It was not the most blatant act of larceny ever witnessed Las Vegas but when the verdict came down in favour of Andre Ward over Sergey Kovalev it added to the litany of dubious decisions in the desert.
Rightly or wrongly, the identical scorecards of 114-113 for Ward smacked of collusion by the three official judges.A substantial majority of ringside observers declared themselves astounded.
From my bleary late night view-point through the fish-eye lens of Sky television I had Kovalev winning 115-112, with Ward never ahead.
The second-round knock-down inflicted by Kovalev ? it marked the first time Ward has been off his feet ? should have clinched the deal from any impartial perspective.
Not for this unholy trilogy of judges. Kovalev was deprived of his three world light-heavyweight titles and his undefeated record, a distinction Ward still holds.
Yet the Russian Krusher and his camp have themselves partly to blame. What on earth were his trainer, manager and promoter thinking when they agreed to all three judges plus the referee from the US for a fight against an American?
Kovalev protested: ?I?m only a guest in this country but it shouldn?t be about politics.? That remark is all the more relevant at this time of acute American enmity towards Russia.
Kovalev is calling for a rematch, to which Ward says he will agree. That is made more likely by one judge reportedly admitting that he made a mistake in his scoring of one round.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission are notoriously reluctant to appoint officials from elsewhere, especially abroad.
But for Kovalev to feel confident of receiving justice in a rematch, they would have to make an exception next time.
Ward remains unbeaten in his last 20 years in the ring, but it wasn’t without some moments of severe worry.
Kovalev knocked down Ward in the second round and chased him around the ring through much of the early part of the fight. But Ward dug deep and managed to land some good punches of his own in a fight that built to a climax in the later rounds.
Prior to this battle, many considered the fighter who would emerge as victor as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Both men were universally viewed as top five competitors in the sport and Ward made it known that he should be crowned pound-for-pound king ahead of his narrow win.
Now that the American fulfilled his ambition of claiming Kovalev’s titles, there will inevitably be comparisons drawn between himself and Floyd Mayweather.
Both men, whilst supremely talented, prefer to out-fox and out-box their challengers which has led some to criticise what they deem to be a defensive style. As the fight progressed against Kovalev, Ward’s technical prowess came to the fore as he started to outmanoeuvre the heavy-hitter and those Mayweather comparisons became increasingly relevant.
The crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas roared its approval as the two fighters went after each other, neither giving an inch. In the end, the judges favoured Ward’s counter-punching against the aggressive style of Kovalev.
After the fight Kovalev felt hard done by in the narrow loss, noting: ‘I’m a guest here in the USA and he’s a local, and all the judges are from the USA. I agree they support their boxer but honestly, this is sport.
‘But I don’t want to give my opinion. Everybody is here, witnesses are here, everybody saw what happened.
‘He got maybe a few rounds. But not the whole fight. I kept control. I lost maybe three rounds.’
Ward unsurprisingly saw the contest differently: ‘You never know how judges are going to see it. But take nothing away from Kovalev,’ he said.
‘In a tight fight, he’s going to feel like he got robbed, I’d have been been disappointed. But we got the belts tonight.’
The fight was billed as a matchup of U.S. and Russian fighters, with the 2004 Olympic gold medallist Ward against a Russian who lives mostly in the Los Angeles area. It was a classic match-up of puncher versus boxer, and for the early part of the fight the puncher was winning.
Kovalev flashed his power early, hitting Ward with a left hand midway through the first round that briefly wobbled Ward’s legs. Ward grabbed and held on and finished the round jabbing at the Russian, but the tone of the fight was set early.
Midway through the second round, both fighters threw right hands but it was Kovalev’s that landed flush to the side of Ward’s head, putting him on the canvas. He got up quickly and smiled as if not hurt but needed all of his supreme defensive skills to make it out of the round.
Ward seemed unwilling to go inside after that, moving backward and trying to land jabs to control the action. But he abandoned the style that had served him so well over the years and fought moving backward, throwing only one punch at a time, as Kovalev constantly pressed the attack.
Ward did have some moments, including the seventh round when he landed a good left that snapped Kovalev’s head back but many fans and pundits felt the Russian was hard-done by in the defeat.
The experts took to social media to share their views on the controversial decision. ESPN’s Steven A Smith tweeted: ‘I had Kovalev winning 5 of first 6 rounds, then Ward winning 5 of last 6. Kovalev’s edge comes from that second round knockdown. Period.’
He continued, ‘I’m sorry. Love Ward as a fighter and person. Glad he won… but he did not deserve this. Fair is Fair, Kovalev got robbed!’
Gareth A Davies added: ‘I don’t really see how that was 114-113 for Ward, especially with the knockdown for Kovalev, I had it 115-112.’
Sky Sports’ Jonny Nelson concurred that the fight was more even than the score suggested: ‘Wow, Ward grabs the win, a lot closer than announced on my card. Respect to Kovalev, thought he’d fade at the end.’
Eddie Hearn was on the other side of the fence however: ‘Mixed cards at ringside – I thought Ward stole it… Kovalev should kick himself for last six.’
There will surely be huge clamour for a lucrative rematch as Ward earned $5 million (?4.05million), while Kovalev was paid $2 million (?1.62million) plus a percentage of pay-per-view for this contest.
