Andre Ward says Kovalev not the strongest puncher he’s faced

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By Eric Baldwin: Andre Ward wasn’t in the mood to give former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev much credit after beating him last Saturday night in their fight on HBO pay-per-view. Despite winning the fight by a very narrow margin of 114-113 on all three scorecards, Ward boasted about Kovalev not being the hardest puncher he’s ever faced, and how he believes he wore down in the second half of the fight.

Kovalev appeared to be the one on the attack in the 11th and 12th rounds, while Ward was moving away, trying to hold. It’s unclear what Ward means by him thinking that Kovalev faded.

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Kovalev vs. Ward: Andre clinches a dubious decision

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By Gerardo Granados: Last Saturday night, Andre Ward put up an ugly boxing exhibition to clinch a dubious unanimous decision win over Sergey Kovalev by the scores of 114-113 x 3 (by the three fight judges) to win the WBA-WBO-IBF light heavyweight titles. It was neither a boxing chess match nor a good scrap, but instead, one of the dirtiest title fights that I have seen in a very long time.

Elbows, headbutts, low blows, kidney punches, rabbit punches, pushing, tackles, hitting when ordered to break and endless clinching that resembled Greco Roman Wrestling.

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Andre Ward: Kovalev has no inside game

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By Allan Fox: Andre Ward sounded as if he were gloating after the fight about beating IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev by a disputed 12 round unanimous decision in their fight on HBO pay-per-view. Ward said afterwards that he felt that Kovalev had no inside game. However, Ward did a lot of wrestling and was able to get away with tying Kovalev up for 12 rounds due to referee Robert Byrd playing no part in trying to control the holding/wrestling from Ward.

You can argue that the holding/wrestling was excessive, and Ward was able to get away with due Byrd choosing to take a laissez faire approach to controlling that part of the fight. Byrd left Kovalev out there on his own to deal with the wrestling. Kovalev had never faced an opponent that did that much holding, and he clearly wasn’t ready to deal with it.

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What if Ward landed his right hand on Kovalev?

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By Kurt Jean: Outrage, cries of foul play, dirty politics will surely be put to rest after the rematch between newly crowned IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Andre Ward and the beaten Sergey Kovalev after Ward’s close 12 round unanimous decision win last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In fact, to the keen eye, it was obvious who won that fight.

The true pivotal moment of that fight wasn’t anything Andre landed, it’s what he didn’t manage to, or got beat by the punch to. That moment resulted in a knockdown for Kovalev. This moment is essential in understanding the greatness of the comeback victory by Andre Ward. Boxing is all about confidence, momentum and belief. Whatever you think you can do, you will do. Had Ward’s right landed, it would have been a different fight, much different. But it didn’t.

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Kovalev-Ward final punch stats

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By Chris Williams: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) unseated IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) last Saturday night in beating him by a 12 round unanimous deciusion to rop away his three world titles in front of large audience of fans at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fight was so close that the punch stats showed very little to separate the two fighters. Ward won the fight by the scores 114-113, 114-113, and 114-113. I thought Ward won the fight by two or three rounds. Kovalev was no longer effective after round 4. I gave Ward the last eight rounds of the fight. Most of the judges had him winning the last six. That sounds about right.

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Ward beat Kovalev? He won’t beat ‘the Other’ Russian!

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By Jaime Ortega: The fight of the year was controversial, but not necessarily robbery. I witness the fight live on ringside at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Andre Ward’s first 4 rounds were not stellar and cost him an early knockdown – he was to not get knocked out. After the six round, Ward started to pick up the pace and landed shots on Sergey Kovalev’s body; many of the shots that landed on Kovalev’s body hit the elbow and not the target.

Ward shifted to target the body instead of the head because he had a hard time stopping Kovalev’s counter left. As I had mentioned on my previous article, Kovalev’s reach is enough to keep Ward at distance. Every time Ward launched a quick jab to catch the Russian’s face, Kovalev extended his left arm to counter him back – therefore, Ward ran into Kovalev’s left often. Ward figured out that Kovalev’s left was a problem and changed his strategy later on the rounds.

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Did Andre Ward do enough to take #1 pound for pound spot?

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By Dan Ambrose: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KO) dethroned IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) last Saturday night in beating him by a close 12 round unanimous decision in their fight for the No.1 pound-for-pound match. Ring Magazine is expected to install the 32-year-old Ward as the No.1 fighter in their pound for pound rankings in replacing unbeaten WBA World super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KOs) for the top spot. However, you can make a very strong argument that Ward’s highly questionable 12 round decision win over Kovalev wasn’t much of win.

In fact, it’s seen largely by overall world boxing population as a loss for Ward. The judges scored the fight 114-113 x 3 for Ward. The scores were questionable, as two of the judges had Kovalev losing every round from the 7th.

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Andre Ward showed glimpses of greatness

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By Matthias Predonzan: Unfortunately, I was right twice about last Saturday night’s Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward fight on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. When I predicted Andre Ward victory in a competitive fight but also forecasting a chorus of voices trying to diminish the value of Andre success. The argumentation that follows will try to explain to boxing fans what the sport of boxing is about.

It is a noble art where the rules are to price the contender that is able to hit more, without to be hit back that much. To impose his technique and ring generalship, as well as imposing effective aggressiveness.

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Kovalev has rematch clause for Ward fight

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By Eric Baldwin: Former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev and his promoter Kathy Duva are extremely disappointed with last Saturday’s narrow 12 round unanimous decision loss to unbeaten former super middleweight champion Andre Ward in front of a crowd of mostly Ward supporters of 13,310 fans at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There will be a rematch between Kovalev and Ward, but the details will need to be worked out before the news can be revealed to the boxing public for a second fight.

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Kovalev angry, says “I lost only 3 rounds”

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By Dan Ambrose: Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) found out what it’s like to be on the receiving end up what many boxing fans saw as a hometown decision in losing to American Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) by an ugly controversial 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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