Comments Thread For: Daily Bread Mailbag: Kovalev vs. Ward Post-Fight Mega Bag

[M Bison]

This is pretty much how many feel about the fight. Ward did great to stem the tide late on, but seemed to be given some rounds simply because he wasn't getting dominated any more.

Malignaggi was indeed the worst offender, entirely focused on what Ward was doing and totally ignoring everything Kovalev was doing (sort of Kovalev throws 3 punches and only lands 1, so Ward wins that exchange on defence). The whole sky team had it for Ward, but I wonder how much Malignaggi influenced that - eg, replace Malignaggi's influence with Doug Fischer's, and I wonder who the sky team would have had then.

I think the best argument remains that if Ward had put in Kovalev's performance, and Kovalev had put in Wards's performance (ie roles reversed, Ward gets the knockdown in round 2), then just imagine how the crowd would have reacted if Kovalev had been given a unanimous 114-113 !!!!

They would have gone from complete confidence that their guy had it, to shock and outrage. There is no question in mind we would have seen soda-cups flying around in that scenario.

So basically Ward wins no matter which boxer he was in there. Fair ? Not. And that's the controversy right there. If roles were reversed and Ward had put in Kovalev's performance, with Kovalev then being given the W, I'd be equally incensed that Ward got robbed of a valid win.

De La Hoya said after Malignaggi's loss to Diaz in Texas that there needed to be an independent governing body to ensure that when fighters fight another competitor in their hometown or home country, neutral judges and referees are always selected.

Whether its Malignaggi/Diaz, John/Juarez, Ward/Kovalev, this will remain the case.

Exactly it'd be a fake win, like saying you're unbeaten and TBE like Floyd did even though Maidana and Castillo both beat him in the first fights.

Boxing fans need to take a reality check its not hard to see what is happening here, I watch boxing nearly every single weekend and I see robberies left, right and, center.
The robberies we're getting are those that usually facilitate the idea that this young up and comer with this 0 is the next hot prospect or to just simply protect the guy who is with the bigger promotion examples this year would be:
(Examples of big promotion fighters winning via robbery)
Liborio Solis Vs. Jamie McDonnell
Ricky Burn Vs. Kiryl Relikh
Then examples of protecting that 0
Darleys Perez Vs. Maurice Hooker
Andre Ward Vs. Sergey Kovalev
Hughie Fury Vs. Fred Kassi

Too many dodgy things going on in the sport and I didn't even put much time into listing those guys.

[ShoulderRoll]

Naked eye I could see 3 scenarios. Kovalev 7 rounds to Ward’s 5. Which is 115-112 Kovalev because of the knockdown. Kovalev 6 rounds to Ward’s 6. Which is 114-113 Kovalev because of the knockdown. Or Ward 7 rounds to Kovalev’s 5, which is 114-113 Andre Ward. All three scenarios are in the ballpark

Well said.

I think all 3 scenarios are fair and reasonable. Wouldn't argue too much with anyone who saw it in of those three ways.

[LoveWisdomTruth]

Robbery and theft in boxing must be stopped. Judges should be given the time to review the tape if a party objects to a decision. The judges who ruled against Kovalev should be banned for life. The fight was not close, Kovalev won most rounds plus scored a knock down. Clear win for Kovalev was taken away by corrupted judges.

[bug0092]

Well said.

I think all 3 scenarios are fair and reasonable. Wouldn't argue too much with anyone who saw it in of those three ways.

Independent of everything. sure. But to have all 3 judges score the best case for Ward including giving Ward 17 of the last possible 18 rounds? Especially odd considering the one judge who gave Kovalev the 12th round would have otherwise given the fight to Ward with 115-112 score. From my perspective, I thought Kovelev clearly took the 10th which was universally awarded to Ward while the 12th looked quite a bit closer. The way that played out on the scorecards seems pretty questionable to me.

[aboutfkntime]

The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen 'Breadman' Edward discussing the hotly contested outcome between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward from last Saturday night, the battle of their trainers, Ward being a Hall of Fame fighter, and more.
[Click Here To Read More]

THIS article is why I love the breadman, despite disagreeing with him recently on a number of things

bread cannot prevent his passion from flowing onto the page

and it's great

the dude would curl up in his room and watch boxing for the rest of his life if he had enough fights/food and somewhere to shht

I don't want to hear bread comment on situations, because he has no access to inside information, he is just giving his opinion like everybody else..... but potential matchups and breaking down how a fight unfolded, pure magic

[aboutfkntime]

i watched round 10 in slow motion..kov outlanded ward 24-14. he put on a jabbing clinic in that round. .yet all three judges said dre won that. .

that's one question i would like to ask bread, if ward couldn't make adjustments against kovs jab by the tenth round, how can he fix this in a rematch? the reach of kovalev is crazy and the power he shoots the jab with means ward cant parry it down, it penetrates his guard ..in round two he tried slipping the jab and threw a right but got clipped

basically ward had absolutely NO answer for kovs jab..another problem is wards right hand was non existent, you can count on one hand how many times he used it.

but i give ward props for his chin, better than i thought.

but that fight was good for boxing regardless of all the outrage, because this is destined to be a trilogy

bread touched on that, that is likely reading a round by momentum...... most seem to agree on the 10th, although not sure I saw it quite as clear-cut the first time I watched

[aboutfkntime]

Robbery and theft in boxing must be stopped. Judges should be given the time to review the tape if a party objects to a decision. The judges who ruled against Kovalev should be banned for life. The fight was not close, Kovalev won most rounds plus scored a knock down. Clear win for Kovalev was taken away by corrupted judges.

oh jeez

just when my faith in human nature was partly restored

fk it, I'm back to disliking humans again now