By Allan Fox: IBFWBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) is now one fight away from meeting up with unbeaten former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) this year in November on HBO PPV. Kovalev, 6’0”, is looking forward to the fight with Ward so that he can prove to him who the better fighter is between them.
Last Saturday night, Kovalev was asked by the media about his thoughts on who would win a fight between IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) and Ward if that fight were to take place at some point in the future. Kovalev tried his best to be diplomatic with his answer, but he finally just spoke bluntly by saying that Golovkin has more ways of winning due to his punching power and his boxing skills.
Kovalev said that Ward would be totally dependent on his boxing skills to try and win the fight against Golovkin. Kovalev said that Ward’s chances of getting a knockout against Golovkin would be low due to Ward not being a big puncher.
“It’s difficult to judge two great boxers, but I know only thing, that fight is going to be a big intrigue because Gennady can be boxing and punches,” said Kovalev when asked by the media who would win in a Golovkin vs. Ward contest. “Andre Ward can only be boxing and less percentage to knockout Gennady to get a knockout of Gennady, because Gennady has a hard head. He never was knocked down. I didn’t see. But interesting to watch that fight,” said Kovalev.
Kovalev is correct about what he says. Ward would only have one chance of beating Golovkin, snd that’s by out-boxing him. Ward wouldn’t have the punching ability to get a knockout against Golovkin, because he can’t generate the needed power to get a knockout against someone like him. Ward did get a stoppage win over Paul Smith last year in June. However, Smith was fat and out of shape for that fight, and he had little in the way of defensive skills to get out of the way of Ward’s shots.
There was talk of Ward and Golovkin facing each other last year, but the fight failed to happen. Golovkin’s team wanted a catch-weight of 164 pounds to make the fight. Ward was said to have wanted the fight at the full weight of 168lbs for the super middleweight division. It’s too bad the fight failed to happen because it would have been interesting to see.
A future fight between Golovkin and Ward will likely need to take place at the full weight for the super middleweight division or possibly even at light heavyweight at a catch-weight of 172lbs. I can’t see Ward entertaining a catch-weight fight against Golovkin at 164. Even fighting at 168 might be out of the question. Ward might not want to do that because it would be seen as him giving Golovkin a small weight handicap. If Ward loses to Kovalev this year, then he might not be in the position to call the shots against Golovkin.
The problems that Ward would have against Golovkin are the same problems he’ll have against Kovalev. Ward can only potentially beat Kovalev by out-boxing him. There’s almost no chance that Ward would be able to KO Kovalev. This would give Kovalev a big chance of beating Ward because he would have more ways to win.
Ward defeated Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in Ward’s first fight at the full weight of 175lbs for the light heavyweight division at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The fight was televised on HBO Boxing. It wasn’t an easy fight for Ward, as his face was badly marked up, and he didn’t look particularly powerful or dominant. It was a finesse type of performance from the 32-year-old Ward from start to finish. He showed in that fight that he wasn’t able to stand his ground and punch with Barrera. Ward also was unable to use his physical strength to mug Barrera on he inside like he’d done with his past opponents in the super middleweight division. Ward attempted to muscle Barrera on the inside, but he quickly found out that Barrera was too strong in close.
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