Ward vs Kovalev 2 upon us.

By the way I wanted to address some of this talk about Ward being a dirty fighter...

Ward is actually a gentleman in the ring. There was a time at the beginning of round 8 when Kovalev turned his back and seemed to want to ref to say something and Ward although he could have capitalized on that and hit him, but he didn't and just waited. Then there was a second time in the round when Kovalev was complaining about low blows and had his hands down and defenseless when other fighters would have just kept throwing punches at him since the ref didn't say to stop or break and ward just stood there letting him complain and waiting for him to defend himself again before going back at him. Very few fighters would have done that and it's a credit to Ward.

 

Does Fightbeat's Quintessential Contrarian Bullshit Artist Have the TEMERITY to Go There w/REED???...

Having an OCCASIONAL Opinion that Differs from the Norm is Polar Opposite from YOUR Stupid Ass, Perpetually Picking the Road Less Traveled JUST TO STAND OUT...It's Your Way of Attention Whoring, mikE, So Please NEVER Bring REED DOWN to Your Level Again, in that Regard...

Andre Ward Would've Gotten the SAME Respite and he WOULDN'T Have Neglected Kovalev's Body...While Your DUMBASS is Still Trying to Find the CLEAN Bodyshot that Had Kovalev Doubled Over, Trying to CONVINCE the Ref he was Hit Low, LEARNED Posters Like REED Realize Ward TOOK Kovalev's Body in that Moment...

As for Mexican Boxing, REED's Been HEAVILY and Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeply Involved w/Dallas Area Boxing Circles Since the Mid 90's...From 50lb Amateurs Up To and Including Pacquiao Fights @ Cowboys Stadium, REED's Been Privy to it All, in a Setting that's about 75-80% MEXICAN...

There's Literally NATHAN You Can Tell REED about Mexican Boxing, that He Didn't Know @ Least 15 Years Ago, Scrub...

You're Such an Unadulterated DIPSHIT, You've Actually Managed to CONFUSE Yourself Over an Issue as CUTandfuckingDRIED as the Fighters Belt Line, in Regards to CLEAN Shots...

What a DUMBFUCK...Are You a "Special Needs" Poster, or Something???...






REED

 

What a fucking joke, let's be honest with ourselves, boxing in the USA is no less corrupt than in Germany.This made Reid-Ottke look like a well officiated fight. We can try to hide it behind ''the referee (or the judges) made a mistake'' but that's, imo, giving them way too much credit. Don't ge me wrong, gun to my head I'd say that Ward seemed on his way to a close but clear UD win (I highly doubt he'd have been able stop Kovalev cleanly) even though he was behind on points (yeah, I know that 2 of the judges had him in front, but that's just another aspect of boxing corruption), but it was far from a foregone conclusion. The only thing I can think that is anything close to this is Norwood-Gainer, and even there, Norwood had the benefit of a 20 count (for whatever reason , and I need to mention that dumbass Paul Sita stopped the fight even though Norwood beat the count)

 

There were some close rounds but I think that doesn't help matters for those backing the final outcome. Seemed like they were giving Andre every single benefit of the doubt. While the fight was live some of here had different scores (obviously) but who had Ward ahead?

Move the location to Moscow, make it a bad/incompetent decision and the guy appearing to be winning was behind on two of the cards to top it off? Different narrative no doubt.

 

REED Thinks the Ward-Kovalev RE was a Case of INCOMPETENCE Moreso than CORRUPTION...

What's the INCENTIVE of a Secret, Concerted Effort to INSURE Andre Ward WINS???...Considering All he's Accomplished and his Resume, Dude Still COULDN'T Be Fuuuuuuurther from the Mainstream...And Even Those Fans who've Begrudgingly Come to RESPECT Ward, Don't Like WATCHING him Fight, Necessarily...

His Persona is DRY and DEVOID of Controversy in the Least...He's BARELY a Draw in his Hometown of Oakland, and Doesn't Register @ All, Anywhere Else...

REED Gets Why Non-Americans Might Think, "Undefeated Olympic Gold Medalist Getting FAVORABLE Treatment", But There's Really NATHAN Worth "Protecting" as it Pertains to Ward, that Would Warrant CORRUPTION...

This ISN'T Dela Hoya or Ray Leonard or Even Roy Jones we're Talking About...Non Americans just Don't Get How LITTLE Andre Ward is Thought of in America...

The Ref'ing SUCKED for Sure, but it WASN'T a Conspiracy...






REED

 

well, Ward matters enough that he was guaranteed a 6.5 million purse and Kovalev simply had to take a % of the PPV sale. Not too many boxer makes that amount for 1 fight. Ward is definitively no PBF of Pacquiao, but I think you're selling his drawing power (or at the very least, his prospective drawing power) a bit short.

 

Ward Only Made That Much Because Kovalev was THAT Desperate for a RE...

Ward was NOT Going to Fight Kovalev Again w/Out Getting the Lion's Share...@ the Same Time, HBO Wasn't About to Overextend Themselves for a Bout they KNEW Wouldn't Generate Many PPV Buys...As Such, Kovalev Took the ASS End of the Negotiation...

Make No Mistake, Kovalev's Promoter's Took a LOSS in this Promotion; That's How BADLY they Wanted the RE...REED's Read where they Promised Kovalev 75% of their Guaranteed Take OVERALL, Co-Promoting w/Roc Nation...

REED Would Dare Say Both Ward-Kovalev Bouts LOST Money, All Things Considered, For ALL Parties Involved, BECAUSE of the Fighter Payouts...

For Ward's Last Fight, PRIOR to Kovalev, he Only Made $850 Grand and NEVER Made More than 2mil for an HBO Fight, INCLUDING Chad Dawson...




REED

 

Not conspiracy in the Hollywood manner of some hand shakes and briefcases exchanging hands in dark rooms. "Home town" cooking if you prefer? If anything Ward's low profile helps to ignore what happened. Kovalev won the first fight for the majority who watched it. I thought it he won it also, but it was close and I wasn't calling it a robbery afterward.

Rematch comes and not only does the ref stop the fight immediately after a low blow, the judges once again had Ward ahead.

Could/would have Ward won the fight? Most likely considering everything including the judging but that's not the point.

Whether or not you want to use the terms "conspiracy" or "incompetence" the bottom line is that it stinks badly.

 

REED what is your point? Are you actually arguing that this could not have been corruption because it is not obvious to you who would gain and how? For starters, how about the fact that nobody would give a shit about Ward if he weren't undefeated? Also, we don't know what influence ROC nation has compared to Duva.

 

Here's what REED's Saying, Doub....

As Is, NOBODY Gives a Shit about Ward, AND HE'S UNDEFEATED!!!...It's NOT Like Ward Brings a Large Fan-Base to Casinos, for Vegas Fights...

And NO, he Doesn't Even Register w/Mainstream "Hippety-Hoppity" Boxing Fans, Either...

REED's Pretty Sure Ward's NEVER Been Christened w/a Mention in a Rap Lyric and 2 Months from Now, those that were Casually Made Aware of the Kovalev Fight, via ESPN, WON'T Be Able to Identify Andre Ward in a Photo...Point Being, Dude DOESN'T Even Have a NOTABLE Presence in Black Communities (Outside of Oakland)...

So if Mainstream Black Boxing Fans Ain't Even Keeping Regular Tabs on this Guy, WHO Is???...

To Be Clear, REED is NOT Completely Ruling Out Corruption as a Factor...

But it's Certainly a PUZZLING Angle to Take w/a Fighter Like Ward, Who's ONLY Known to Hardcore Fans and ONLY Appreciated by a Small % of Those...

There's NO Built-In Financial Windfall for RIGGING a Fight for Ward...He's NOT a "Brand", as They Say...

We're Talking about a Guy Triple G was DICTATING Terms To, Not Soooooo Looooooooooooooong Ago, Having NEVER Been in a Big Fight Himself...And Ward's Approaching his Mid 30's...

Again, NOT Ruling Out Corruption, REED Just Thinks the Reward DOESN'T Match the Risk, Affording THAT Type of Preferential Treatment to Ward...


REED

 

HBO had to OVERPAY Ward, just to TAKE the Kovalev Fight, Brother Whiskey...Not Only That, Ward MILKED 2 Extra HBO Paydays on the "Promise" of Fighting Kovalev...

Who Has Deeeeeeeeper Pockets; Roc Nation, Main Event or HBO???...Who was HBO Hyping More, Coming Into the Fight???...

Yes, There's a STENCH Around Ward-Kovalev, but REED Just Doesn't Get it, Financially...Kovalev was Being PUSHED Harder, was Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay More Entertaining, More PLIABLE in Terms of Contract Negotiations, etc...

And HBO Had ULTIMATE Carte Blanche to Deal from the Bottom of the Deck...

Again, Where's the GAIN in Favoring Ward Over Kovalev, from HBO's Perspective???...





REED

 

Oh, Reed. you're so cute. Still covered in Andre's shit, but cute.

Since Esk is the only one who wants to baby you on this topic, talk to him.

 

After the joke of a decison in the first fight, and the ridiculous ending in this one, putting it on incompetence rather than corruption is naive to say the least.

And being a draw is not a prerequsite to being the benificiary of corruption. Even is own mother doesn't know who konstantin Airich is, and he was involved in one of the most corrupted scene in boxing

 

The first fight wasn't a "joke of a decision". It was a debatable decision. As I was watching it I had scored it 114-113 (7 rounds to 5...with an extra point deducted because of the KD) for Ward...as had a lot of people. Perhaps more scored it for Kovalev, but that doesn't matter...it was a close fight and many rounds could have been scored either way. That doesn't suggest corruption at all. It's not like it was a Roy Jones in 1988 Olympics type decision.

As for the rematch. I said at the time that it was a "bullshit stoppage", however it was obviously incompetence rather than corruption as it's a FACT that Kovalev was hurt and was backpedaling and against the ropes without really fighting back at the time of the stoppage. He had been on the receiving end of a ward onslaught for about a minute before the stoppage. I disagree with the stoppage, but it's not like it was stopped "out of the blue" either. It was incompetence not corruption.

 

I called it back in April!

 

Yes it was stopped "out of the blue", because Kov should have been given a standing 8 count. A stoppage was out of the question at that point. This is not the UFC here.

 

7. There is NO Standing Eight (8) Count.

http://www.abcboxing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unified_rules_boxing_rev_august2016.pdf

 

Actually, he should have been given 5 minutes to recover from multiple low-blows. So i agree. The stoppage was out of the blue. Wrong on multiple levels.

 

Perhaps you fellas are not familiar with the metaphor "out of the blue".

Kov was obviously hurt and on the retreat. The last punch was illegal. If it was truly "out of the blue" ....Kov wouldn't even have been visibly hurt.

 

Kovalev was hurt but Wards follow up didn't do the dramatic damage that would usually lead to a TKO. The only logic for stopping it was the way Kovalev doubled over from the last shot which was as blatant a lowblow as you'll ever see, and it was preceded by two lowblows that you would think would get the refs attention.

You have to have some ulterior motive to try to minimize it. And it's pretty obvious what that is.

 

It is obviously "out of the blue" because there is no way in hell that an immediate stoppage should have occurred. For multiple reasons.

 

I think we're talking in circles. Ultimately I agree that the stoppage was premature. I just think that there is enough data to suggest that Weeks didn't do it because of an agenda but simply because of incompetence.

 

Out of the blue means unexpected. For Weeks to stop the fight because a fighter was doubled over from the effects of multiple low-blows certainly qualifies as unexpected.

 

To spell it out for the fellas that are slow of thought.....

1. Weeks missed the low blows. Incompetence
2. Weeks didn't give a proud and very good former champion the benefit of the doubt by giving him a count at the very least. Incompetence.
3. Kovalev was genuinely hurt in that round and on the retreat and getting nailed consistently. Reasonable doubt in his ability to continue...ergo no evidence of corruption.

 

You could just as easily chalk those up to corruption. The guy can't distinguish a low blow?

 

The only obvious low blow was the last shot and Kov was doubled over when it landed...and that obscures ref's vision (you can only really see that on replay)

 

The 1st Fight was EXTREMELY CLOSE After Round 2, So Basically, You're Being PARANOID...

There's Usually INCENTIVE Attached to Corruption...In the Case of Andre Ward, there's NO Incentive Whatsoever...

He's Not THAT Dude...






REED

 

Any time someone is going to claim corruption it's pretty easy to argue against it as there's not going to be evidence, especially right away. It's speculation. I've never claimed it was corrupt, only that it stinks. Could there be something more to this incompetence? Yes I think it's possible. What are the motives? Again that would only be speculation.

So we stick with incompetence. Well that's a heavy damn level of it for an experienced referee. Not only does he miss the low blows, he doesn't even administer a damn count. If he legitimately thought it was a legal blow he should have separated the fighters and started the count. I asked earlier: When was the last time you've seen a championship fight stopped immediately after a body shot?

 

THere is a lot more incentives to fix the dices for Ward than For Konstantis Airich. You're acting like Ward is some no-name clubfighter, while he's the biggest boxer of roc nation. there's a million of reasons for protecting him