Kovalev-Ward WON’T decide No.1 P-4-P; Golovkin still best says Roach

By Boxing News - 10/23/2016 - Comments

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By Allan Fox: Trainer Freddie Roach says the winner of the Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward fight next month won’t decide who the best pound-for-pound fighter is in his view, because he still believes that middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is the best fighter in the sport of boxing pound-for-pound.

If anything, Roach says the winner of the November 5th fight between Kovalev and Ward will bring the winner closer to where Golovkin is, but it WON’T make them better than him.

What Kovalev and Ward have going against them is that neither of them has looked good in their recent tune-up fights. Kovalev, 33, struggled to beat Isaac Chilemba last July in Russia, and Ward has looked poor in three straight fights since making his comeback. Neither fighter looks like a No.1 pound-for-pound fighter, because they’re not dominating the 175lbd vision in an effortless manner the way that Golovkin is at 160.

“The best man will win. I don’t have a favorite in the fight,” said Roach to Fighthub.com about the Kovalev vs. Ward fight. “I thought Kovalev [would beat Ward] with the way he’s fighting, I thought he had the edge, but now it changes. But you’re only as good as your last fight. I think it’s a huge fight. I think it does well. It’s not the biggest fight ever. It’ll do OK. I still think Triple G is the best, but it gets one of those guys closer,” said Roach.

I happen to agree with Roach about Golovkin being the best fighter in the sport. The winner of the Kovalev-Ward fight won’t bring them closer to Golovkin, because neither of these light heavyweights is dominating. There are better fighters than them in other divisions in my view.

Here are my pound-for-pound rankings:

1. Gennady Golovkin

2. Roman Gonzalez

3. Carlos Cuadras

4. Guillermo Rigondeaux

5. Vasyl Lomachenko

6. Keith Thurman

7. Jermall Charlo

8. Oleksandr Usyk

9. Adonis Stevenson

10. Oscar Valdez

Kovalev beat Chilemba by a 12 round unanimous decision on July 11 by the scores 116-111, 117-110 and 118-109. Kovalev was hit a lot in the fight, and beaten to the punch in almost every round. For Ward’s part, he’s take three straight tune-ups against Paul Smith, Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand, and not looked like the fighter he was five years ago when he was still in his 20s.

Ward is about to urn 33, but he might as well be nearing 40, because he’s no longer able to move around the ring like he once did. The quickness of hand and foot is gone for Ward, and it’s not going to come back no matter how any tune-ups he takes. Father time stops for no one, and it clearly hasn’t stopped for Ward.

The winner of the Kovalev-Ward fight will only settle who the current IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion is. It won’t show that they’re the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport is, because Golovkin is looking a lot better than either of those fighters. The Ward vs. Kovalev fight won’t even prove who the best fighter is in the 175lb division for that matter. There’s still Adonis Stevenson, Joe Smith Jr., Artur Beterbiev, Oleksandr Gvozdk that they would need to beat before they could make the claim of being the best at 175.
This is what Roach’s thoughts were about Kovalev BEFORE he struggled to beat Chilemba last July.

“I don’t think Ward can beat him. Ward is a good boxer,” said Roach to fighthype.com. “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.”

Kovalev might wind up being better than Ward on November 5, but it still won’t mean that he’s better than Golovkin. Ward can win, and it won’t mean anything either. The pound-for-pound ratings are meant to pick the most talented and the best fighters in the sport. Ward don’t look like the best. Neither of these guys rate to be the best. The only thing that you can hope for in their fight is that it doesn’t wind up being a stinker like their last fights.

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