Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2016-11-19, fight not so exciting between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev: it gets two stars.Both undefeated, the WBA, IBF and WBO champion Sergey Kovalev entered this fight with a professional record of 30-0-1 (26 KOs=87%) and he is ranked as the No.1 light heavyweight in the world while his opponent, the 2004 Olympic light heavyweight gold medalist and former Wbc and Wba super-Mw champion Andre Ward, has a perfect boxing record of 30-0-0 (15 knockouts) and he entered as the No.3 in the same weight class. Both boxers have already fought twice in 2016: the “Krusher” Kovalev has beat Jean Pascal (=Kovalev vs Pascal 2) and Isaac Chilemba (=Kovalev vs Chilemba) while “SOG” Ward has won over Sullivan Barrera (=Ward vs Barrera) and Alexander Brand (=Ward vs Brand). Kovalev vs Ward is valid for the WBA, IBF and WBO World light heavyweight titles (all held by Kovalev). Watch the video and rate this fight!
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Date: 2016-11-19
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Division: light heavyweight (175 lbs, 79.4 kg)
Title: WBA, IBF and WBO World light heavyweight titles
Kovalev’s previous fight: Sergey Kovalev vs Isaac Chilemba
Ward’s previous fight: Andre Ward vs Alexander Brand
Their next fight: Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev 2
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Official video:
(Alternative free embeddable video hosted on Youtube)
Boxing drives another nail in its coffin with this one. The challenger displayed little ring generalship and was knocked to the canvas and outlanded by his opponent. Yet a few flush jabs are enough to take the W home? It’s this kind of c*ap that drives people straight to UFC.
Ya, no way that Ward clearly won. Maybe a Draw but that’s pushin it too. Glad most people see it was a bullsh*t call. Anyway Ward showed tremendous heart coming back like that but was clinching way too much. Ref shoulda pulled them apart more
KOV got this f*ck usa
This would have to be one of the most biased decisions that I have seen. A true champion against a grabber, a runner and a HAS BEEN. The Judges and the referee deserve to be totally banned from having anything to do with the sport. It appears to me that incorrect ethnicity and a conclusion in Ward’s favour were agreed upon well before the fight.
A great example of corruption, a robbery and a discrace to the sport: I have watched a hell of a lot of fights and this decision and the c*ap refereeing would be ten times worse than the Ali / Norton fight.
A total BS decision. How does a fighter that got knocked down once, got hit with harder shots, was back-pedaling the whole time, and was excessively clinching win a fight?
This for me, is why I’ve been slowly losing interests in boxing. Refs not doing anything to stop the excessive clinching, and rigged judging in important fights.
That’s what you get in this sport, I can’t see how the hell someone would score it in order to make Ward win. But it’s not surprising in the Canelo Mayweather fight one judge scored it a draw who the hell knows how. I think these judges need to be checked….this was one of the worst robberies i saw.
All what you speak on happened in the first 3 rds. Its a 12 rd fight buddy
No… It happened throughout the fight. I really thought the ref should’ve taken off points from Ward for clinching so much and refusing to engage.
It’s one thing to get in close and be smothering, but what Ward did last night was purely to tie up Kovalev’s arms so that he wouldn’t get punched in the face lol.
All my predictions were right except for this silly UD by the judges. But I am profoundly disgusted by one person right now: the referee. He didn’t do nothing. Everytime Ward would hold Kovalev, the ref wouldn’t call a break, so Ward could choose when to release Kovalev’s arm and punch him at that time. Most of the shots he landed were on those occasions. If this is what you call the best pound for pound, boxing is ill. While on the other hand, Kovalev was dominant for the first 7 rounds, landed the most significant punches. I agree in the end it was a close fight, I had it 115-113 Kovalev. But still… Ward won in such a lousy fashion…
P.S. I hate Max Kellerman.
Well said, Olivier! Yes, boxing is ill. Maybe not terminally so (hopefully not!) but I think it will go on losing market share to MMA along with what’s left of its credibility. We may soon only be able to savor its excitement (when there is any). Any sense of it being organized meaningfully is long gone.
This was a year of mostly terrible fights and now we have this anticipated duel ending in a terrible decision. Oddly enough, I want to be more disgusted, lol, but I can’t bring myself to care… The decision is c*ap, but I enjoyed some of the rounds just enough to put up with the the tiresome HBO cheerleading and the usual blind judging. As Polanski’s masterpiece says,
“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
Yet yall loved it when Hatton was doing that same sh*t to Mayweather. Kov lost. He didn’t lose bad but I had it as a draw
No doubt a close fight, but in the to be fair its a Kovalev win!! felt sorry for Kovalev.
Kovalev has won by 3 points. He has chosen to control the fight when the advantage was so big that he could have lost only by knock out. Bad decision.
This was the worst outcome we could have.
Though the early fight was bigger robbery, (Hooker Vs Perez) once I saw the outcome of it I KNEW unless Kovalev KO’d Ward this would happen.
Both Ward and Hooker fight for RN.
I’m am sorry to see this happen and wonder how much this fight card cost RN.
I took a glance acorss the web and it seems
everyone had it for Kovalev.
I had it 8-4 Kovalev with Plus 1 to Kovalev for the knock down.
(I only score 1 point per round and add a KD seperately after the fact. I will rewatch the fight without sound and see what I get again.
Its so disgusting!
I had the fight as a draw.
Ward got rds 4,5,6,7,8,9 and 11
Kovalev got rds 1,2,3,10 and 12.
The KD evened the fight up to me but I can see how ward gets the 7-5 because the 10th could have went either way. I don’t care what the announcers say because Ledermen and Lampley are always biased towards CERTAIN fighters. Truth be told once Ward got inside Kov couldn’t do sh*t. Lampley and Ledermen were ignoring the inside work by Ward which eventually took the velocity off of Kovalevs punches. There was no robbery, I prefer Kovalevs clean style over Wards sloppy inside sh*t but I call it the way I see it. I called it a draw but I can’t be mad at a 115-113 for award because rd 10 was close af. Can’t wait for the rematch.
robbery.
I have no idea how the hell they scored the card, I have it 115-112 for Kovalev. Harold also had it for Kovalev. Adre Ward is a great fighter, but this was no way a UD for him, simply impossible. Even a draw would’ve been weird, but no way in hell he won the fight. Sorry but this is another example why boxing is losing fans, this was simply a robbery.
Just seen the score cards, what a joke.
This fight sums up everything that is wrong with profesional boxing organizations at present: corruption and then again corruption. I guess they can’t prevent themselves from hammering nails in their own coffin. I f***ing don’t get how in the world the judges gave Ward the fight, it’s just delirious!
Ivan Drago is rolling over in his grave.
I saw Kov getting the 4th
I don’t hate kovalev but i not a fan of him but i think he win the fight or at least this should be a draw, there is no way ward have win this fight. Kovalev gonna destroy him next time he better be ready!
The fight was just OK but quite disappointing due to the excessive grabbing that was going on during the whole of it and totally allowed by the pseudo “referee”. Certainly,it was very close with a Kovalev doing well and very confident during the first part. Ward’s reaction was evident mostly in the second part but his usually excellent boxing techniques were almost absent therefore this reaction was no conclusive. In my opinion Kovalev won the fight just because the knock down he was able to produce in the second round. So the result should be in his favor for 114-113 or even with one more round in his favor. All the judges just ignored such event. Shame to all them. About the referee was almost inexistent. Once again a bad judgement tarnished the boxing world.
I agree with you, tango. But don’t forget Kellerman said it was a great great fight between two great great fighters, so it must be true! lol
Is there any kind of “audio filter” to get rid of Kellerman when I watch boxing on HBO? Anyone…? Please!
Hahaha! Good one!
I’m disgusted by the referee, the tactics deployed by Ward, the judging, the outcome, etc. But I wasn’t really “passionated” about this fight. On one hand you have the very anti-charismatic-almost-psychopath Kovalev (see the preview show to this fight for sweet quotes such as “I like to make my opponents pain (chuckles)”) and on the other hand you have the Son of Grabbing (ok ok, I admit it hasn’t always been like that).. I think Ward is an excellent fighter (so is Kovalev) but nothing’s so exciting about him. What I wanted to say is that, I didn’t root for neither one of these two really. I just rooted for boxing, and in that sense, I am very disappointed.
The ref was letting Ward punch during the clinches, didn’t even care to break them up. Overall the fight disappointed me, I had 116-113 Kovalev, giving two equal rounds in there. I don’t think Ward should be considered best pound-for-pound after this.
I was for ward but he lost.for me he won rd5 and 3 other rds. How can the judges give him the win, while he landed less punches and he got knocked down. I am his fan but i hate. Injustice.
You are right. I like Kovalev, but when my boxer wins and doesn’t deserve it it is frustrating!
Ward got 5,7,8, 9 and that’s it
A pic of some scores I found: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/152f118461f1f0ad588db109d4a11231d7c59809b6b4840a051b126c42200d28.jpg
Arjay, your prediction on Lomachenko-Walters? Should be an awesome fight! ;)
Agree it looks awesome, Olivier, but I haven’t the first idea who to pick. Loma is a great artist, of course, and now he faces a destroyer. Your prediction?
Btw, I see that the Ancient Mariner himself, Larry Merchant, has sided with us on the Ward-Kovalev decision.
Yeah, for Merchant I saw that too! But that’s no surprise, because it always seemed to me that he would be inclined to score in favor of the more active fighter, the aggressor. I never thought I would miss this guy, but Kellerman is driving me mad lately. I think I liked Merchant better simply because he talked less.
About the upcoming fight, I agree that Lomachenko is an artist, but so is Walters. When you look at his connect %, how these landed shots are spreaded all over his opponents’ body and head, you know you’re looking at a true maestro in the ring. He’s excellent with both hands, he’s got a solid jab and my favorite shot of his is his right uppercut. He used it very effectively against Darchinyan, a southpaw that often brang his left foot in front when throwing a straight back hand, just like Lomachenko does also at times. What may be an issue for him againt Lomachenko is that he doesn’t have a large output of punches/round and in order to beat the ukrainian you have to rough him and keep him busy defensively. But Lomachenko is a very special fighter. His footwork is amazingly swift and slick, like something we’ve never seen before. His only “flaw” seems to be on the inside, when fighting a bigger guy like Salido, like Walters? I could talk about this fight for hours it seems! THIS is the real fight of the year, not Ward-Kovalev. I’m already excited with tonight’s weigh-in that could be an issue for Walters and also a major factor in the fight. I think this will be a close fight, but I feel Lomachenko will win a decision. BUT, I will bet on the underdog Walters. Odds are interesting and I’ll be rooting for him. I think I like his style better.. ;)
Doug Fischer on this fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpS_qhrhJvw
I had Ward winning this fight by at least 2 rounds over Kov. Two rounds were really hard to call near the middle rounds but I felt the 114-113 was just about on point !
kov was robbed. boxing is washed as much as the judges are crooked. sad to see. hope rematch is a ko with less hugging allowed
Kovalev earned a lot of respect this night. I have Kovalev by 1 round. He did fade though. Kov didn’t close the deal.