Andre Ward survived an early knockdown to
edge out Sergey Kovalev and become the unified Light Heavyweight champion of
the world. All three judges at
ringside scored the bout 114-113 to the American in a fight which could have gone either way.
The previously unbeaten Kovalev looked
noticeably bigger than his opponent before the first bell and started the
sharper, landing a solid jab in the opener which momentarily stiffened Ward’s
legs. Drama then ensued in the
second round as Kovalev threw a one-two (jab-right hand) combination which
dropped Ward to the canvas for only the second time in his career. Ward survived the round but things were
looking ominous for the self-proclaimed ‘’Son Of God’’ as Kovalev was getting
through his normally impregnable defense.
Round three was more positive for Ward as
he scored with several jabs to take the session. However, one could sense that the Russian was at ease with
the way the contest was playing out, negating a lot of Ward’s famed inside work
and getting through with enough power shots, including a cute right uppercut in
the fourth to take control of the fight.
The middle rounds were much closer, with
Ward winning the fifth with the jab and Kovalev edging the sixth after landing
two rights hands.
Momentum then shifted in Ward’s favour as his
superior ring generalship started to come to the fore in the second half of the
fight. He displayed a wide variety
of attack up close and at range to both head and body with a mixture of jabs
and check hooks in rounds seven, eight and nine which all served to slow the
early Kovalev onslaught down.
As the bout entered the championship rounds
the fight was still anyone’s to take. ‘Krusher’ started the tenth with far more urgency and
landed several jabs as he tried to wrestle back the initiative. Ward though was answering back
everything coming his way, connecting with a short left hook and drawing blood
from the Kovalev nose in what was a difficult three minutes to score.
The eleventh and twelfth were similarity
close as the pair exchanged several scoring shots, with Ward probably edging
both with a double left hook combination to the body and head in the
penultimate round and superior inside work in the last.
On victory, Ward can now claim to be the
best fighter on earth having unified titles in two different weight
classes. A rematch next year
with Kovalev seems inevitable given the way the fight played out in what was an
absorbing contest for the boxing purist.
Article courtesy of Neel Khagram - @BehindTheFight
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