By Allan Fox: Trainer Virgil Hunter thinks Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) won’t get credit if he beats IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) in their fight on November 19. Hunter thinks that people in the boxing world will give Isaac Chilemba credit for creating the blueprint in how to beat Kovalev in their fight last July.
Chilemba lost the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, but he showed that it was possible to hit Kovalev with pot shots while he was coming forward. Unfortunately for Chilemba, he couldn’t stop Kovalev from coming forward, outworking him, and landing the harder shots.
That’s what Ward’s problem is going to be on November 19. He’s not going to be able to match Kovalev for power, and he’ll definitely not be able to match his output, because that’s not the kind of fighter Ward is. He’s pot shot artist, and he likes to hold and wrestle a lot.
Hunter said this to Fighthype.com:
“If he beats Kovalev, the first thing they’re going to do is go back to the [Isaac] Chilemba fight. Rather than give him the credit, they’ll give Chilemba the credit for exposing Kovalev, and that’s what helped Ward by watching Chilemba.”
I suspect that Ward is going to do a lot of holding all night long to keep Kovalev from throwing punches. I hope for Ward and the paying boxing fans’ sake that he doesn’t choose to hold and wrestle on November 19. If Ward wants to entertain the fans, he needs to actually fight Kovalev rather than grabbing him at every opportunity.
The referee needs to do his job to prevent Ward from holding. After a certain amount of holds per round, the referee should take points away from Ward or Kovalev to ensure the fight is an actual boxing match and not a wrestling or MMA fight. It could really boring if we see Ward holding like he did against Carl Froch.
Whether Ward gets credit or not for beating Kovalev will depend largely in how he does it. If Ward beats Kovalev by throwing single shots and immediately grabbing him in a clinch all night long, then he won’t get a lot of credit. Instead, Ward will be criticized for ‘gaming the system’ by getting away with excessive clinching, which is technically illegal. It would be like would like one fighter choosing to throw low blows repeatedly in every round and getting away with it due to inept referee in my opinion.
If the referee does his job to keep Ward from clinching excessively, then we may see a good fight if Ward beats Kovalev in a fair manner by proving he can defeat him without holding. But if Ward goes back to the same fight strategy that he used to defeat Carl Froch in the Super Six tournament in 2011 by holding all night long, then Ward probably won’t get credit. He would be seen as someone who had bent the rules by clinching excessively. Hopefully, we don’t see Ward holding and wrestling on November 19, because this fight is going to be televised on HBO pay-per-view.
A lot of boxing fans will be paying to see the fight, and they don’t like to watch a lot of holding in fights. When fans pay to see a boxing match on pay-per-view, they expect to see a lot of action and excitement. If one fighter chooses to hold excessively, then it’s a disappointment for fans. The fans want to see exciting fights, which is why middleweight Gennady Golovkin has picked up so many fans.
“They have to give him the pound-for-pound, because we’re already pound-for-pound,” said Hunter in explaining what will happen after Ward beats Kovalev. “We already know that nobody took it from us in the ring. So if you want to take it from us for inactivity just to give it to another person, fine.”
They might give Ward the No.1 pound-for-pound rating if he beats Kovalev, but I still don’t think Ward would rate it. I personally think the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter should have an exciting fighting style. They need to be not only good defensive fighters, but also great offensive fighters as well. Ward isn’t a great offensive fighter. He’s a pot shot guy. That’s not thrilling to watch Ward’s fights in my opinion. He does too much holding, he lacks punching power, and he only throws one punch at a time. I’d much rather see fighters like Golovkin or Roman Gonzalez in action than seeing Ward fight.
I don’t rate Ward as being more exciting than those guys. Sure, Ring Magazine can give Ward the No.1 pound-for-pound rating if they want, but I don’t think he’ll bring in the kinds of television ratings than arguably more exciting fighters like Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez. I think the boxing fans prefer to see action than punch and grab, which is what I think Ward will be doing against Kovalev all night long.
Kovalev vs. Ward will be taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. the fight will be televised on HBO pay-per-view.
