Ward vs. Kovalev: Andre ready for war

By Boxing News - 11/18/2016 - Comments

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By Allan Fox: Andre Ward says he’s ready for war this Saturday night in his title fight against light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ward and Kovalev met for their final press conference on Thursday. They spoke to the media, and let them know what to expect from both of them on Saturday night in their fight on HBO pay-per-view.

Ward surprised some members of the boxing media when he said he plans on making it “a war” against Kovalev, and that he’s going to do the opposite of what the fans expect him to do.

(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports)

Supposing that Ward, 32, is going to do what the opposite of what Kovalev and the boxing fans expect him to do, then that means he’s going to try and have a punch out with the Russian fighter. The last thing the fans and media expect from Ward is for him to go to war. They expect Ward to hold, wrestle, jab and run.

Some fans expect Ward to fight dirty by throwing elbows, head-butting and hitting low all night long. If Ward is doing to do the opposite of those things, then it might be an interesting fight. With the #1 pound-for-pound status on the line for the fight, you would hope that Ward fights in an exciting manner, because if he wins, he’ll be taking the place of #1 pound-for-pound Roman Gonzalez.

Ward has never been a particularly exciting fighter. Gonzalez is an exciting fighter. If Ward is going to be the replacement for Gonzalez as the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter, then you can argue that boxing is going to be getting a less interesting fighter occupying the top perch.

Since Gonzalez hasn’t lost and hasn’t retired, he really should remain at the top spot. Gonzalez’s recent exciting win over Carlos Cuadras should have been enough to keep him at No.1. It just makes you wonder why there’s pressure for the Ward vs. Kovalev fight to be the new No.1 in the pound for pound ratings.

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“I have never won big fights just doing one thing, being one-dimensional,” said Ward. “I typically do the opposite of what people think I am going to do. We have a game plan and the bottom line is making the necessary adjustments. You have to be able to adjust on the fly and that is what the great ones do.”

With all the talking that Ward has done leading up to this fight, he’s going to have egg on his face if he doesn’t beat Kovalev on Saturday night. Ward has done a great deal of talking. If this was a talking fight, Ward would have won by a 1st round knockout, because he’s been building himself up for weeks now.

Supposing that Ward loses the fight, it’s going to be interesting to see how he reacts. Everyone loses eventually unless they skedaddle out of the sport to avoid losing like we saw with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Rather than take a risk by fighting Keith Thurman, Mayweather took on Andre Berto and then retired.

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We don’t know what would have happened if Mayweather had fought Thurman. My guess is he would have lost. Ward will experience defeat at some point unless he too retires to avoid being seen getting beat. If Ward doesn’t get beaten on Saturday night by Kovalev, he’ll eventually get beaten if he stays in the sport for much longer and especially if he fights Adonis Stevenson.

“It’s interesting that the ones who are not getting in that ring are the ones that are doing the most talking,” said Ward. They are not feeling those punches. That is what a big fight is all about. We are not supposed to like each other. His side has been doing a lot of talking and that’s fine, we love it, it’s not our first rodeo. All the talking is great, I love it but, know one thing, I am not taking no mess come Saturday night.”

Ward had better hope that he doesn’t lose this fight, because he’s been really talking tough the whole time. He’s talking like he’s fighting 39-year-old Alexander Brand or 34-year-old Paul Smith rather than a guy that has been slicing through his opposition like they’re not even there. We saw Kovalev easily beat the Ward-esque Isaac Chilemba in his last fight.

Chilemba might not be as big as Ward, but he was a lot more mobile and not just bulked up to the extreme to the point where he can’t move. Chilemba couldn’t do much of anything against Kovalev other than landing pot shots while he was coming for. Kovalev would take the shot, and then throw combinations, which would force Chilemba to duck for cover. He couldn’t just stand that and keep punching when Kovalev was throwing shots at him, because they were thrown with too much power.

Chilemba had to move his head and cover up to keep from getting knocked out. Ward will need to do the same thing on Saturday night or else he’ll wind up getting knocked out. If Ward isn’t going to hold and wrestle Kovalev like he’s done with many of his past opponents, then he could wind up taking a lot of hard shots in this fight. Ward might be a good fighter, but he’s not invincible when it comes to taking head shots. Darnell Boone had him hurt after knocking him down in their fight.

If Ward loses the fight on Saturday, I would hope that he takes the loss well without complaints. What the sport of boxing doesn’t need is a bunch of complaining after a loss on HBO pay-per-view. That would be bad news. Ward should just take the loss and accept it with a stiff upper lip and then give credit where credit is due to Kovalev for a job well done.

The same goes for Kovalev. If he loses the fight, then he needs to give credit for Ward for outpointing or stopping him. It’s not likely that Ward will score a knockout over Kovalev, because he’s not much of a puncher. It will require for Ward to put his punches together in a sustained manner for him to KO Kovalev, and if he does that, he’ll be taking a risk that he could get hit by a hard shot. Ward is too old to be taking risks, and he’s been too inactive over the last five years.

You have to remember that Ward has fought only four times in the last five years. He’s been a part timer since winning the Super Six tournament in 2011.

“This fight is a great opportunity for both of us to show the boxing world who is the best pound-for-pound,” said Ward. “It’s going to be a war between us. I am in the best shape right now for this fight. We don’t always respond right away and sometimes our silence is misinterpreted as we don’t understand or we don’t get it.”

Frankly, I don’t think Ward is going to try and trade with Kovalev at all. I don’t think he’s crazy enough to try that approach in this fight. It would be an insane move on Ward’s part if he were to battle Kovalev, because he doesn’t have the power to fight that kind of approach. Besides that, Ward has put on a lot of size since moving up to the light heavyweight division, and it’s slowed him down and made him stationary.

Even if Ward has trained to use a lot of movement in this fight, he’s not going to be able to do it for long. He’s 32 now, and not a young 32 in my opinion. He’s a 32-year-old who hasn’t been really active fighter since he was 27. That’s not good. The boxing fans thought that Ward would take advantage of winning the Super Six tournament in 2011 by fighting often. Instead, there were large gaps of time between Ward’s fights after winning the tournament. It’s as if Ward started resting on his laurels after winning the Super Six tournament in 2011.

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Here are Ward’s fights since 2011:

Carl Froch – December 2011

Ward off 9 months after Froch fight.

Chad Dawson – September 2012

Ward off 14 months after Dawson fight.

Edwin Rodriguez – November 2013

Ward off 17 months after Rodriguez fight

Paul Smith – June 2016

Ward off 9 months after Smith fight

Sullivan Barrera – March 2016

Ward off 5 months after Barrera fight

Alexander Brand – August 2016

Ward off 3 months after Brand fight

Ward hasn’t started to fight on a frequent basis until 2016. Before that, Ward was a part time fighter between 2012 and 2015. That’s three years of Ward’s career where he wasn’t fighting on a frequent basis. That’s not good at all, because he failed to stay inside the ring. His boxing skills likely weren’t helped by those many years of inactivity.

“We get it, we watch, we take notes but, in the meantime we keep working, and then we produce come fight night, that is what we specialize in,” said Ward. “If you are never nervous, it is not good,” Ward said.

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