Post by 221dayton on Jun 18, 2017 12:29:57 GMT -5
Lance Pugmire
LA Times
6/17/2017
Andre Ward has an Olympic gold medal, and the Oakland fighter showed the type of world-class professional mettle Saturday night that he believes should entrench his status as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.
Ward scored a spirited victory over rival Sergey Kovalev, enhancing his debatable unanimous-decision triumph over the Russian in November with an eighth-round technical knockout at Mandalay Bay.
With three light-heavyweight world-title belts on the line, Ward (32-0, 16 knockouts) set up the finish by rocking Kovalev (30-2-1) with a massive punch to the head earlier in the eighth.
Then, after punching through Kovalev complaints that he had been hit low in the round — and previously in the bout — Ward battered Kovalev in a corner with two devastating body blows on the belt that forced him to keel over and inspire referee Tony Weeks to stop the bout two minutes 29 seconds into the round.
“He was reacting to my body shots and I knew I had him. I knew he was hurt,” Ward said.
Ward was leading by one point on two of three judges’ scorecards when the fight ended while Kovalev had a three-point bulge on one card thanks to an effective early start.
“It felt like I was up [on the scorecards], but a championship fight starts after the sixth round,” Ward said. “He was trying to cover up his body. He was dazed, so I just had to try to find the right shot.”
Kovalev said he believed he could have continued even as he dropped forward tiredly into the perilous position.
“This is fighting. We are boxers. Why stop the fight? This is amazing,” Kovalev said.
Yet, while Kovalev added, “I want to get another fight,” the rivalry seems to be over with no rematch clause in effect and Ward saying afterward he might want to move to cruiserweight.
With victory in hand, Ward turned his focus to boosting his case that he, not unbeaten three-belt middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin, is the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer. “Am I No. 1 now?” Ward asked.
Ward’s trainer, Virgil Hunter, said this was only his second training camp with Ward in which they trained for a knockout in an effort to leave no doubt after Ward won by three 114-113 scores in November.
“Now, we have quieted all those who were whining and didn’t get it the first time,” Hunter said.
LA Times
6/17/2017
Andre Ward has an Olympic gold medal, and the Oakland fighter showed the type of world-class professional mettle Saturday night that he believes should entrench his status as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.
Ward scored a spirited victory over rival Sergey Kovalev, enhancing his debatable unanimous-decision triumph over the Russian in November with an eighth-round technical knockout at Mandalay Bay.
With three light-heavyweight world-title belts on the line, Ward (32-0, 16 knockouts) set up the finish by rocking Kovalev (30-2-1) with a massive punch to the head earlier in the eighth.
Then, after punching through Kovalev complaints that he had been hit low in the round — and previously in the bout — Ward battered Kovalev in a corner with two devastating body blows on the belt that forced him to keel over and inspire referee Tony Weeks to stop the bout two minutes 29 seconds into the round.
“He was reacting to my body shots and I knew I had him. I knew he was hurt,” Ward said.
Ward was leading by one point on two of three judges’ scorecards when the fight ended while Kovalev had a three-point bulge on one card thanks to an effective early start.
“It felt like I was up [on the scorecards], but a championship fight starts after the sixth round,” Ward said. “He was trying to cover up his body. He was dazed, so I just had to try to find the right shot.”
Kovalev said he believed he could have continued even as he dropped forward tiredly into the perilous position.
“This is fighting. We are boxers. Why stop the fight? This is amazing,” Kovalev said.
Yet, while Kovalev added, “I want to get another fight,” the rivalry seems to be over with no rematch clause in effect and Ward saying afterward he might want to move to cruiserweight.
With victory in hand, Ward turned his focus to boosting his case that he, not unbeaten three-belt middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin, is the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer. “Am I No. 1 now?” Ward asked.
Ward’s trainer, Virgil Hunter, said this was only his second training camp with Ward in which they trained for a knockout in an effort to leave no doubt after Ward won by three 114-113 scores in November.
“Now, we have quieted all those who were whining and didn’t get it the first time,” Hunter said.