IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“There is a natural inclination to frame any fight involving Bernard Hopkins strictly within his narrative. Since he stopped Felix Trinidad thirteen years ago, Hopkins has used his skills for fighting and filibustering to control the lenses through which the audience interprets a fight. But that changed last night. Last night, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Sergey Kovalev became the story. Kovalev dominated Hopkins over twelve shockingly uncompetitive rounds, and in winning a unanimous decision handed Hopkins the worst defeat of his incredible career.”

Read Passive Resistance: Sergey Kovalev W12 Bernard Hopkins on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

In close, Ward isn’t looking for a breather, and unlike Bernard Hopkins, he is not there to clown. No, when Ward is in a clinch, he is looking to hurt. Using his feet to take angles, Ward snarls and strikes like a wolverine in a snare. This does not make for a pretty fight, nor does it absolve Ward for the dirty tactics he regularly employs. It does, however, reveal an understanding of craft missing from the fighters he so easily dispatches. Ward dominated Rodriguez, 24-1 (16), wherever he wanted, and by the middle rounds had complete control of the fight. When the twelve rounds of target practice ended, the scores read 118-106, 117-107, and 116-108 for Ward.

Read DOMINATION: Andre Ward W12 Edwin Rodriguez on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Enthusiasm, as defined by Voltaire in his “Philosophical Dictionary” is a “disturbance of the entrails, internal agitation.” Working with this definition, it is reasonable to say that the super middleweight fight between Andre Ward and Chad Dawson indeed generated a great deal of enthusiasm. The fight, staged at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, pitted arguably the two best fighters in the world between 168 and 175 pounds against each other. For some, enthusiasm came in the form of anticipation of this “Best versus Best” affair—a seemingly mythical occurrence in boxing, a pugilistic Sasquatch sighting. Others found themselves plunked at the other end of the spectrum, their entrails disturbed by the potential for viewing drudgery. What transpired over the course of the fight, a 10th-round TKO victory for Ward, was something resembling the mean.”

Read “Easy Living: Andre Ward TKO10 Chad Dawson” on The Cruelest Sport.