By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) says the contracts have been signed by him and IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) for their fight this November at a still to be determined date and venue.
Ward, 32, says he doesn’t yet know what the specific date and venue is, but he’s looking forward to the fight. Ward will be looking to get in another tune-up fight to get ready for the Kovalev fight. He expects the tune-up to be in the summer. There’s been talk of Ward possibly fighting Andrzej Fonfara next, but it remains to be seen if that fight will happen.
That would be a very tough tune-up, but it would also be the ideal fight to get Ward ready for what he’ll be dealing with when he gets inside the ring against Kovalev. Fonfara and punch and has good size for a light heavyweight at 6’2”.
An even tune-up opponent would be someone like Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9 KOs), but he might be a little too good. Beterbiev would have a decent chance of actually beating Ward, so obviously Ward’s promoters at Roc Nation Sports wouldn’t be thinking of putting him in with a fighter like that.
“The contracts are signed. We’ve got another fight to win,” said Ward to Fighthype about his fight against Sergey Kovalev in November. “I believe it’ll be a showdown come November this year. That’s the timeframe that everyone is targeting. There’s a contract already and I signed my part, and I think he signed his part. So I think it’s official. Nothings concrete as far as the date that I know of. I know there’s no venue yet. It’s a tall task. Moving up in weight in general is not an easy thing to do. You’re dealing with bigger guys. It’s not a task that can’t be handled. It’s not a task that can’t be accomplished. It’s really about who my next opponent is hopefully in the summer, and then Kovalev. I’m coming for all the belts, and it’s not going to be easy to get them, but it never is. Anytime you try to do something great, it’s never easy. But I’m up for it. Another fight and another training camp and I feel I’ll be where I want to be. I feel healthy, and I feel strong and I’ll stay that way,” said Ward.
This going to be a really big step up in class for Ward in facing Kovalev, because it’s a much more advanced opponent than Ward’s last opponent in Sullivan Barrera. Ward didn’t look all that great in that fight on offense. His power wasn’t impressive, and he was mostly hitting Barrera with pot shots while he was coming forward. It was just single shots from Ward, and then a lot of defensive work to make Barrera miss.
For Ward to beat Kovalev, he’s going to need to throw more than one shot at a time because Kovalev will jump on him and blast him apart with straight punches in close. Ward won’t be able to beat Kovalev if all he can do is throw single shots and then try and make him miss with all the punches he throws back at him.