Ward pulls off decision win over Kovalev for title

At this point many were surprised and Ward was losing the fight. However, it was in those moments that Ward utilized his inside punches to further exert his dominance. Ward was dropped for only the second time in his career by a right cross in the second round. He also got up, but still had to scramble his way to safety to escape the round.

SOG and his mentor Virgil Hunter have already conjured up a belief that they deserve the decision. will clench the three belts, imprisoning them for the foreseeable future. This was neither. This was a close, competitive fight that could have gone either way.

As it turned out, Ward didn’t have to.

Things looked terrible for Ward early. He took some shots, but he gave some back, and the fight reached a notable crescendo in the last three rounds.

“People forget that he was a light heavyweight when he won the Olympics”, Bernard Hopkins said before Ward beat Kovalev. “We did it, baby”.

“I think of this as Ocean’s 11 in the ring”, Merchant quipped. Three judges saw it the same way.

“I can’t do anything about controversy”.

Both fighters are 30-0, though Kovalev has 27 knockouts to 15 for Ward, who was the last American to win a boxing gold medal when he did it at the Athens Olympics 12 years ago. I have to disagree with some of the media guys because all they do is score pressure – even it it’s ineffective. It was a flash knockdown, and over the rounds I feel I broke him down.

Earlier, Kovalev had quickly made his superior punching power tell, rocking the challenger with two stiff jabs that appeared to startle Ward towards the end of the first round.

FightSaga’s Lee Cleveland, watching from home, scored it 115-113 for Kovalev while FightSaga’s Mark Weber, watching from ringside, favored Ward 114-113. Ward got way with tying Kovalev up all night, and the referee let it go on without addressing the rule bending. You can argue that Kovalev won the 10th (this writer says “no”) and the 12th (this writer says “yes” – he was landing the hellacious body shots that round). This isn’t an automatic hate thing like we see involved when Floyd Mayweather fights. Andre gave him some different looks, kept him off balance. Kovalev went 12 rounds against Isaac Chilemba, a marginal figure in the division, when they fought in July near Kovalev’s hometown. Once Ward adjusted, Kovalev wasn’t effective. He was basically just throwing.

“He did everything I expected him to do”, said Ward, who is now 31-0.

In the Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward boxing fight, which fighter do you think will have his first loss record? “You’re obviously aren’t in the right position”. I am pissed like I was when Pernell got robbed against Chavez. “He’s got a hard head”. To be great, great fighters have to fight other great fighters.

There was one opinion everyone shared. We weren’t shell-shocked by the judges somehow seeing an entirely different fight than nearly everyone else in the world saw that night.

“Ward would have a great career in the UFC”, Duva said sarcastically.

Asked if he would face Ward again, Kovalev replied: “Sure – and I’ll kick his ass”.

With Gennady Golovkin and Lennox Lewis in attendance, unified light-heavyweight champion Kovalev imposed himself early, flooring Ward in the second round, with the latter happy to just rise from the canvas and make it to the bell, having looked dazed and out of sorts.

“I wish I’d known that before the fifth round”, Hopkins said. I want a rematch.

“I have never ducked or dodged anyone but we are going to entertain all best offers”.

The victor of the final three stanzas, however, will be debated in boxing circles ad nauseam-at least until the public gets a second fight.