Ward vs Kovalev - The battle for PFP Supremecy

[Jobster]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

Let's go through the punch stats.

Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev - CompuBox Punch Stats - Boxing News

Round 1 - Kovalev (10-9). He was busier and outlanded Ward.

Round 2 - Kovalev (10-8). He scored a knockdown.

Round 3 - Ward (10-9). Close round. I'll give S.O.G. the benefit of the doubt.

Round 4 - Kovalev (10-9). Landed more power punches and more total punches. Kovalev landed 40% of his power punches. Easy call.

Round 5 - Ward (10-9). Another close round, but Ward landed more big punches.

Round 6 - Kovalev (10-9). Another close round, but Kovalev landed twice as many power punches.

Round 7 - Ward (10-9). Not close.

Round 8 - Ward (10-9). Another tight one, but I'll score this in Ward's favor.

Round 9 - Ward (10-9). This was his best round. Not even close.

Round 10 - Kovalev (10-9). Kovalev was pretty dominant this round though both guys were active.

Round 11 - Ward (10-9). Tight round. Kovalev was far more aggressive, but Andre outlands him.

Round 12 - Ward (10-9). This was a hard one to score. Almost even in every respect.

Ward 114-113

It appears that you're giving all the close rounds to the contender and not the Champ. You really feel like Ward did enough to take that man's belts away?

I don't. Honestly, given that Kovalev took substantially less money than Ward to make this fight, this type of nonsense is bad for the sport. It just leaves a bad taste in people's mouths.

Why should people take any risks at all when things like this happen?

Additionally, this fight substantially hurt Kovalev's earning power. As the champ, he already accepted much less than Ward to make the first fight. Assuming Ward takes the rematch, Kovalev likely lost out on millions of dollars.

I thought the fight was pretty much even, but the knockdown put in Kovalev's favor. At worst, it should have been a draw.

Controversial decisions wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't so hard to make fight, but guys in boxing don't want to fight each other. This gives them a good reason not to.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by Jobster

It appears that you're giving all the close rounds to the contender and not the Champ. You really feel like Ward did enough to take that man's belts away?

I said earlier that the fight could have gone either way. There were four rounds that were close rounds and the judges did not score those rounds the same way. If one judge gives Round 4 to Ward and another to Kovalev, and then vice versa for Round 6, then it's a wash at the end of the day. My point was that the final tally wasn't some type of travesty. There were 4 extremely close rounds that could have been scored in either fighter's favor.

Originally Posted by Jobster

I don't. Honestly, given that Kovalev took substantially less money than Ward to make this fight, this type of nonsense is bad for the sport. It just leaves a bad taste in people's mouths.

It was a PPV fight. We don't know what Kovalev's share of the total purse will be after all of the PPV buys are factored in. This will be the biggest payday of his career.

Originally Posted by Jobster

Additionally, this fight substantially hurt Kovalev's earning power. As the champ, he already accepted much less than Ward to make the first fight. Assuming Ward takes the rematch, Kovalev likely lost out on millions of dollars.

How did it hurt his earning power? The second fight will be bigger than the first fight simply because the first fight went completely under the radar. This was a good matchup that Vegas wasn't particularly excited about, but since it actually delivered on action, I suspect there will be much heavier promotion for the rematch.

You have to remember that neither of these guys had had a PPV fight prior to last weekend. This was the first time Kovalev earned at least a million dollars from a fight. It's not like there are 2 or 3 other fights that could earn him 7 figures. There is nobody that would be happier about a Ward-Kovalev rematch than Sergey Kovalev.