical Poster]

In a close fight people will always give the fight to their guy.

Fact.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yup, I think the people saying ward won are just tied into that perpetual myth that kovalev is just a slugger. They boxed so ward must have won. Lol, sergey is faster too. Just a better fighter.

[boxing_rocks]

When a unified champion gets his three belts taken from him after a fight he didn't lose, it is ROBBERY.

[Tanzio]

Yup, I think the people saying ward won are just tied into that perpetual myth that kovalev is just a slugger. They boxed so ward must have won. Lol, sergey is faster too. Just a better fighter.

Then he will prove it in the rematch. Last night, he cut it too fine and it cost him. Ward stole the fight. It was not even within shouting distance of a robbery.

It was a terrific fight that I would have loved to have been on the wrong side of the score on.