Sergey Kovalev “Andre Ward, He’s another piece of sh*t in my eyes! He’s not real man!”
All the big boxing names are currently gathered in New York, primarily for tonight’s world middleweight title clash between punchers Gennady Golovkin and Danny Jacobs. Included is one of the biggest hitters on the planet pound-for-pound, light-heavyweight “Krusher” Sergey Kovalev.
Throughout his great, Hall of Fame-worthy ring career, Carl Froch met just one man he could not defeat: Andre Ward. Meeting in the long awaited final to “The Super Six” super-middleweight tournament back in December of 2011, Ward and Froch battled for 12 less than thrilling rounds with Ward winning via clear decision.
One may feel the reason Froch – in speaking with FightHype.com – is so unkind to Ward is the defeat. But “The Cobra,” who works as a pundit for Sky Sports these days, insists he finds it “difficult” giving praise and credit to the unbeaten Ward even though he was defeated by him. Froch says Ward is “ugly” in fights and uses illegal tactics.
Much disputed, debated and demeaned too, boxing’s pound-for-pound list remains the definitive way to single out the best boxers in the world.
Making the selection for 2016 requires serious deliberation, as changes must be made. 2016 is only the second year in approximately 11 years of boxing that Floyd Mayweather is not at the top of boxing’s pound-for-pound list.
2016’s boxing year was okay, if not great. We saw some excellent fights – see Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter, Orlando Salido-Francisco Vargas, Jamie Conlan-Anthony Nelson – and there is still a little over a month to go before the end of the year. But some experts, Oscar De La Hoya for example, has not been happy with how the sport played out this year, even calling 2016 “one of the worst years in boxing history.”
Those fans who agree that 2016 was a disappointment can look ahead to a potentially great 2017 for the sport. Already we have confirmed fights to get excited about, including Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia, David Haye-Tony Bellew and more, and also a strongly pencilled in Wladimir Klitschko-Anthony Joshua fight. And with the continued rise of future stars such as Vasyl Lomachenko, Artur Beterbiev, Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk and others set to feature in further big fights, 2017 could really be a big fistic year.
Considered to be one of the best super lightweights in recent history, Kostya Tszyu (31-2-0) rarely makes himself available to comment on, or be interviewed for anything boxing related. But when he does pick up the microphone, it is not difficult to remember him as being one of the more outspoken, smart, and most importantly honest people in boxing.
Going into this past Saturday’s big light-heavyweight title fight showdown plenty of people were saying the winner between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev would be deserving of being placed atop the mythical but always hotly debated pound-for-pound rankings. Ward, as we all know, won – at least officially – and we cannot go back on things now.
So is Ward, who was a dominant super-middleweight for a number of years and is now a king at light-heavyweight, the best boxer, pound-for-pound on the planet? On paper, yes, he probably is, although a number of people may choose to rate Kovalev higher than “S.O.G” due to the fact that they felt, and feel, “Krusher” won on Saturday, only to be “robbed.”
Convention wisdom dictated that Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward could only go one of two ways, either a Kovalev KO or a Ward decision. As a nearly 2 to 1 favorite, most people assumed that a Ward decision was the most likely scenario. Early in the fight it looked as if Kovalev was well on his way to the upset, punctuated by a fierce knockdown of Ward in the second round. The tide gradually turned and by the fifth round they were fighting on even terms, with Ward appearing to take the majority of the middle rounds. The championship rounds looked to be split, depending on your preference for Kovalev’s more powerful punches, or Ward’s pinpoint ones.
The highly anticipated match-up between undefeated light heavyweight world champion Sergey Kovalev and undefeated former super middleweight world champion Andre Ward did not fail to live up to expectations. The two pound for pound elites battled for pound for pound supremacy in a back and forth fight which brought out the best of both fighters. After being dropped early by a devastating left-right combo from the champion, Andre Ward persevered and rallied back to secure the victory in this close and competitive affair. The official judges all scored the bout in favor of Andre Ward by the same score of 114-113.
The only thing fans are in agreement on regarding last night’s exciting fight between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward (the winner’s name goes first) is there simply has to be a rematch. The razor-thin unanimous decision awarded to Ward instantly became a topic of huge contention, even before either fighter had left the ring in Las Vegas – some even calling the verdict a “robbery,” some saying it is one of the worst they have ever seen.
There was a rematch clause inserted ahead of last night’s bout, so it seems there is a good chance a return fight will happen and soon. Kathy Duva, promoter of Kovalev, is calling for an immediate return. Kovalev, who says he never lost more than three rounds, is not guilty of having sour grapes; he genuinely believes he won the fight. Many millions of fight fans firmly agree with the now former light-heavyweight champ.
Sad affair saturday night at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. Expectations were high. Fans hoped for a classic matchup. What they got was an attempted mugging and resulting robbery. To call Andre Ward’s efforts scientific would be ill-judged, which is what happened with the decision in Ward’s favor.
One simple way to tell who won the fight is to look at each fighter’s face. Andre Ward’s was red, lumpy and swollen. The Krusher’s face was relatively unmarked.