Boxing

[spud_gun]

Ward is going to bore the **** out of everyone. He's going to punch and clinch and work Kovalev over on the inside

[Doc_Piptorious]

Damn, that's insane! Yeah I really hope it's not a stinker, Ward is more than capable of making it a bitty, slow, borefest but I hope it turns out more the way Kovalev wants to fight. I have a feeling Ward may make him look average but we shall see!

If Ward makes Kovalev look average then that would speak volumes about Ward's ability to be fair.


Ward's style may not always be easy on the eye, but to be able to use that tactic against the best guys takes serious ability and massive levels of concentration.


That being said, Kovalev has the power to make the best look pretty average too.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Haha same.

Saw an amazing stat today - it's only the 7th fight in history where both fighters are unbeaten and have over 30 wins to their name.

It's been quite a **** year for boxing, if this is a crap fight it's going to be very disappointing.

When the very best square off a cautious affair often is the outcome. The two guys tonight have massive ability between them, but I suspect in terms of a spectacle that it may be more Hagler vs Duran than Hagler vs Hearns. They are so good that there is a very real chance of them just cancelling each other out for long periods and neither being too quick to take a chance.


Although I have to admit I do like a high stakes cat and mouse style fight that slowly comes to the boil with one guy figuring out the other and then punishing him.


If both of them come out and fight to the very best of their abilities and to the styles they are best at, then it would be a cracker as we have a top class walk 'em down style fighter against a top class counter puncher.

But my sneaking suspicion is that we might see their roles reversed in the opening rounds with Kovalev looking to force Ward into being the aggressor and out of his comfort zone.


Personally I hope we do not see that and we get a big puncher going for it and a class counter puncher looking to in fight and go to the body.


But regardless of what we get in terms of the fight's character. Be it fast paced, slow paced, scrappy, tactical, dirty, classic, downright cynical or maybe all of those in one fight, what I do think is that we will see two of the very best in the world facing off and if we stop to think about it, when was the last time any of us can honestly say we sat down and watch two guys who are certainly in the top five P4P list take each other on whilst in their primes.

Love the fact that both guys set their sights on the other and neither blinked, neither flinched and neither looked for the easy out. Just a shame that their attitude towards taking on the best does not rub off on more fighters out there today.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Ward is going to bore the **** out of everyone. He's going to punch and clinch and work Kovalev over on the inside

If Ward can work the inside often, then I would fancy him to force a stoppage. He is a soul destroying fighter when he starts to work to the body. Course there is the small matter of having to avoid Kovalev's bombs if he wants to fight on the inside, but it is things like that which are making this fight for me.

So many contrasts of style and so many ways, be they spectacular, crude, brutal, or dull, that either guy could utilize to garner a win for himself.

[marcus50bucks]

Very very difficult to score. I reckon it'll be a draw

[spud_gun]

Pretty much as expected.

[Shaggy]

UD FFS. That was a drawn fight for me.

[marcus50bucks]

UD FFS. That was a drawn fight for me.

Yep draw for me too but I can see why Ward was given the win due to the cleaner shots. My issue is the scorecard 114-113. I was wondering how the judges came to that conclusion and then low and behold I see that 2 of the judges gave Ward the last 6 rounds. I know scoring rounds is subjective but that is taking the biscuit. I don't care how knowledgeable people are on boxing, you're not going to convince me that from round 7 Ward won every round.

[fidget]

I had Kovalev on points at 11-2 as it was the only value I could see in the betting.
Definite hometown decision
Kovalev outworked and outlanded Ward as well as dropping him.
The 3 judges score the last 6 rounds to Ward 17-1

[Doc_Piptorious]

Enjoyed the fight but thought it was the wrong result.

Watched it again this morning with the volume off and scored it again.

My scoring stayed the same as what I scrawled on my bit of paper last night.


Kovalev on the left side of scoring and the rounds in red are the ones I thought could have gone either way.


10-9
10-8
10-9
10-9
10-9
9-10
9-10
9-10
9-10
10-9
9-10
9-10


114-113 to Kovalev for me.




Really tight fight and could have been a draw without any complaint, but I think Kovalev shaded it thanks to the knockdown and the lead he had built up in the first half of the fight.


Has to be a rematch.

[Shaggy]

Agree he definitely won the first 5 rounds with one or two possible drawn rounds in there.

Pardon my ignorance, but why does there seem such a reluctance to call a drawn round in boxing? I thought many of those rounds, especially in the 2nd half of the fight, were so tight they were drawn - but you hardly ever seem to see them, with judges and pundits always plumping one way or the other. Why is that?

[Doc_Piptorious]

Yep draw for me too but I can see why Ward was given the win due to the cleaner shots. My issue is the scorecard 114-113. I was wondering how the judges came to that conclusion and then low and behold I see that 2 of the judges gave Ward the last 6 rounds. I know scoring rounds is subjective but that is taking the biscuit. I don't care how knowledgeable people are on boxing, you're not going to convince me that from round 7 Ward won every round.

I had Ward winning five of the last six rounds, but two of the last six rounds were so tight for me that they could have gone either way.

The second half of the fight saw two things happen. Ward upped his game a hell of a lot, and he also, and this maybe is what won it for him, looked like he was doing better than what he was.

It is much easier to spot when a fighter is not actually being as effective as he appears to be when sitting at home watching on tv than it is when sitting at ringside with distractions around you and the roar of the crowd to influence you.

I do think it was a 114-113 fight and that is after watching the fight as it happened as well as rewatching it, but I do that that 114-113 should have been in favour of Kovalev not Ward.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Agree he definitely won the first 5 rounds with one or two possible drawn rounds in there.

Pardon my ignorance, but why does there seem such a reluctance to call a drawn round in boxing? I thought many of those rounds, especially in the 2nd half of the fight, were so tight they were drawn - but you hardly ever seem to see them, with judges and pundits always plumping one way or the other. Why is that?

Generally a 10-10 round is not scored as a judge will normally have seen something that splits the differene for them (or have a bias towards one fighter or been swayed by crowd noise during a round).


Some judges will give more weight to the number of power punches landed, some will give more weight to technique, some give weight to who held the centre of the ringor who was doing the hunting.


It is very subjective, but for most people scoring it is ingrained in them to score a winning and losing score for each rough.

[Shaggy]

It seems that way. I was trying to score it last night but some rounds were so tight and hard to call I was giving draws and then I gave up trying.

I felt it was a drawn fight (just on gut feel) but if I had to go one way I would've shaded it for Kovalev for the knockdown and for the first two rounds, at the end of which Ward looked ****ing goosed (though enormous credit to him for finding a way to get back into the fight)

It was intriguing and there's got to be a rematch. I'll be rooting for Kov for sure. The look on Ward's face when he got the decision.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Just based on last night, I think Ward would win a rematch.


Think he learned far more about Kovalev than Kovalev will have learned about him.


I also think that Ward has found out that he can absorb a lot of Kovalev's power and that he would go to the body much earlier second time around.


Neither man will fear the other if they go again, but I reckon Ward knows he can forgo the figuring out process in a rematch and that could well negate such a big lead being developed by Kovalev.


Kovalev deserves a rematch though, deserves to still have his belt to be honest, and he has the option to activate that rematch ( no way he will not do so imo).