Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev I - Highlights (Great FIGHT, Close Decision)

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November 19th, 2016. “Pound for Pound” was one of the best fights in 2016 featuring 2 undefeated fighters; Andre “S.O.G” Ward and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in a highly anticipated showdown for the Unified Light Heavyweight Championship.

All of Kovalev’s belts; the IBF, WBA & WBO were on the line.

Both fighters had 30 professional wins going into the fight with no losses.

From November 2009 to November 2013, Andre Ward reigned as World Super Middleweight Champion with victories over Chad Dawson, Allan Green, Edison Miranda, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler & Carl Froch.

Ward had an extremely successful run at 168, and defeated most of the top contenders of the division in dominant fashion. His reign at Super Middleweight is often compared to that of the undefeated Joe Calzaghe who ruled the division for 10 years; from October 1997 to November 2007.

At present, Ward and Calzaghe are widely considered to be the 2 Greatest Super Middleweights of All Time and there’s been an ongoing debate as to who is the Greatest 168 Pounder of all time between these 2 undefeated fighters.

In 2015, S.O.G won his 1st fight at 175 pounds. He won 2 more fights via decisions in the following year, notably over Sullivan Barrera.

The Russian Powerhouse Sergey Kovalev became the WBA Light Heavyweight Champion in August 2013, after easily stopping Nathan Cleverly in the 4th round.

Since then, he’s racked up a number of spectacular victories over Isaac Chilemba, Nadjib Mohammedi, Bernard Hopkins & Jean Pascal (2x). His 2 most notable wins were;

1) HIs lopsided UD12 over Bernard Hopkins where he dominated the living legend from pillar to post, even knocking him down in the 1st round with a flush right hand. Hopkins was never beaten in such fashion in his career that spanned across 4 different decades.

2) His barbarous beatdown of Jean Pascal in their rematch where Pascal was severely punished by Kovalev through 7 rounds, due to the fact that Pascal had trash-talked Kovalev before their fight.

Due to the fact that both fighters had dominant runs as world champions, this fight was highly anticipated and certainly one of the most exciting in recent years.

This fight had one of the most balanced ebb and flow; Kovalev dominated the earlier parts of the fight and won most of the 1st half, even flooring Ward with a thunderous right hand in the 2nd round. However, going into the mid rounds the highly adaptable Ward made adjustments and gradually utilized effective body work and infighting to slow down the stronger Kovalev.

In the beginning of the 2nd half, Kovalev had noticeably slowed down due to Ward’s effective infighting and body punching. As a whole, Ward was the more effective fighter in the last 6 rounds though Kovalev to his credit managed to come back to land meaningful punches occasionally.

With Andre’s strong comeback in the 2nd half, the lead racked up by Kovalev in the 1st half was significantly narrowed. But it is interesting to note that there were a few rounds that could have been awarded to either fighter.

After 36 minutes of action, all 3 judges scored it 114-113 in favor Ward who became World Champion in 2 weight divisions while Kovalev suffered his 1st professional loss which he attributed the decision to hometown favoritism.

The decision is somewhat controversial, as many believed Kovalev was the rightful winner.

In a poll consisting of 60 individuals including writers, analysts, commentators, reporters and other news media outlets as well as freelance writers, 44 scored the fight for Kovalev while 15 scored for Ward while only Tony Bellew of Sky Sports had it a draw at 114-114.

Both fighters would rematch in Jun of this year, and it ended in controversial fashion in favor of S.O.G as Kovalev suffered his 1st official TKO loss.

What do you guys think of this decision? Let me know in the comments section.

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Видео Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev I - Highlights (Great FIGHT, Close Decision) канала Jeff Jackson