Visa may boast that its credit card gets you ?everywhere you want to be,? but the race card needs to stay in one?s wallet?
It happened again. The second meeting between two elite fighters ended in controversial fashion just as their initial meeting last November had done. The scorecards weren?t the issue this time, but yes, it happened again. Any sort of controversy which will follow Andre Ward?s eighth round stoppage victory over Sergey Kovalev last Saturday night will ultimately be left to one?s interpretation, be it positive or negative. Regardless of how we may feel about the decision of referee Tony Weeks, we as fans hate to see big nights spoiled this way.
Think of it this way, if you so choose. The ?Rematch? received close to zero press, media participation was minimal and the total attendance figures from the Mandalay Bay Events Center were indeed padded. That?s right. Sources in Las Vegas informed this writer that some people were not only able to get four tickets for $15, but some were given away for absolutely nothing as well. The idea that so many high profile fights need to be held in Vegas is becoming as superficial as Sin City itself. Boxing managed to shoot itself in the foot yet again.
The entirety of Saturday?s pay-per-view telecast was a whoopee cushion upon which no one sat until Sergey Kovalev received enough shots to the pelvic region to make him think he was somehow experiencing contractions. Doth our eyes deceive us? The replay is all over social media. Andre Ward hit ?Krusher? Kovalev below the billboard more than once. He was warned by Weeks for doing so. The end finally came when Kovalev had such a bad case of the bends that Andre couldn?t properly see where he was throwing or what he may indeed hit. So, in no way can we think of faulting Ward. You?re taught as an athlete to play until the whistle just as a fighter learns to fight to the bell.
We?ve seen other bouts end this way before. Amir Khan was accused of doing the same by Zab Judah about six years ago and in the same venue, no less. We?re not going to subject Ward to vilification by association. He?s not Andrew Golota. It happened as it does from time to time. The way Kovalev crumpled like a wind sock is proof enough. Let?s move on. His promoter, Kathy Duva indicated a few weeks ago that a third fight between the two men would not be pursued. A sigh of relief, anyone?
This was a fight and only a fight. It was ultimately a failed promotion and the bout can?t necessarily be accused of not living up to the hype because frankly, there was no hype to be had. Perhaps most concerning is the race card being flashed by some in regard to the contest. Ward is an American black man. No, really? What is Kovalev? He?s a white Russian. You mean that term doesn?t just apply to a drink? Hold the Vodka! Is this what social media and the ills of the internet have done to some people? Visa may boast that its credit card gets you ?everywhere you want to be,? but the race card needs to stay in one?s wallet. In fact, cancel and shred it.
Ward himself didn?t want to address it and that should have been enough, just as Larry Bird didn?t give two pennies about Dennis Rodman?s comments about him way back in 1987. To compare any frustration felt by Andre Ward to that of Jack Johnson is an insult to both parties. ?The Galveston Giant,? as he was known, was basically ruined by his own government for thumbing his nose at the establishment over one hundred years ago.
Has Andre Ward been sent to prison for anything as draconian as the Mann Act, as was the case for Johnson? Look up that despicable, abhorrent law if you have the time. At the post-fight press conference, Kathy Duva apparently channeled her late father-i- law, Lou?s anger in regard to the stoppage and the behavior of some people in the media room. She cut no corners and went as a far as to tell them to ?shut up.? Kathy had every right to feel a bit of anger. Lou Duva himself admitted that he got ?Italian mad? when referee Richard Steele stopped Meldrick Taylor?s contest with Julio Cesar Chavez back in 1990.
People still bicker about that stoppage today, as they do about Jose Juan Guerra?s inexplicable 118-110 score for Sugar Ray Leonard three years earlier when he beat Marvin Hagler. Kathy had a point. There is often more than one individual in the media room who has no business being there, unless they agree that silence is golden.
Does Saturday?s decision have a chance to fall into the same category as ones from contests which actually held the public?s interest beforehand? Not likely but then again, many of us blocked off the night and may have even had people over to our respective couches and lounge chairs. To the less observing eye and casual sports fan, the second fight between Ward and Kovalev should have had all the trappings to rekindle one?s interest in boxing. In the end, did it?
Fair play, however may tell us that a stoppage was inevitable due to the thunderous right that Ward planted upon the Krusher?s chin shortly before the equatorial bombs were delivered. A good pop the head like that can make one think he?s somewhere else, while a sound shot to the vitals, landed squarely or not can make one wish he was someone else.
Some of us may even joke that we didn?t have a chance to fall asleep during the co-main event. Guillermo Rigondeaux wasn?t saved by the bell as much as he was saved by the commission. That ending was a letdown. A main event should give us more. The result won?t likely be changed and it doesn?t have to unless it?s meant as marinade for a third fight. Please, no. Let it be. Again, love it or loathe it, we deserve better inasmuch as big nights shouldn?t end this way. It could?ve have been worse. No ears were bitten.
