No excuses for Kovalev

[crow]

Kovalev had Ward ready for the taking; he wobbled him in the first, knocked him down in the second, then tried coasting to a decision.
Big mistake!

Instead of trying to outbox the smaller fighter and being cute, he should have gone for the kill and forced the exchanges.

Ward came to survive knowing the judges would favor him, and got exactly what he hoped for.

He's clearly on his way down and won't hang to his titles for long.

[keithmoonhangover]

Ward came to survive

[ValMar]

Kovalev had Ward ready for the taking; he wobbled him in the first, knocked him down in the second, then tried coasting to a decision.
Big mistake!

Instead of trying to outbox the smaller fighter and being cute, he should have gone for the kill and forced the exchanges.

Ward came to survive knowing the judges would favor him, and got exactly what he hoped for.

He's clearly on his way down and won't hang to his titles for long.

This is the cleverest post I've read today, and I've read at least one hundred.

[Badhusker]

Kovalev had Ward ready for the taking; he wobbled him in the first, knocked him down in the second, then tried coasting to a decision.
Big mistake!

Instead of trying to outbox the smaller fighter and being cute, he should have gone for the kill and forced the exchanges.

Ward came to survive knowing the judges would favor him, and got exactly what he hoped for.

He's clearly on his way down and won't hang to his titles for long.

If Ward is way past his best and on his way down, like I have read a lot on this forum, it doesn't say much for Kovalev. Kovalev must just be way over-rated then if he struggled so badly with Ward?

Lots and lots of Ward hate/sour grapes. We may set a record for the amount of new threads that can be made to complain about what I see as a close but rightful decision.

[Boxerbeetle]

Kovalev had Ward ready for the taking; he wobbled him in the first, knocked him down in the second, then tried coasting to a decision.
Big mistake!

Instead of trying to outbox the smaller fighter and being cute, he should have gone for the kill and forced the exchanges.

Ward came to survive knowing the judges would favor him, and got exactly what he hoped for.

He's clearly on his way down and won't hang to his titles for long.

If Ward is way past his best and on his way down, like I have read a lot on this forum, it doesn't say much for Kovalev. Kovalev must just be way over-rated then if he struggled so badly with Ward?

Lots and lots of Ward hate/sour grapes. We may set a record for the amount of new threads that can be made to complain about what I see as a close but rightful decision.

[kashmir786]

Out of the 7 rounds they scored it 10 - 9 even round 10 that is a gift sorry

[Enlightened-One]

In my mind, the outcome of the Kovalev-Ward bout could have been a draw or a 114-113 decision favouring either fighter and I wouldn't have complained, but cries of robbery and people citing lop-sided scoring favouring the Russian is utterly absurd... it seems that HBO's bias commentary team has unduly and adversely influenced the mindset of casual fight fans.

[jezzamundo]

In my mind, the outcome of the Kovalev-Ward bout could have been a draw or a 114-113 decision favouring either fighter and I wouldn't have complained, but cries of robbery and people citing lop-sided scoring favouring the Russian is utterly absurd... it seems that HBO's bias commentary team has unduly and adversely influenced the mindset of casual fight fans.

Max Kellerman being the notable exception - he was the voice of reason there.

[jezzamundo]

Out of the 7 rounds they scored it 10 - 9 even round 10 that is a gift sorry

I agree the judges dropped the ball on round 10, but they also gave Kovalev half of the swing rounds, so it's hard to call bias when they score 11 out of 12 rounds correctly.

[greg]

Out of the 7 rounds they scored it 10 - 9 even round 10 that is a gift sorry

I agree the judges dropped the ball on round 10, but they also gave Kovalev half of the swing rounds, so it's hard to call bias when they score 11 out of 12 rounds correctly.

what is the half of the swing rounds they gave to Kovalev?..it seems like they were unanimous giving all 6 last rounds to Ward starting from round 7 thru 12...

[jezzamundo]

Out of the 7 rounds they scored it 10 - 9 even round 10 that is a gift sorry

I agree the judges dropped the ball on round 10, but they also gave Kovalev half of the swing rounds, so it's hard to call bias when they score 11 out of 12 rounds correctly.

what is the half of the swing rounds they gave to Kovalev?..it seems like they were unanimous giving all 6 last rounds to Ward starting from round 7 thru 12...

Kovalev clearly won rounds 1, 2 and 10
Ward clearly won rounds 7, 8 and 11
Swing rounds were 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12.
Judges gave 3, 4 and 6 to Kovalev
Judges gave 5, 9 and 12 to Ward

I agree with the judges in 5 of the 6 swing rounds - I gave Ward the 3rd, but I gave Kovalev the 10th, so I had the same scorecard 114-113 to Ward.

[boxing_rocks]

Kovalev had Ward ready for the taking; he wobbled him in the first, knocked him down in the second, then tried coasting to a decision.
Big mistake!

Instead of trying to outbox the smaller fighter and being cute, he should have gone for the kill and forced the exchanges.

Ward came to survive knowing the judges would favor him, and got exactly what he hoped for.

He's clearly on his way down and won't hang to his titles for long.

I agree with this post. Kovalev should have gone for the kill. Ward couldn't hurt him.

Nevertherless, Kovalev won that fight, and judges robbed him. Can you imagine if Ward had 3 belts and dropped Kovalev in an otherwise close fight ? Would any judge give a win to Kovalev ??? Clear bias.

[Keko]

Kovalev had Ward ready for the taking; he wobbled him in the first, knocked him down in the second, then tried coasting to a decision.
Big mistake!

Instead of trying to outbox the smaller fighter and being cute, he should have gone for the kill and forced the exchanges.
.

Yes

[Keko]

Ward came to survive

This is joke

[crow]

Shades of the second SRL vs Hearns joke of a decision.
Except Ward never even hurt Kovalev, like Leonard did at one moment.

[jezzamundo]

Shades of the second SRR vs Hearns joke of a decision.
Except Ward never even hurt Kovalev.

Disagree - Hearns was robbed of a close but clear win, but the Ward-Kovalev fight could have gone either way.

[jezzamundo]

Shades of the second SRR vs Hearns joke of a decision.
Except Ward never even hurt Kovalev.

I guess I can see the parallel that the fighter who scored the KD didn't get the nod. That said, I think Hearns definitely deserved the nod over Leonard, but the Ward-Kovalev fight could easily have gone either way and was much closer.

[greg]

Kovalev clearly won rounds 1, 2 and 10
Ward clearly won rounds 7, 8 and 11
Swing rounds were 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12.
Judges gave 3, 4 and 6 to Kovalev
Judges gave 5, 9 and 12 to Ward

I agree with the judges in 5 of the 6 swing rounds - I gave Ward the 3rd, but I gave Kovalev the 10th, so I had the same scorecard 114-113 to Ward.

Kovalev clearly won rounds 1, 2 and 10 - I agree
Ward clearly won rounds 7, 8 and 11 - I thought 8 and 11 were very close
Swing rounds were 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12. - + 8 and 11 IMO
...and I believe the judges had no right to screw round 10 scoring in such a high profile fight, none of them...

[crow]

Shades of the second SRR vs Hearns joke of a decision.
Except Ward never even hurt Kovalev.

I guess I can see the parallel that the fighter who scored the KD didn't get the nod. That said, I think Hearns definitely deserved the nod over Leonard, but the Ward-Kovalev fight could easily have gone either way and was much closer.

Ward didn't impose his will, couldn't hurt Kovalev and was clinching and being negative the whole fight by fear of being caught.

If that's a win for you, then whatever floats your boat.

[Tanzio]

I agree the judges dropped the ball on round 10, but they also gave Kovalev half of the swing rounds, so it's hard to call bias when they score 11 out of 12 rounds correctly.

what is the half of the swing rounds they gave to Kovalev?..it seems like they were unanimous giving all 6 last rounds to Ward starting from round 7 thru 12...

Kovalev clearly won rounds 1, 2 and 10
Ward clearly won rounds 7, 8 and 11
Swing rounds were 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12.
Judges gave 3, 4 and 6 to Kovalev
Judges gave 5, 9 and 12 to Ward

I agree with the judges in 5 of the 6 swing rounds - I gave Ward the 3rd, but I gave Kovalev the 10th, so I had the same scorecard 114-113 to Ward.

we saw this fight exactly the same way as my real time card on the RBR confirms.

Ward did not come "to survive." He came to stop Krusher, and going into the 10th I thought he might make my PTBF prediction come true, but Krusher showed his heart and came back himself to take the round.

This was a great, great fight, imo.

[jezzamundo]

what is the half of the swing rounds they gave to Kovalev?..it seems like they were unanimous giving all 6 last rounds to Ward starting from round 7 thru 12...

Kovalev clearly won rounds 1, 2 and 10
Ward clearly won rounds 7, 8 and 11
Swing rounds were 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12.
Judges gave 3, 4 and 6 to Kovalev
Judges gave 5, 9 and 12 to Ward

I agree with the judges in 5 of the 6 swing rounds - I gave Ward the 3rd, but I gave Kovalev the 10th, so I had the same scorecard 114-113 to Ward.

we saw this fight exactly the same way as my real time card on the RBR confirms.

Ward did not come "to survive." He came to stop Krusher, and going into the 10th I thought he might make my PTBF prediction come true, but Krusher showed his heart and came back himself to take the round.

This was a great, great fight, imo.

Clearly great minds think alike!

[boxing_rocks]

Ward can't hurt any top 10 175-pounder. A talk of him stopping Kovalev was just inspiration by Virgil and himself.

He was surviving and was very happy after the 12th that he achieved that.

[PsychoGamerTwo]

Kovalev should have gone for the knockout. At last, he is the knockout fighter.

That being said, he still won the decision close but clear IMO. Wasn't even THAT close, thanks to the knockdown & Ward getting into the fight late, with... well, low activity. Kovalev should have won.

[Tanzio]

Ward can't hurt any top 10 175-pounder. A talk of him stopping Kovalev was just inspiration by Virgil and himself.

He was surviving and was very happy after the 12th that he achieved that.

If Ward is that weak why couldn't / didn't Krusher just walk through him? The obvious answer that you insist on ignoring is that Krusher was wary of Ward's ability to hurt him, wear him down and stop him.

[NateJR]

What most people here are over looking is the body work by Ward. Not only did it slow Kovalev down in the later rounds it's zapped the power out of his punches. There's no doubt Ward was concerned about Kovalevs power early but from rounds 5 on he was no longer as worried about Kovalevs power. Kovalev was also hurt several times in that fight, people on here are retarded sometimes.

I thought it was a razor close fight, could have seen it go either way. How Ward was able to with stand that early storm from Kovalev and come back and bank most of the later rounds is the sign of a great fighter. I personally think both fighters were great, with Kovalev being the stronger fighter early and Ward being the stronger fighter down the stretch.

The HBO commentating was horrible and Ledderman went full retard on several occasions.