Did the Judges Get it Right in Andre Ward's Victory over Sergey Kovalev?

Andre Ward's controversial decision win over Sergey Kovalev on Saturday night was as good a fight as we've seen this year. In fact, it was as good a fight as we've seen in 10 years. 

By the end of it, all I could do was murmur to myself one thing over and over: "Both fighters are freaking great." 

Pretty much everything was. The undercard was decent and went by fast enough to get us where we paid to go. The announcers did a fine job. It was truly a special night in boxing.

Uncredited/Associated Press

The only thing that wasn’t great about Saturday night were the judges. With the world watching, both Kovalev and Ward put on outstanding performances. We knew headed into the fight that both fighters were at least very good. Most of us probably thought they were elite. But by the end of Round 12, with each man doing everything he could to win the final three minutes, it was obvious that we had been shortchanging them still.

Like I said, these fighters are freaking great.

It’s a shame that the controversial decision given to Ward over Kovalev, 114-113 on all three scorecards, could potentially mar his amazing performance. He deserves adulation for how he withstood the early onslaught to make his own mark later in the fight.

It will even cause some long-overdue respect Kovalev deserves to go unrewarded. As outstanding as he's been, he doesn't seem to be loved the way Manny Pacquiao and Gennady Golovkin are loved. 

All that's ruined now. That’s the awful thing about boxing. The scoring system is bunk.

Uncredited/Associated Press

That isn’t to say the scoring of the fight was a travesty. It wasn’t that. This was no Pacquiao-Bradley decision. We weren’t ashamed of our sport when the announcement was made. We weren’t shell-shocked by the judges somehow seeing an entirely different fight than almost everyone else in the world saw that night.

This fight was close. Darn close. But as great as Ward fought, and as fantastic a fighter he proved himself to be using equal parts skill, courage and resolve to weather the onslaught Kovalev crushed him with during the first half of the fight, he most assuredly didn’t deserve to be named the victor.

Because Kovalev was just a little better. He threw more punches, landed more and his punches were much harder.

Both were sharp, crisp boxers who used distance and timing in superb manners. Both fought well in the clinch. Neither backed down.

But boxing’s scoring system failed them.

In a nutshell, here it is: The system is flawed because it relies on only three people to be right. And when there are close rounds, as was the case in Kovalev-Ward, if they all three don’t award judiciously, the result can be skewed.

For example, if you and I watched Fighter A and Fighter B go 12 rounds and every round was close and competitive, you and I would look silly if we turned in our scorecards 12 to 0 for one fighter over the other.

But boxing's scoring system would allow it. And it happens way too often now to remain overlooked. 

Yes, Kovalev-Ward was a close fight, but Kovalev should have won. He dominated Rounds 1 through 5. He held his own in the middle rounds during Ward’s epic comeback, earning at least a couple of them. And he fought the final three rounds, often called the championship rounds, like a true champion.

Kovalev wore three title belts into the ring, and after the fight, he deserved to walk away with them, too. He didn’t just win a close fight against a tough competitor. He had faced perhaps the greatest fighter of his era—or maybe second best since Kovalev appeared to better him—and beaten him.

He’s truly something special.

The only punch as amazing as Manny Pacquiao’s straight power punch, his left from his southpaw stance, is Sergey Kovalev’s bulldozer of a jab. Is there a better punch in boxing? Kovalev landed it early and often in the bout. By Round 2, he was battering Ward around like a rag doll. Ward just couldn’t make him miss, and Kovalev made him pay for it.

Uncredited/Associated Press

But Ward adjusted, so of equal importance to Kovalev’s powerful jab and overall power punching in general was his patience. He hurt Ward in Round 2, but when the ever-dangerous fighter stayed upright, Kovalev didn’t alter his plan. He kept his distance and landed clean, effective blows.

And I mean he was patient. His punches landed on Ward’s face like a sledgehammer. The American was rocked time and time again, but Kovalev knew better than to give a great counterpuncher like him no respect, so he stayed patient and smart in order to win the decision.

By the end of the fight, I was certain Ward had lost the fight but had won our hearts. As great as he is inside the ring, his popularity has waned as of late. This was the fight that would bring him back. Right? Before the fight, it seemed logical that a win would vault his status with the everyday boxing fan into the stratosphere. But as the final seconds ticked off, it looked like a certain loss could still do the same.

Because Ward was everything a great fighter should be. He was knocked down early and hurt multiple times, but he kept working and started to figure his opponent out as the rounds wore on.

It truly was an epic comeback.

Ward’s courage in the face of danger was outrageous. Kovalev was just too strong. He was too skilled. But Ward is one of the most savvy fighters in boxing. He found openings with his jab and gave Kovalev fits to the body whenever he could. These weren’t light taps. These were bombs.

And pretty soon, a more tired Kovalev was easily hit. And Ward’s superb defense caught up with things toward the middle of the fight.

Man, Ward fought great. But because the three judges gave every close round to him and none somehow to Kovalev, it will go uncelebrated. And Kovalev, who looked like the best fighter on the planet, has now suffered the first official loss of his career along with the pilfering of his world titles.

“It’s the wrong decision,” Kovalev told HBO’s Max Kellerman after the fight. “I don’t want to say my opinion.  The witnesses are here. They saw it.”

We did, Mr. Kovalev, and we wish it were all there was to talk about.