By Allan Fox: When the time comes for Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) to face IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) later on this year in a fight on HBO PPV, trainer Freddie Roach says he sees Kovalev winning that fight. Roach says he likes the 31-year-old Ward a great deal, and he believes he’s a great boxer with a ton of skills.
However, Roach feels that the 6’1” Kovalev has too much punching power and size for Ward to handle. Ward has fought his entire career at super middleweight as a pro, and he’s moving up in weight to challenge Kovalev and the other top fighters in the division.
“I really want to see him [Kovalev] and Ward fight,” Roach said to Fighthype. “I don’t think Ward can beat him. Ward is a good boxer. I respect him a lot, but I think Kovalev is too big and too strong for him. It’s a good fight. I would definitely bet on Kovalev.”
Ward’s March 26 fight against Sullivan Barrera, if it gets made, will give a good indication of how well he’ll do against Kovalev. If Ward is able to handle the punching power and size of Barrera without any problems, then that’ll be a good of how well he’ll do when he gets inside the ring.
At this point it’s still unknown if the Ward-Barrera fight will come off because the negotiations are reportedly not going well, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Ward ends up facing someone else entirely on March 26 instead of Barrera. That’s something that will hurt Ward and HBO, because Ward needs preparation for the Kovalev fight. HBO just signed a three-fight contract with Ward. If they get stuck paying for mismatches between Ward and lower level fighters, then it’s not a good deal for them.
The way that Kovalev looked in his fight against Jean Pascal last month, I think it’s going to be very difficult for Ward to be able to compete with him. Kovalev showed superb skills on the outside, inside and at medium distance against Pascal. Ward historically has done well on the outside and on the inside against his opponents. If he’s not able to dominate in either area against Kovalev, then it’s going to be next to impossible for him to win.
In Ward’s fight against Carl Froch in 2011, Ward took the action to the inside to smother Froch after he started taking punishment from him on the outside. Froch didn’t have an inside game to match Ward, and he ended getting worked over by him in close. Kovalev would have the inside skills to prevent Ward from trying the same tactic against him that he used in the Froch fight.
Comments are closed.