Sergey Kovalev was not happy about his unanimous decision loss and made it abundantly clear he wants a rematch with new unified light heavyweight champion Andre Ward.
In the post-fight interview with HBO's Max Kellerman, Kovalev said he believes he may have lost only 3 rounds in the fight and that Ward had an advantage going up against an American fighter with American judges scoring the bout.
“It’s the wrong decision. I don’t want to say my opinion,” Kovalev said. “The witnesses are here – they saw it. It’s my job. It was a fight of my life. I am disappointed in the judges’ decision. He got maybe a few rounds, I agree with that. I kept control. I lost maybe three rounds the whole fight…of course, I want a rematch and I will kick his ass. I want to show good boxing. I am against here it is the USA and all the judges were from the USA. He is a boxer. It’s a sport, don’t make it politics. It’s a sport and I won the fight.”
Despite getting knocked down in the second round, Ward came back strong and won most of the rounds in the second half of the fight. All three judges had Ward winning in the scorecards 114-113 while HBO's Harold Letterman and Fightful had Kovalev winning in the scorecards 116-111 and 114-113, respectively.
With the win, Ward became the WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion and Kovalev suffered his first professional career loss in 32 fights.
