Sergey Kovalev

By Allan Fox: Fresh off his controversial victory over IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) last Saturday night, Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) wants to move up to heavyweight to challenge for a world title in the right “situation before he retires from boxing. Ward isn’t going to move up yet to heavyweight. He has a rematch against Kovalev that he’ll need to get out of the way in early 2017.

Ward reportedly is not interested in taking on the two giant heavyweight champions in WBC champion Deontay Wilder and IBF champion Anthony Joshua. He wants to fight someone else if the opportunity arises. The 6’4” Joseph Parker and 6’3” Andy Ruiz Jr. are about to fight over the vacant WBO heavyweight title.

read more

By Kurt Jean: Independent of your agreement, Andre Ward is the new world light heavyweight champion after beating IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The three judges at ringside scored in his favor. That is the official result. Now, depending on liking and what is valued when assessing a fighter’s effectiveness, which is our perception, there could be a million different variations, and believe me, there are and they wouldn’t be wrong.

They would reflect our own inherent personal preferences and what we estimate as action and output sufficiently decisive to win a fight. That’s life. It is all strictly relative. If Kovalev had won, I would have felt like, based on the total picture, all in all, it would be a very correct and plausible outcome also.

read more

By Allan Fox: Main Events promoter Kathy Duva says her fighter Sergy “Krusher” Kovaelv (30-1-1, 26 KOs) beat challenger Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) last Saturday night in their fight on HBO pay-per-view, and that they’ll beat him again in the rematch that they’re asking for. Unfortunately for Duva, the three judges that worked the fight – Burt Clements, Glenn Trowbridge and John Mckaie – felt differently in scoring the fight for Ward 114-113, 114-113 and 114-113.

Duva says that Kovalev deserved to win the 10th round, which all three judges scored for Ward. If Kovalev had won the 10th round on all three judges; scorecards, he would have won the fight. The 10th round was a difficult one to score, however.

read more

By Chris Williams: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) says his game plan was to anger IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) last Saturday night by talking to him and frustrating him in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ward said his trainer Virgil Hunter told him to intentionally make the 33-year-old Kovalev angry, because he felt that he was angry type of fighter that wears his emotions on his sleeves.

Ward then went about doing that last Saturday by doing things like talking, faking bolo punches, and wrestling with him on the inside. Ward says that Kovalev had no inside game to speak of, so he worked him over in close. Ward points out that Kovalev tried to tell everyone that he was a dirty fighter, but referee Robert Byrd wasn’t buying into any of it. Ward had the advantage in boxing skills and the inside game against Kovalev. That was clear.

read more

By Chris Williams: Sergey Kovalev has now experienced what it feels like to lose for the first time in his 12 round decision defeat at the hands of Andre “SOG” Ward from last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now it’s a good time for Kovalev to accept his defeat mentally, give credit where credit is due, and learn from the loss.

Kovalev needs to lick his wounds from the battle, accept what has happened, and move on. If Kovalev, 33, and his promoter Kathy Duva want the rematch with Ward, then now is the time to make themselves heard by asking for it in a professional manner without anger or complaints. It doesn’t help things if they bitterly complain to the media about the decision from last Saturday against Ward.

read more

By Eric Baldwin: Two days after Andre Ward’s contested 12 round unanimous decision over IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev last Saturday night, Kathy Duva, the promoter for Kovalev, says they’re shooting for March as the target date for the rematch with the 32-year-old Ward.

Duva says they are ABSOLUTELY going to demand the rematch with Ward. That’s their right. They want the rematch, so will need to give them one. Duva says needs to look at the contract to see how much time Ward has before he must give Kovalev a rematch.

read more

By Rishad Marquardt: ‘Sport and politics shouldn’t mix’ is the old saying and this writer will be adhering to that principle, choosing not to ponder socio-political matters in the arena of boxing journalism any time soon. In this second decade of the twenty-first century there are so many virtual avenues in virtual worlds people can stroll down to engage in political or philosophical dialogue.

Sports journalism, now more than ever, can be a sanctuary for those of us who have become wearisome of the poppycock that stains the front pages of our newspapers and gleams out at us from our TV and computer screens. But alas, following the light heavyweight title clash between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, I find myself forced to dip my toes into the pond of political analogy.

read more

By Michael Montero – Over 13,000 fans trickled into the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Saturday night to watch Sergey Kovalev put his light heavyweight titles on the line against Andre Ward. After what had been a lackluster undercard (to put it nicely), the subdued atmosphere quickly sprung to life as the fighters made their way into the ring. Not surprisingly, it was a pro-Ward crowd, as the American received cheers to the Russian’s jeers. Both men entertained the fans in a contest that turned out to be better than many expected. But when it was all said and done, the night would end in controversy.

read more