Kovalev vs. Ward winner and scorecards: Andre Ward wins narrow unanimous decision over Sergey Kovalev

Andre Ward scored a unanimous decision victory over Sergey Kovalev in one of the biggest fights of the year on Saturday, with all three scorecards showing 114-113. It was a close fight that Ward nearly lost early on, but he fought back to get the victory, earning the unified light heavyweight title.

Ward and Kovalev entered the fight with both being among the best in the world while still drawing criticism for not truly being tested by a similar talent. As such, one of them was going to leave the contest with a loss, save for a potential draw.

In other words, the matchup was consistently considered one that would elevate the winner to greatness, while the other would go back to the drawing board.

Kovalev landed a couple of hard jabs in the first round. There was a lot of talk about him potentially landing a huge shot as his only avenue to win, while Ward, the more technical fighter, would have to do a lot to impress and frustrate Kovalev on his end.

It turned out Ward was the fighter who was frustrated. He was clearly having trouble defending Kovalev, and in the second round, Kovalev scored a huge knockdown of Ward, only the second time in Ward’s professional career he’d been knocked down, and never in such a big fight. Ward managed to weather the storm, but Kovalev was clearly up through two rounds.

In the third and fourth rounds, Kovalev slowed things down and it’s possible Ward took one of those rounds, but there was nothing definitive in said rounds. Ward’s best round was probably the fifth, pushing Kovalev back and landing some good shots. That round likely went to him, but Ward started retreating again in the sixth. The seventh saw Ward start to land some big shots and combinations in its early moments.

Kovalev started to look a little drained in that round, and the question definitely came up of whether or not Ward had enough time to enact his long game plan on Kovalev. Through the next couple rounds, things were very loose. Ward landed the harder and more significant strikes, but Kovalev was also landing. Both seemed focused on winning a decision as the 10th round started.

Ward’s corner told him that he had to win the final three rounds, but it’s not positive that he did so. Kovalev was pretty active in the 10th. The next two rounds were competitive.

One of the bigger fights of the undercard saw Claressa Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States, make her professional boxing debut. She was taking on Franchon Crews, another decorated amateur boxer making her pro debut, and she won a four-round unanimous decision.

Shields, who is officially now 1-0, tried hard to score a finish on Crews but couldn’t seal the deal. This was considered a dangerous first fight for both of them, as many lauded prospects try and find something akin to a live body in their pro debuts. But both entered this fight assuming way more risk than usual, and in this case, Shields came out the other end with a win.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Shields from here on out. The 21-year-old from Flint, Mich. has all the makings of a star, something women’s boxing has been lacking in recent years.

On the pay-per-view undercard, Curtis Stevens took down James de la Rosa via a unanimous decision, winning 98-90, 96-92, 96-92. Following that, Oleksandr Gvozdyk managed to stop Isaac Chilemba via TKO at 3:00 of the eighth round. Finally, a controversial decision saw the fight between Darleys Perez and Maurice Hooker end in a draw.

The scores were 97-93 Perez (Adalaide Byrd), 97-93 Hooker (Hoyle), and 95-95 (Feldman). SB Nation’s Bad Left Hook had it 99-91 in favor of Perez, a clear victory for him.

Just minutes before the main event between Ward and Kovalev, Ward closed on the sportsbooks as a -200 favorite at the MGM Grand, with Kovalev at +160, according to Bryan Graham of the Guardian.

Below are the full results from the HBO pay-per-view main card:

Kovalev vs. Ward pay-per-view card results

Andre Ward def. Sergey Kovalev via unanimous decision (114-113, 114-113, 114-113)

Darleys Perez and Maurice Hooker draw (97-83, 93-97, 95-95)

Oleksandr Gvozdyk def. Isaac Chilemba via TKO (3:00 of round 8)

Curtis Stevens def. James de la Rosa by unanimous decision (98-90, 96-92, 96-92)