So, the biggest fight since Mayweather-Pacquiao has come and gone, with a very controversial outcome.

Those who feel the Russian was robbed have a strong point because:

a. It is almost impossible for a fight that close to end in a unanimous decision. If the judges were truly neutral, at least 1 of them would have given the fight to Kovalev or scored it a draw.

b. Apparently all close rounds were given to Ward while Kovalev was only given rounds he won clearly. This shows that they had sympathies for Ward but none for Kov!

c. Many who watched the fight felt Kovalev won clearly but almost no one feels that sure about Ward's performance.

d. All three scores were perfectly identical. Very rare in close fights and is likely contrived.

WHY KOVALEV SHOULD TAKE SOME BLAME HIMSELF.

The fact is that Sergey was twice naive. He should NEVER have agreed to defend his title on American soil.

Regardless of his post fight comments about not politicizing boxing, he ought to have faced the reality nevertheless; pro boxing is inevitably to an extent politicized otherwise we would have had only 1 recognized sanctioning body rather than 4!

If Andre Ward could refuse to fight in Russia, Kovalev ought to have refused to fight in the USA. Period! He was the recognized and respected champion and Ward was the man with everything to prove regardless of what some bookmakers felt.

To add to his initial mistake, Kovalev allowed Ward back into a fight Kov initially dominated, implying that he trusted the judges, which was a big mistake! A dominant fighter should never trust the judges in a fight that could go the distance. This was the lesson Sugar Ray Leonard and Manny Pacquiao had to learn in their first fights against Duran and Bradley respectively.