By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) says he wants the best deal before he agrees to a rematch between him and former champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) for 2017. If Ward doesn’t get the deal he’s looking for, he mind wind up retiring from boxing. Ward is talking retirement.
Would he actually step away from the sport if he doesn’t get the right financial package for the Kovalev rematch, only he knows for sure? Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva doesn’t have clue where Ward is coming from with all his talk about the rematch needing to make business sense.
By Allan Fox: Main Events promoter Kathy Duva says her fighter Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) could be fighting IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) in a rematch in April or June 2017 if Ward doesn’t retire. She says that April is fine with her. She doesn’t know if Ward will retire, but she could understand why he might want to retire after the punishment he absorbed against Sergey in their fight on November 19 on HBO PPV.
Ward won the fight by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision, but many in the boxing world think the judges gave Kovalev a raw deal by giving the fight to Ward. Duva says that the three judges gave ALL the close rounds to Ward, even the rounds weren’t close.
By Dan Ambrose: #2 WBC light heavyweight contender Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs) can’t wait to get 51-year-old former two division world champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) this Saturday night so that he can shut him up and “retire a legend” at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
The Hopkins-Smith Jr. fight will be televised on HBO Boxing. Hopkins has been doing a lot of trash talking in calling Smith Jr. a “Common” man, and mentioning him in the same sentence as former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who Hopkins beat by a one-sided 12 round decision eight years ago in 2008.
By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) says retirement is an option for him if his negotiations for a rematch against former undisputed 175lb champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) fail to workout. Ward, 32, says he wants the second fight with Kovalev, and that he’ll try and get the fight negotiated, but if it doesn’t make business sense, then he might retire.
Whether that would be a permanent retirement or not is unclear. Ward and Kovalev had a rematch clause in the contract for their previous fight last month on November 19, which Ward won by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ward isn’t saying what kind of purse split he and his promoters at Roc Nation Sports are looking for in a second fight against Kovalev. Ward has stressed recently that Kovalev and his promoter Kathy Duva are no longer the A-side in the rematch now that they lost the last time.
If Ward is talking retirement now if the negotiations with Kovalev don’t work out, then you have to wonder what whether he’s all that excited about continuing his career for much longer even if he does face him a second time and win. It’s not as if Kovalev is the last threat to Ward’s perfect record. There’s a fighter named Artur Beterbiev that is ranked #2 IBF, #3 WBA, #3 WBC, and #3 WBO.
By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) is saying that for him to fight former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) again, it’s got to make sense. Ward says that Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva is not the A-side now after Kovalev’s controversial 12 round unanimous decision loss to Ward last month on November 19 on HBO PPV.
Duva reportedly has a rematch clause in the contract with Ward. So for Ward to say it’s got to make sense for him to fight Kovalev or anyone for that matter; it makes it unclear whether Ward would vacate his titles or simply dig in his heels and not fight Kovalev? For Ward to keep the titles he won, you would think that he would need to fight Kovalev again unless there’s a way of getting around the contract.
By Allan Fox: Trainer John David Jackson says his fighter former light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) will make two improvements in his game to adapt for his rematch against Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) in 2017. Kovalev will be attacking Ward to the body with power shots, and he’ll have worked on conditioning so that he doesn’t run out of gas in the second half of the contest.
The boxing skills department appeared to be pretty evenly matched between the two fighters. Where Ward was clearly better than Kovalev was his inside wrestling technique. Ward was able to wrestle Kovalev from rounds 5 through 12 to limit the amount of shots he was able to throw in the fight.
By Allan Fox: Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) won’t be taking any chances with being on the receiving end up another controversial decision when he faces IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) in their rematch in first half of 2017. Kovalev was beaten by the scores of 114-113 x 3 in their fight on November 19.
The rematch will be a different story for the two fighters, because Kovalev is not going to be looking for the perfect shot like he was last time he fought Ward. He’s also not going to let Ward turn the fight into a wrestling match like the last time.
By Allan Fox: Last Saturday night’s replay on HBO of the light heavyweight clash between IBF/WBA/WBO champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev and Andre “SOG” Ward did a respectable 834,000 viewers on HBO. The fight, which was won by Ward by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision, took place on November 19 on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ward won the fight by the scores 114-113, 114-113 and 114-113. Many of the members of the boxing media had Ward losing the fight. Ward had been knocked down in the 2nd round of the fight, and he wasn’t able to do much in the fight other than land jabs.
By Chris Williams: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) thinks it’s funny how former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Seregey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) has turned into a whining, complaining, poor sport after his 12 round unanimous decision loss to him on November 19 on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ward, 32, sees it as interesting in how Kovalev went from a tough talking guy before the fight into a complaining one afterward when things didn’t go his way. Ward notes that he exposed Kovalev as not having an inside game, and that he responded by calling him a dirty fighter.
By Dan Ambrose: Earlier on Monday news about the pay-per-view results for Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward fight earlier this month on November 19 on HBO. According to sources from Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, the Kovalev-Ward fight only did around 160,000 buys on HBO PPV. Ward won the fight, albeit a highly questionable 12 round split decision by the scores 114 X 3.
The numbers haven’t been confirmed officially as of yet, but if they do turn out to be correct, it leaves the question of whether the rematch between Ward and Kovalev will be televised on HBO PPV.
