Sergey Kovalev – Andre Ward: One More Look

Andre Ward rallied from a second-round knockdown and won the final round on two judges’ scorecards to defeat Sergey Kovalev on Saturday night in Las Vegas, taking the WBO, WBA and IBF light heavyweight titles from the Russian-born champion.

Ward’s corner told him that he had to win the final three rounds, but it’s not positive that he did so. “I won this fight, and everybody agreed”. The three titles he relinquished on Saturday night were won back in November 2014 from Bernard Hopkins, and he had successfully defended them four separate times before his loss to Ward.

“It’s the wrong decision”, Kovalev said.

The moment the fight was announced, Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward was a coin flip of a fight where it would be Ward’s boxing brilliance versus Kovalev’s mind warping power.

For years Kovalev has craved high-profile opponents and now he has one of the biggest names in boxing standing in front of him. A lot of it had to do with business disputes and not actually boxing stuff, but don’t be surprised if Kovalev doesn’t get the rematch he wants so badly as soon as possible. He showed why he won a 2004 Olympic gold medal, why he won the Super Six tournament and why he’s always been considered among the two or three greatest fighters in the world. Both have a clean record, in fact.

“I feel a bit uncomfortable because I don’t agree with the decision”.

Ward stated he was happy with his performance citing that these types of fights are going to happen. I’ll give Ward great credit for getting up after that second-round knockdown; you’re three points behind after two rounds but to show character and the fortitude he’s got to get through that fight was unbelievable. “He started to show up as I expected, he started to fight like I expected”. Ward rose smiling, but he had been hurt, something Kovalev sensed, and the Chelyabinsk man moved in to finish, but the 2004 Olympic gold medalist held on for the bell. What we won’t debate is that we got a hugely compelling battle, one with momentum shifts, a knockdown and tactical excellence – high-level boxing at almost its best.

Ward explained: “I’ve been a champion and was a champion before I came in here, and I knew it was going to be a tough fight”. Ward landed the harder and more significant strikes, but Kovalev was also landing.

In the 10th round, Ward produced two left-right-left combinations, and another short left to leave Kovalev’s nose bloodied. “I haven’t seen wrestling like that since Conor McGregor in NY”.

“It’s the wrong decision”, he said. When Ward was able to command the distance, Kovalev’s jab became far less effective, which reduced his opportunities to find angles and hit his groove.

“We do have the right to an immediate rematch and we are calling for it”, Duva said.

Every round counts and if a fighter wins fewer rounds, he loses the game. The fight could have easily been scored for Sergey. But both entered this fight assuming way more risk than usual and in this case, Shields came out the other end with a win.

Kovalev had the better of the exchanges in the third round, but Ward did well to steady the ship without troubling the Russian.