In what other sport would this be even CLOSE to being acceptable??

[Batman]

Watched it again, but with the sound off (thanks for the YouTube, Batman).
The robbery is even more obvious than ever.

Round 1: Hard Kov jab rattles Ward. Not much else. 10-9 Kov
Round 2: Knockdown. 10-8 Kov
Round 3: Not much actually connected from either side, but gave the edge to Ward. 10-9 Ward
Round 4: Ward does precious little except for meaningless pawing. 10-9 Kov
Round 5: Close round, but gave edge to Kov. 10-9 Kov
Round 6: Clear round for Kov. Ward going backwards and grappling (I hate grappling). 10-9 Kov
Round 7: Could call this one even, but I'll generously give it to Ward. 10-9 Ward
Round 8: They BOTH did a lot of missing, not just Kov. 10-9 Ward
Round 9: 10-9 Kov
Round 10: Ward bolo'ed..... Kov jabbed him in the face. Clear round for Kov. 10-9 Kov
Round 11: One of the better rounds of the fight. Good exchanges. Ward lefts and Kov rights. 10-9 Ward
Round 12: Close round, but 10-9 Kov

116-111 Kovalev


Several things.

Ward missed just as much as Kov.
I absolutely HATE Ward's style with a passion. Grappling is Ward's style. To Kov's credit, he was drawn into it, but refused to be pushed around.
Kov was the aggressor all night long. He was the defending champion. How the hell do you lose three belts like that?

It's official.... it was highway robbery, and HBO are accomplices.

Let's be fair, a lot of people scored it to ward as well, most of them wider than the judges scorecards.

I had the same score the other way.

No robbery, ward won.. simple.

Simply giving Ward the last 6 rounds is taking the easy way out. It's saying... "Oh, Ward is coming back. Let's just give him every round he survives."
That's not what scoring is supposed to be about.

But that's what I (and the judges, and lots of pundits) saw.

I'm like you mate I hate ward and his huggy ass style and if anything I was going in biased toward kov.

I said earlier rounds 3 4 5 and 6 decided the fight for me, had Kov stayed on him and took those rounds he had the fight on my card.

I think 1 round either eay in this fight is fair.

It's nowhere near the robbery people are saying it is.

Kov said "of course, American judges in America with an american fighter"

Well if memory serves Hopkins wasn't given even a share of a round so he can't use that.

On the flip side this is a much bigger fight than Hopkins was and there is a lot more money to be made from it

[Vendettos]

Fair play to you both.

I wouldn't care who won either way.

I just scored it for Ward.

Close fight and I'm not annoyed that people are upset Kov lost

I'm just annoyed that peeps are shouting massive robbery.

It just wasn't.

[TitoFan]

Fair play to you both.

I wouldn't care who won either way.

I just scored it for Ward.

Close fight and I'm not annoyed that people are upset Kov lost

I'm just annoyed that peeps are shouting massive robbery.

It just wasn't.

Here's what I think it is, Vend.

Had this been a regular fight, with no nationalistic overtones, or an American S.O.G. with an undefeated record..... it may not have been so bad. Still the wrong decision, but nothing to be angry about. But given the magnitude and the circumstances..... as well as the utter predictability of the judges decision..... it made it all the more ridiculous.

It's the utter predictability of the decision. Some of us were calling it since midway through the fight.
Kovalev wasn't going to get a fair shake, no matter what.

[Vendettos]

Fair play to you both.

I wouldn't care who won either way.

I just scored it for Ward.

Close fight and I'm not annoyed that people are upset Kov lost

I'm just annoyed that peeps are shouting massive robbery.

It just wasn't.

Here's what I think it is, Vend.

Had this been a regular fight, with no nationalistic overtones, or an American S.O.G. with an undefeated record..... it may not have been so bad. Still the wrong decision, but nothing to be angry about. But given the magnitude and the circumstances..... as well as the utter predictability of the judges decision..... it made it all the more ridiculous.

It's the utter predictability of the decision. Some of us were calling it since midway through the fight.
Kovalev wasn't going to get a fair shake, no matter what.

I understand what your saying but scoring shouldn't be judged on how big the fight is.. every fighter world class or pub puts there life on the line to make money and give us a show.

I felt Ward won but I fully understand why you believe what you do man.

[erics44]

I thought ward won also

I'd wouldn't have argued if kov won

What I can't understand is anyone saying either of them dominated anything, every round was really close

[Silkeyjoe]

1 Kov 10-9
2 Kov 10-8
3 Ward 10-9 (close)
4 Kov 10-9 (close)
5 Ward 10-9 (close)
6 Kov 10-9
7 Ward 10-9
8 Ward 10-9 (close)
9 Ward 10-9
10 Ward 10-9 (close)
11 Kov 10-9 (close)
12 Draw 10-10

114-114 a draw

Very scrappy fight. Kov sucked into Wards fight and cost him the fight. Lots of close rounds. Being the aggressor and forcing the action I can see why people think Kov was unlucky but nowhere near a robbery.

Macklins comment - "i just like the clean work of Ward"

Someone asked if Floyd would have done anything different to Ward. I dont think so. He would have gone about it the same way.