Ward dethrones Kovalev by unanimous decision

And through almost the halfway point, despite Ward making some adjustments in the 3rd that perhaps saw him win that round and the 5th, Kovalev was outboxing Kovalev in toto. He tapped Ward on the chest, and Ward acknowledged with a nod and a ‘Thank you, man.’ After years of opponents running away from him, Kovalev now has one of the best right in front of him.

Round 4: Hard left by Ward glances off Kovalev.

What he did against Kovalev was considerably more dramatic. Ward had dug himself a points hole early, but he stood up and took Kovalev’s firepower into the middle rounds. Nice jab by Ward, and another one.

Kovalev was not one bit happy. But Ward dug deep and managed to land some good punches of his own in a fight that built to a climax in the later rounds.

The action hit a crescendo in the ninth and 10th rounds, when Ward stuck his head in the lion’s mouth and managed to survive. Kovalev wanted to fight us from distance. The judges didn’t agree. The challenger outlanded Kovalev in four of the final seven rounds, according to CompuBox. Two of the judges still saw Ward winning round 12.

“It was about those in-the-trenches moments”, Ward said.

The fight was just one of two highly controversial decisions on the card.

Maurice Hooker of Dallas said his goal was to knock out Darleys Perez (33-2-2) of Colombia in their junior welterweight semi-main event.

Klimas noted that Kovalev has had to claw his way to the top of the boxing ranks, noting that the Russian was not pushed by the media and “never was protected like many fighters are nowadays”.

Dieter Kurtenbach is a Senior Writer for Fox Sports. But despite the clinic Kovalev put on, he refused to be denied on this night. Glad he won….but he did not deserve this. I had to change plans, but the important thing was to get up smiling, get up and show him that he hadn’t intimidated me. “The fight was not like the decision”, he said. But he did not deserve this. It complained about the scoring and the job by Hall of Fame referee Robert Byrd, who allowed for plenty of clenching, wrestling and headlocks. Kovalev also has deceptive mobility, which could be an important asset in the most important fight of his career. And Ward at times barreled into Kovalev, as if he had practiced tackling drills during training camp.

Former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi, who was watching from ringside, agreed with the judges and scored the fight for Ward. That means the cheering will largely be for Ward. Ward has not lost a competitive boxing match since age 14. I knew it was going to be a tough fight. This is boxing, not grappling. “What this town represents for the sport of boxing, it’s an honour to be headlining here”.

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

“It’s the wrong decision”, Kovalev said. “I don’t know where you got that from”. I agree with that. There is momentum for a Kovalev-Ward rematch, and promoters would be wise not to blow it. 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. However, it remains to be seen whether a fight between Ward and Stevenson could take place.

That coincided with Ward’s desperation to close the gap, and the boxer transformed to more of a fighter, especially in the seventh, when he repeatedly landed punches to the face and body.

Could Ward get through the entire fight without getting hammered at least 70 to 80 times with Stevenson’s power shots? “The crowd, you can hear, they thought I won”. It’s a risky fight for Ward.