Ward and Kovalev were both undefeated when they clashed late last year. It was a close fight despite Ward’s second round knockdown but surprisingly all the three judges scored the fight 114-113 in favor of Ward. ESPN and Yahoo Sports scored the fight in favor of Kovalev.
“It’s the wrong decision,” Kovalev said. “He got maybe a few rounds, I agree with that. I kept control. I lost maybe three rounds the whole fight,” he added.
Ward survived a second round knockdown and was behind in the scorecards in the first half of the 12-round fight. But he seemed to have gained strength in the closing rounds and landed clear power shots which proved to be the clincher in the unanimous decision win. Read more: ]
“I got off the canvas against the hardest puncher in the division and smiled. I took the fight to him and closed the show,” Ward said after the fight.
Less than two weeks before the fight which has been set for June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada, Kovalev could not hide his anger over the judges’ decision.
“I want to destroy this guy as a boxer, as a champion. For me, he is not a champion, he’s fake champion. He lives right now with this status (but) he’s a fake champion. He believes in his victory over me and right now he’s trying to get belief of people in this victory. He knows he didn’t win. It’s wrong, for me, it’s wrong,” he said.
Ward is a great boxer having represented the US in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Ward won the gold medal to become the first American boxer to capture the gold in eight years. He has remained unbeaten since turning pro in 2004.
But Kovalev is a knockout artist, having KO rate of 81 percent and based on his performance against Ward in their first fight, it is likely he will regain his unified belts which Ward snatched during their last controversial fight.
