Boxing experts have claimed that the judging was unfair. "It was a classic hometown decision. Kovalev won the fight", Larry Merchant stated after the fight. Kovalev's promoter, Kathy Duva, said, "We got a great fight, which is what boxing needed. But we also got a bad decision, which is not what boxing needed." On the same token, many boxing fans have applauded the decision. Paulie Malignaggi noted the high degree of difficulty both fighters faced that night and doubted the prospect of a one-sided affair in the case of a rematch. Still, he concluded that Kovalev faded late in the fight. Promoter Eddie Hearn added that Kovalev lacked a sense of urgency after the halfway point. Gennady Golovkin's trainer, Abel Sanchez, scored the fight 114–112 for Kovalev. For the fight, Kovalev received a minimum purse of $2 million and Ward's purse was a career-high $5 million. CompuBox stats showed that Kovalev landed more punches, 126 of 474 punches; Ward landed 116 out of 337 thrown