Kovalev demands rematch after controversial Ward defeat

Exhibit A today is the Ward v Kovalev fight. With the crowd roaring in approval, they put on a fight that lived up to its advance billing.

Andre Ward, right, throws a left at Sergey Kovalev in the fourth round of their light heavyweight championship bout in Las Vegas. Ward maintained his calm, his battered face a bruised accompaniment to his low-key victory speech: “I had to get dirty to win and I did”. He remained unbeaten in his last 20 years in the ring, but it wasn’t without some moments of worry.

“What a attractive thing!”

“Everyone has their own journey and this is how the chips fell”, Ward said. At t the end of the day I am a two-division world champion, a five-time world champion and I’ve been nothing but a champion so I will leave it for the people, the pundits and critics to say. The Associated Press had Kovalev ahead 116-111.

“It’s the wrong decision”. Am I, and the judges wrong? I’ve never seen Ward in this kinda trouble before and was a little anxious that maybe he bit off more than he can chew. I will admit I was a little anxious about Ward, because he hasn’t faced a fighter with that kinda power (maybe Edison Miranda). While it was petty theft compared to Perez – who lost on two cards by a 97-93 margin he should have won by – the end game was the same. Kovalev boxed well in the opening rounds, which allowed him to use his power to push Ward all around. But he is a great fighter-to suggest otherwise is to concede that Kovalev could struggle with anything less. The list of known names continues with Sakio Bika and Chad Dawson, and now concludes with the feather in Ward’s cap – the wrecking ball, Kovalev. Hunter is a smart man at getting his boxers to say and do the right thing; he will think a rematch is easy. For both fighters, this was the biggest stage of their respective careers. Kovalev, meanwhile, drops to a record of 30-1-1, with 26 knockout wins. In fact, McKaie and Trowbridge scored the final six rounds for Ward.

Ward felt the mighty Kovalev’s power and desperately looked to avoid another missile type shot at all costs. “Of course I want a rematch”.

“He did everything I expected, including fade a little bit”. “I went up in weight to fight for his belt”.

In an article posted by The Telegraph, Veteran fight commentator Larry Merchant said that if the fight happened in Russia, Kovalev might have won 9 rounds on the scorecard.

Highlights of Golovkin vs Brook – is this enough to make him No 1? We needed that, even if maybe it would have been more beneficial to have a less controversial decision hanging over the event. It’d be prudent for boxing to adopt a similar stance and ensure that the three judges are from countries not connected to the fighters.

THE EYES HAVE IT Beauty and boxing are the most subjective of subjects. It was a classic matchup of puncher versus boxer, and for the early part of the fight the puncher was winning. But this theater of the unexpected again offered up a reminder, that total pros sometimes find themselves sliding off a cliff, grab a handhold, hold on, reset their compass, and start again the ascent on a wiser path. Ward did that, didn’t he?

Kovalev or Golovkin would have fulfilled such optimism, smashing it apart with their fists, but Ward’s style means he is the throwback to Mayweather’s methods of staging tactical chess matches rather than fan-friendly fire-fights.

Ward seemed unwilling to go inside after that, moving backward and trying to land jabs to control the action. Kovalev was the defending champion and the more powerful puncher of the two. There’s a difference. Kovalev was trying to keep Ward from throwing punches, and that takes a great deal of energy to do that.