Jones Jr: It’s unfair for Ward to fight Kovalev right now

By Boxing News - 03/29/2016 - Comments

1-WardBarrera_Hoganphotos3By Dan Ambrose: HBO commentator Roy Jones Jr. says it’s unfair for boxing fans to put pressure on former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) for him to go and fight unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev right now because he thinks Ward should be able to have another tune-up to get as sharp as possible before he takes the fight.

Jones points out that Ward just came off of a nine-month layoff from the sport to beat Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs), and he thinks he needs at least one more tune-up before he gets inside the ring with Kovalev.

Jones still admits that Ward didn’t look rusty to him, but he still feels like he should be able to take a tune-up to get ready for the Kovalev fight later this year. Jones says that it’s not like there are a ton of fighters that are trying to fight the hard-hitting Kovalev right now. He feels that Kovalev can wait for the Ward fight until he’s 100 percent comfortable that he’s ready to take the fight.

“Ward did what he always does, he showed he’s a consummate professional, and won at all costs,” said Jones Jr. to Hoopjab. “He showed why he’s pound-for-pound. I don’t think the layoff affected him at all, but this is what people don’t understand. Not that the layoff affected him, but when you layoff things happen that you don’t expect to happen. Things are not going to come the way you want things to come. So it’s unfair to tell him that we want you to fight the toughest guy in the division, a division that you just moved up to without a proper tune-up. Ward wants one more tune-up. It’s unfair not to give him one more tune-up. Let him get to the best, the best that we want to see him at so he can fight the best. You don’t move up to a weight class and then challenge the best and you been off for nine months. That’s not fair to him. You don’t see a lot of rust on him, but still let him get his stuff together so he feels confident. Then we could see the fight. If another fight makes him feel good, take another fight. Then go and fight Kovalev. What’s the rush? It’s like 100 people are trying to fight Kovalev. It ain’t like he’s going anywhere. He’s been crushing everybody. So get yourself to the best you can get yourself then fight Kovalev,” said Jones.

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I don’t know that another tune-up is going to change much for Ward. His problem last Saturday night wasn’t that he looked rusty. It looked like Ward had simply aged to the point where he was no longer the force that he’d been earlier in his career. Floyd Mayweather Jr. aged in the sport, but he was still incredibly fast of hand and light on his feet in the last three years of his career.

Ward didn’t look like he’s aged in the same way. His hand speed has taken a hit from his years off from the sport, and I don’t think he’s going to get that speed back in this lifetime. When Mayweather took a couple of years off from the sport from 2007 to 2009, he still had his hand speed when he returned. He was a special case. Ward lost hand speed. You can see it if you checkout his fight against Carl Froch in 2011 and compare it to last Saturday’s fight against Barrera. Ward is considerably slower.

Ward can take another tune-up, but I don’t think it’s going to change much. Ward needs help with his punching power, or lack thereof, and he needs to be able to double his work rate from last Saturday. For Ward to have a chance at beating Kovalev, he’ll need to be able to throw at least 800 shots, and he’ll need more power. The fact that Ward has never been a puncher even at super middleweight, it suggests that he’s not going to be able to find any power by the time he faces Kovalev in November.

All you got to do is take one look at Ward’s scrawny arms to realize that he’s never going to be a puncher at 175. Ward is not going to be able to beat Kovalev by running around the ring, or by standing and hoping to land one pot shot as he comes forward and then tie him up, which is what Ward was doing against Barrera last Saturday night.

The punch and grab technique won’t work against Kovalev, but I suspect that Ward try that game plan. I think that’ll probably be Plan-A for Ward against Kovalev. If that doesn’t work, then Plan-B will likely be Ward moving around the ring and trying to win the fight by jabbing and throwing quick pot shots. Plan-C will probably be Ward using the old smothering technique that he employed in the Super Six tournament.



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