Comments Thread For: Sheridan at Odds With Merchant on Ward-Kovalev 'Robbery' Call

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Veteran analyst Bob Sheridan saw Sergey Kovalev as the winner of last Saturday's fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Kovalev was stunned by Andre Ward, who survived a second round knockdown to win a twelve round unanimous decision to capture the Russian fighter's IBF, WBO, WBA light heavyweight world titles.
[Click Here To Read More]

[Redd Foxx]

Interesting that Merchant was out in the audience rather than ringside.

So weird to see the variety of opinions. Sheridan had 3 for Kovalev and 4 for Ward where as many had just the opposite. I believe the judges were split there too.

[OctoberRed]

Problem with Sheridan is that he oversells garbage pay-per-views

[Illmatic94]

after round 4? well i had ward taking rd 3 pretty clearly. and i gave the 4th to kovalev..so many different opinions..oh well, let the rematch settle it. .i had the same score judges had. i gave ward rds 3,5,7,8,9,11 & 12. .cant wait for part two.

[hitking]

Interesting that Merchant was out in the audience rather than ringside.

So weird to see the variety of opinions. Sheridan had 3 for Kovalev and 4 for Ward where as many had just the opposite. I believe the judges were split there too.

I had 3 for Ward and 4 for Kovalev. I also had Ward winning the 5th. A lot of the controversy seems to be stemming from folks feel Kovalev dominated the first half of the fight and Ward the second half. As I said, I gave Ward the 3rd and 5th. I believe yhe 1st and 4th could have very well been scored even, even though I sided with Kovalev. Malignaggi had Ward up 5-1 after 6. In the second half of the fight. I gave Kovalev the 9th, where most gave it to Ward. I gave Ward the 10th, even though most saw if for Kovalev. The only definitive round in the second half of the fight was the 8th, which Ward won pretty decisively. That's a lotta close rounds. Since the fight took on a similar patter of Kovalev pressing, Ward circling, both landing a similar number of blows. While Ward landed clearer shots. I think Ward may have gotten maybe a lil too much credit for swinging the tide after the 2nd round. And since Kovalev really never swung it back, the judges didn't give Sergey enough credit for pretty much fighting Ward even down the stretch, even bettering him at times. Almost like the 2nd round is what a Kovalev round looks like. And since it never happen again. It gave the impression that Ward was dictating and carrying the fight.

[JASON SHAW]

Larry "kkk member" merchant always thinks the russian won..... Black skinned fighters with skills make him mad...

[HarvardBlue]

I gave the 4th round to Ward and was surprised Lederman gave it to Kovalev. The round was close but I thought Ward did about the same as the 3rd only difference was Kovalev responded better. I also thought the 4th was the turning point in the fight. Merchant and (Lederman) score fights about the same way so I can see why they had it for Kovalev. They usually give the benefit of the doubt to the fighter coming forward. There is so much more happening that I try to pay close attention. I also think some people only pay attention to what one fighter is doing (usually the person they're rooting for). It's almost like they use a hand to cover up the other fighter and only see one side of the action. To be honest I had a slight problem with the scores because I thought they favored the fighter that scored the KD. A split decision would seem more appropriate but at the end of the day I believed they picked the right fighter.

[ShoulderRoll]

Scoring and opinions seem to be all over the place for this fight.

Just goes to show how close it was.

[Redd Foxx]

A lot of the controversy seems to be stemming from folks feel Kovalev dominated the first half of the fight and Ward the second half.

Yea, I've noticed that same thing. Even Roy said Kovalev won the first six, Ward the last, so the KD makes Kovalev they winner. That's a cute way to explain it, but it's a bit more complex than that.

[Redd Foxx]

Merchant and (Lederman) score fights about the same way so I can see why they had it for Kovalev. They usually give the benefit of the doubt to the fighter coming forward.

I notice they both look for the head snapping back. That's their criteria for winning a round which, sadly, is pretty much what casual fans look for as well. Jim talks about body work a lot but he seems to miss spotting a great deal of it.
I don't like bashing on Jim because he has a lot of good qualities but he does try to sell the house fighter pretty hard.