By Allan Fox: Former WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) confirms that he will be looking to fight IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev later on this year. This is a fight that Ward really wants to take, as he is interested in creating a legacy for himself as a great fighter.
The only way for him to do that is to take on the best guys in the sport. Ward moved up from super middleweight after looking at the limited amount of potential fights in that division for him. Once Carl Froch retired from the sport, it left Ward with few options for big fights at 168. This helped him make a decision to move up to 175 so that could go after guys like Kovalev.
“Me and Sergey Kovalev are on a collision course. I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘if’ – it’s a matter of ‘when,’” Ward said to skysports.com. “I think we should meet some time by the end of the year. He’s the best at that division, who’s beaten everybody and is the guy that they say nobody wants to fight – so that’s the guy I want to fight.”
It’s clear that Ward and Kovalev will be facing each other in 2016, unless one of them suffers an injury that requires them to stay out of the ring for an extended amount of time. HBO signed Ward to a 3-fight deal recently, and part of that deal is for Ward to face Kovalev. HBO obviously wouldn’t have signed Ward to that deal if they thought he was going to fight Paul Smith three times.
HBO will want value for their money. Ward will be fighting next month on March 26 against unbeaten light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. This will be a real test for Ward to determine whether he has the fire power to fight in the light heavyweight division.
Barrera can bang, and he’s a much bigger puncher than Ward. It could be a tough fight for Ward if he can’t avoid Barrera’s powerful shots. Ward will have the hand speed and boxing skills advantage, but he’s going to have to take some big shots in the course of the fight if he wants to win. Ward didn’t look too powerful in his last fight against Paul Smith last year in June 2015.
Trainer Freddie Roach believes that Kovalev might be a little too powerful for Ward to deal with.
“I like that fight a lot. Kovalev’s a big, strong guy,” Roach said to Fighthype.com. “Ward is a great boxer. I like both of them. Kovalev is actually a good friend of mine. He does train here quite a bit when he’s not in Big Bear. He’s always welcome here, and he knows that. I like Kovalev a lot, and I’d love to see that fight. I think Kovalev might be too strong for him and might be too much for him at this time, but Ward’s a good boxer. He’s not the most entertaining fighter in the world, but he is good at what he does. He’s a very good boxer.”
Roach’s fighter Jean Pascal was stopped recently by Kovalev in the 7th round last month in their rematch on January 30th. Roach had a good game plan for Pascal to try and box Kovalev, but it failed to work due to Kovalev’s punching power.
It’s going to take some power for Ward to have a chance of beating Kovlev. When Ward was fighting in the Super Six tournament five years ago, he was able to use his power to smother his opponents on the inside by using a combination of grappling and short punches to stifle fighters like Carl Froch. However, that approach might not work with Kovalev, because he’s bigger and stronger than anyone that Ward has faced before. In order to beat Kovalev, Ward will need to fight him on the outside because the inside game likely won’t work with a guy this big and strong.
“He’s [Kovalev] a smart fighter and obviously has a good punch,” said Ward. “One thing I respect about him is that he’s gone in to everyone’s back yard and defeated them. That shows me he has a strong mind and is not mentally weak. That’s what big challenges are all about. You don’t want to pick somebody you know you’re going to beat. You want people to say it’s 50-50. That’s what makes a great fight.”
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