Andre Ward v Sergey Kovalev 2 - 17/06

darced

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tinpib

darced wrote: »

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Weird enough fight, very tense. Loads of little instances, low blows, fighters stopping, tons of holding as well.

Morrison J

Kovalev wanted out imo. Always been soft to the body. Showed up big style tonight.

Would've liked to see Weeks leave it a bit longer but I felt the outcome was inevitable. Kovalev was ****ed.

Hopefully Ward finally gets the credit he deserves now. Fantastic fighter. One of the best of this generation.

Burial.

Oh Andre it's never easy. Stoppage is here say, obviously Internet it going mad again, but pretty tough for the ref to call when Kovalev is bunched over so much. I'll have to watch again tomorrow. I did feel like Kovalev was loooking for a way to quit, turning his back and looking at the ref too much. You have to take a knee there, you're not fighting back and no standing 8 counts in unified rules. Can't blame Weeks too much when you're hurled over with no hands up. Definitely gassed again. Ward's right hand was a beauty. Lost quite a bit of money backing Ward on points but happy he's got the win. Don't expect credit from the casuals. Shame, Ward is an all time great in my eyes.

Joeseph Balls

Slept through alarm, just watching the repeat now. Ward hit kovalev a peach of a body shot rd 2

walshb

I had Kovalev well ahead. Couldn't score rds for Ward. Kovalev definitely was gassing, but seriously, 3-4 of the shots seemed low in the final rd..particularly the ones that ended it.

Halloween Jack

walshb wrote: »

I had Kovalev well ahead. Couldn't score rds for Ward. Kovalev definitely was gassing, but seriously, 3-4 of the shots seemed low in the final rd..particularly the ones that ended it.

Probably had kovalev 2 ahead, shame about the low blows throughout the fight from Ward, particularly at the end. In fairness though Ward was coming into it and had put money in the bank bodywise thought the fight, was just waiting to cash it in.

walshb

Can't blame Weeks really. If he deemed the blows legal then he was right to stop it..could have given a count I suppose.

The rds were close, but could only really score them for the man coming forward and controlling the ring..

Watching replay now, final couple blows weren't in the nuts but they were low as in illegal...

walshb

Ward closing the show reminded me of a prime Ray Leonard..very impressive, but the fact that the victim may have been low blow'D kind of takes away from it.

walshb

Just looking through the thread...fook all action on it for the fight..all fast asleep it seems.

walshb

Ward hasn't a hope in hell at HW...

There were low blows in other rds. May well have contributed to Kovalev suffering.

There did seem to be a "I want out" buzz from Sergey, but easy us saying that. He was the one taking some low blows..

Plus, looked like Ward was going to finish the stronger, but again his low blows being a factor in that prediction.

megadodge

Oh boy, oh boy. The internet will go 'nuts' over this one - correctly so!

Just watched the recording and have rewound the finishing three shots and the first was definitely low, hard to say with the second, but the third was absolutely 100% way below the border. There is a good camera angle that was shown twice during the Sky broadcast and it's clear as day. No 'borderline' excuses.

And Paulie put it perfectly when he said even if you thought the blows were legal the fight still shouldn't have been stopped. I agree 100%. There was actually no reason to stop it. Surely in a fight of that magnitude Weeks had to show a little more circumspection. It was obvious Kovalev was hunched over to show the shots were low. Either tell him to him to get on with it, if you thought they were legal, or give him time to recover and deduct Ward if you thought they were illegal.

And I scored the first fight to Ward, so it's not like I'm not being objective here, I just hate to see a big fight being decided in such an sh*tty way.

Halloween Jack

walshb wrote: »

Ward hasn't a hope in hell at HW...

There were low blows in other rds. May well have contributed to Kovalev suffering.

There did seem to be a "I want out" buzz from Sergey, but easy us saying that. He was the one taking some low blows..

Plus, looked like Ward was going to finish the stronger, but again his low blows being a factor in that prediction.

Who does he think he's fighting at heavy? Those days are over, with modern heavies being so big

Burial.

I'd Ward up by a point. Once again Harold Lederman had the worst scorecard in the world. The man needs to be left go, clueless.

Fight probably shouldn't have been stopped but with no standing 8 counts, what's Weeks supposed to do when one guy is sitting on the bottom rope hunched over with his arms down not looking to engage. Were it someone like Joshua or Golovkin dealing the punches I'm certain a stoppage would be made too.

Ward looked bigger and faster last night than the first fight. Certaintly looked more filled out. Him fighting at Heavy has to be a piss take, and especially Joshua. He'd need a smaller Heavy ala Roy fighting John Ruiz. Parker would be the obvious choice if they were dead set, however I wouldnt consider it a handy fight at all.

However I think a fight with Bellew (the old Creed drama eh) at Cruiser could be a real possibility. Bellew doesn't really care about what he does as long as he's getting paid and I'd imagine Roc Nation would sort something out that way. It's a highly winnable fight for Ward and Bellew isn't getting starched hard. Bellew doesn't hit harder than Kovalev and technically he has nothing on Ward.

PeterTheNinth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ay4wunub64

Fairly stormy post fight press conference with Kathy Duva. They are not happy with the low blows at all.

megadodge

Just saw on another forum the following tweet from Tony Weeks -

"I stopped the fight due to Kovalev not protecting himself had I saw the shots were low I would not have stopped the fight. My mistake"

Fair play for him to admit it, but it shows that there's no 'borderline' nonsense. Those finishing blows were illegal.

I feel the non-stop whinging after the first fight, by both Kovalev's camp and internet supporters (as seen on this board) is really coming against Kovalev this time around when he actually deserves a lot of sympathy.

walshb

I don't know Lederman's card but he was not alone in having Kovalev up..

I had him well up, albeit some close rds. Ward was for me losing 2/3 of each rd. He had little spells in each rd that may have swayed people, but Kovalev's spells were continuous in the rds..

megadodge

walshb wrote: »

I don't know Lederman's card but he was not alone in having Kovalev up..

I had him well up, albeit some close rds. Ward was for me losing 2/3 of each rd. He had little spells in each rd that may have swayed people, but Kovalev's spells were continuous in the rds..

I actually agree with you! Wahay!

I had Kovalev 3 up after the 7th. There were three rounds I have noted as 'close' or 'very close' two of which I gave to Kovalev and one to Ward.

megadodge

Another tweet from Tony Weeks -

"I respect you guys. I seen the replay I was wrong I missed some shots that were low from Ward I made a mistake"

Honest, but pretty damning.

walshb

megadodge wrote: »

I actually agree with you! Wahay!

I had Kovalev 3 up after the 7th. There were three rounds I have noted as 'close' or 'very close' two of which I gave to Kovalev and one to Ward.

I must have misread your post..did it not say you scored for Ward?

Anyway, I found it difficult to score for Ward because he was under the most pressure in the rds, even if they were close rds..

The point people are making that Ward would likely have won anyway is disingenuous due to low blows being landed on several occasions.

Edit...You said you scored for Ward in first fight.

megadodge

walshb wrote: »

I must have misread your post..did it not say you scored for Ward?

Anyway, I found it difficult to score for Ward because he was under the most pressure in the rds, even if they were close rds..

The point people are making that Ward would likely have won anyway is disingenuous due to low blows being landed on several occasions.

Edit...You said you scored for Ward in first fight.

I thought Kovalev's excellent jab was the defining element of the fight and agree that he was winning larger parts of the rounds. Ward had his moments, but they were fewer.

I also agree with the your point on people claiming he was going to be stopped anyway. Kovalev was definitely rocked by that right hand and was under pressure, but three low blows in a row???

Burial.

I'd wager with any man that Kovalev doesn't make it out of the round anyway. No attempt at defending himself, no cop on to take a knee and recover after being stunned and nailed to the body a few times right after (not the low blow which came right at the end). If Ward lands a few more punches up stairs (which is highly likely given Kovalev's lack of fighting back) Weeks is stepping in anyway.

walshb

There were low blows to begin the downfall..

Burial.

On me phone in bed unable to sleep with the heat and silage gear roaring by but there's a picture doing the rounds on reddit of Weeks showing what's low and what's not, with his hand pointing to Kovalev's belt line. The shot where Kovalev tries to claim as illegal and look for time where Weeks' doesn't allow was on the belt, and besides the final blow which was low, the rest were fine from what I can tell. Your balls are not located by your navel. Sad way to have the fight stopped but I maintain he's seconds from being stopped regardless.

I still cannot fathom how he doesn't take a knee. Some lads are just too damn stubborn.

Edit: There at the start is the one where Kovalev was arguing about and Weeks said no
https://twitter.com/TheSportsJunky1/status/876287182218113025

Edit2: Amazing how Ward's killer right hand as almost the same situation where he got knocked down the last time. Trying to avoid Kovalev's jab and hit back with a counter.

titan18

Too many low blows by Ward, I counted about 3-4 in that last round and was several others nearly every round.

normanoffside

megadodge wrote: »

Just saw on another forum the following tweet from Tony Weeks -

"I stopped the fight due to Kovalev not protecting himself had I saw the shots were low I would not have stopped the fight. My mistake"

Fair play for him to admit it, but it shows that there's no 'borderline' nonsense. Those finishing blows were illegal.

I feel the non-stop whinging after the first fight, by both Kovalev's camp and internet supporters (as seen on this board) is really coming against Kovalev this time around when he actually deserves a lot of sympathy.

Is that not a Parody account?

Burial.

Twitter is a fake lads I'm almost certain:

"I will be the Referee for #WardKovalev2 I also want to thank @Real_AlHaymon #ThankAlHaymon". LMFAO if that's real.

Also, the account made some comment towards Al Bernstein saying sorry etc. only for Bernstein to say:
https://twitter.com/AlBernstein/status/876331039924277248

Morrison J

walshb wrote: »

Ward hasn't a hope in hell at HW...

I think he'd have a great chance of beating Joseph Parker.

Morrison J

Hard to say but I really think the bad stoppage more robbed Ward of one of the great performances and finishes than it robbed Kovalev of the fight. Kovalev was spent. 

hbhook

I had Kov winning but it was very close. In that Twitter vid. From start to finish. Borderline blow, sweet sweet right hand that rocked and hurt Kov. Then borderline blow, low, borderline and low. I think I'm being fair. That's what I aw anyway. If Weeks knew Kov was complaining about low blows then he should have gave Kov a standing count at least. I agree also that Kov should have taken a knee but I guess he was too focused on surviving and what was happening. I'll watch again soon.