Sanchez: Kovalev will defeat Ward like he did Hopkins

By Boxing News - 09/29/2016 - Comments

ward-kovalev (7)

By Allan Fox: Uneaten Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) will be the smaller and weaker fighter when he gets inside the ring with IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) on November 19 in their fight on HBO pay-per-view. Trainer Abel Sanchez has made up his mind a long time ago about who will come out on top in this fight between the two unbeaten 175lb fighters.

Sanchez feels that Kovalev will have too much size and punching power for Ward to deal with in this fight, and he sees Kovalev beating him just like he did Bernard Hopkins in 2014. In other words, Sanchez expects Kovalev to stay on the outside and box Ward so that he doesn’t let him get close.

The reason why Kovalev won’t let Ward get near him is because of his habit of clinching and wrestling on the inside. When Ward has fought good opposition in the past, he’s elected o do a lot of holding and wrestling to nullify their offensive skills. We saw use tons of holding/grappling in his fights against Carl Froch, Sakio Bika, Allan Green, Arthur Abraham, Edwin Rodriguez and Chad Dawson.

Since making his comeback after two years outside of the ring, Ward not surprisingly has done very little holding in his last three fights against Paul Smith, Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand. You can argue the reason for that is because of Ward facing guys that were out of his class with inferior boxing skills than himself.

Sanchez said this to Fighthype.com about the Kovalev-Ward fight:

“I still think Kovalev wins. I don’t think you can grade them on their last fight. I think you have to look at them at the body of work they’ve done. Not everybody is going to have a great day every time out. But I think Kovalev is the bigger guy. Kovalev is the stronger guy. I think Kovalev will box him like he did [Bernard] Hopkins and not let him get close. I think he’ll win a decision.”

Kovalev, 33, has the upper hand in this fight in many ways over Ward. Kovalev can fight on the inside and the outside to dominate. This fight is a lot like the Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook match from September 10. Brook moved up in weight from the 147lb division, chasing a payday and hoping to pull off an upset against the stronger Golovkin. Brook did okay for the first two rounds, but as soon as Golovkin started to land heavy shots in the third round, Brook fell apart slowly and surely.

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If Kovalev is able to start landing his heavy shots to the head and body against Ward, he could break him down in the same manner. Ward doesn’t throw a lot of punches, and he’s not going to be able to match Kovalev’s work rate or power in this fight no matter how he tries. The only thing that Ward can do is to try and slow Kovalev up so that he doesn’t land enough of his big heavy shots to work him over. That means there’s a good chance that we’re going to see Ward looking to grab Kovalev and turn the fight into a wrestling match.

That would be a pity if that happens because the fight is going to be televised on HBO PPV. Boxing fans expect value for PPV fights, as they’ve been arguably ripped off with poor PPV fights like Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford vs. Viktor Postol. Fans want value for their money, and they want the value to be coming from the main event, not just from the undercard fights. Nowadays, the promoters tend to fill the undercard with mismatches involving prospects and/or little known champions.

It’s going to be tough for Ward to beat Kovalev if all he plans on doing is jabbing and throwing pot shots all night long. If Kovalev decides to throw a lot of shots, then Ward is going to be over-matched against him if he can’t match his work rate. Ward has never shown the ability to throw a lot of punches dueinr ghis career, and I think it’s going to remain the same when he gets inside the ring to fight Kovalev on November 10th in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ward doesn’t have the game to throw a lot of punches. He tends to throw a shot, and then look to hold and wrestle on the inside. When holding, Ward will try and throw shot punches. Ward used to be able to dominate his opponents on the inside when he was fighting at 168. Perhaps one reason for that is because he was the bigger and stronger fighter much of the time. One fight where Ward couldn’t get the better of his opponent on the inside was against Sakio Bika. He was clearly stronger than Ward in close, and the better inside fighter as well.

Bika really roughed Ward up in close until he gave up on the idea of wrestling him. I still expect Ward to try and wrestle Kovalev on November 19, especially if he tastes his power and finds it too much for him to take. Ward will then look to start holding nonstop in switching to Plan-B. If Kovalev is too strong for Ward on the inside, then he’ll have to use Plan-C by trying to move around the ring like he used to be able to do five years ago.

At this point in Ward’s career, I don’t think he can move any longer. Ward has gotten old, and the legs aren’t what they once were. Even if Ward tried to move, I don’t think he could do it for any length of time. Ward doesn’t get around the ring like he once could. The combination of inactivity and natural aging has taken Ward’s movement away from him. It’s too bad because he was fleet-footed five years ago, but he hasn’t shown the ability to move in his last three fights against Paul Smith, Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand.